The Fireplace Records, Chapter 15
Uncle Mike’s “Dangling Dichotomies”
“Hovering in the Present Time, Present Place,
Caught between the Real and the Imagined,
Cut off from the Past and Future,
Dangling in the Present!
Splitting up the Firewood of Dichotomies:
Objective/subjective, Tool/word, Scientific/literary,
God/man, Noumena/phenomena, Real/imagined,
Non-Fiction/fiction, Something/nothing, Many/one,
Things/ideas, Substance/attributes, Truth/falsity,
Multiplicity/singularity, Right/wrong, Clear/muddy,
Balanced/unstable, Woman/Man, Day/night,
Factual/fanciful, Interesting/dull, Creative/repetitive,
Temporary/permanent, Yin/Yang, Beauty/ugliness,
Opposites/sameness, Flourishing/failing,
Practical/theoretical, Actual/possible, Logical/confusing.
Plenty of kindling for the fireplace.
These ideas fired up my thinking for many decades.
Dualistic thinking is great kindling for temporary flickers of insight.
Dualistic thinking is fun and pleasurable, naysayers ignored.
Dualistic thinking helps solve some real life problems.
Occasionally, Not Thinking is also quite a useful activity.
Sleeping gives me plenty of my zazen Not Thinking time."
– Memories of Uncle Mike
A Student’s Considerations:
I need to cut up and split up some firewood in my yard today.
Firewood, Fireplace, Fire, Ashes: Time/Uji Dogen.
We enjoy connecting and disconnecting two things: literally and metaphorically.
Two or Three are as delightful as One.
Sleeping = Zazen Dropping Off Body and Mind, Calm, Settled
Related Links, Resources, References
Pulling Onions Over 1,043 One-line Sayings by Mike Garofalo
Chinese Chan Buddhist and Taoist Stories and Koans
Fireplaces, Stoves, Campfires, Kitchens, Pots, Firewood
Brief Spiritual Lessons Database Project: Subject Indexes
Sparks: Brief Spiritual Lessons and Stories
Matches to Start a Kindling of Insight
May the Light from Your Inner Fireplace Help All Beings
Taoist, Chan Buddhist, Zen Buddhist, Philosophers
Catching Phrases, Inspiring Verses, Koans, Meditations
Indexing, Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Resources
Research by Michael P. Garofalo
The Fireplace Records
By Michael P. Garofalo
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