[Buddha-l] Re: Greetings from Oviedo

[Chan Fu]

On 10/1/05, Joy Vriens <joy.vriens at nerim.net> wrote:
> Hi Chan Fu,
>
> >>The world is a bit mad and paranoid at the moment.
>
> > "At the moment"...? Well, perhaps if you take "the moment"
> > to be the last 3 or 4 millennia. Paranoia seens to be encoded
> > directly in DNA - ref: "fear of snakes, etc.". It' is, and has been
> > for quite a while, "mad as a box of frogs".
>
> Sure, with the difference that it has been largely de-spiritualised,
> which I initially thought to be a good thing, but I seem to be changing
> ideas on that point. Being de-spiritualised (and I am not including New
> Age products in spirituality, which is only another form of consumerism
> or religion as an expression of identity-angst), it is like it's being
> locked in in a closed circle. Looking around instead of looking up. And
> madness and paranoia with no issue is thousand times worse. There seems
> to be a new thirst for spiritual things, but I am afraid it will be
> market and media controlled. I am quite pessismistic about people and
> their ability to give expression to genuin freedom in the present
> situation. Our present world is also one that believes in activity and
> abhors passivity. Its hyperactivity exacerbates the madness and paranoia.

Wow! That's about 2 issues per sentence and it might take me
a week just to parse them all, not to mention replies. Are
you willing to wait for the book?

Let me be grossly general for a moment, ok?

What I've seen is all the mind-noise obscuring clarity,
but that doesn't say much, does it? Perhaps "spiritual
things" can be understood in the psychology of self -
of being human with this marvelous mind/brain gadget.
Personally, there is so much to be amazed at that I can't
help but be amazed. Is that spirituality? I don't know.
Are these capabilities of mind spiritual? Perhaps they are.
In any case, for me, this moment of being is enough to be joyful about.
Is that spiritual? I don't know. I don't know if not being able to
fit all this beauty into some intellectual construct is spiritual.
All I know is that it's beautiful, and that includes all our knowledge,
perceptions, thoughts and actions, as part of it.
So, maybe, my choices are the spiritual part of it?

> > Hello, Joy!  Fancy meeting you in a place where I was only
> > intending to read!  Now, if I can just find Jonathan and
> > a few cows...
>
> How is Jonathan, I miss him. You on the other hand don't give me enough
> time to miss you, but I miss you too, especially your songs. ;-)

I really don't know. He vanished just as we were discussing
the merits of gurnseys vs swiss vs holsteins and beginning to
have a "good conversation" (a la "Last Samurai"). :(
One of his favorite expressions was "madder than a box of frogs",
so, ex memorium and intellectum, it was added to my
idiomatic vocabulary (which is just a museum...).
He wasn't ill, so perhaps he's simply out looking for better
restaurants or somesuch.

Richard has disavowed music, so in the spirit of "no
singing in the audience", I doubt I'll be tempted to sing
in this particular basement, but I've missed your debates
- like this one. Even more, I'm glad to see your
unique mind still influencing this world. Do we, intellectually,
select for quality (Pirsig)? I don't know, but it makes for a nice
dream - just like idea of spirituality. Actually, I've only
recently wondered whether it's testable and it may well be.

As for friendship, I've found that I must be very careful about
claiming that. But that wariness doesn't discourage hope.
I'm very happy to see you again, though.

be
well,
cf