[Wazier]

Gardener: Your erudite comments should not be disturbed by further commentary but are certainly worthy of more poetry. My introduction to both Rilke and Zen was provided by Norman O. Brown, the classicist and Freudian revisionist who provided refuge to many oppressed inquirers from the dogmatic neopositivism and scientism dominant in mid-70s. Brown allowed me to openly reject these ideologies and explore forbidden regions that were labeled as ideologies by these ideologues. His central lesson for me was that “the proper response to poetry is more poetry.” If Brown’s ideas may be reduced to a sound byte, it would be a statement of his distinction between symbolic and literalist consciousness. Literalists, those people who are convinced that they have received immutable Truth and have a duty to use any available means to force, even coerce the rest of humanity to accept their views, are the bane of the human race. I have a trace memory of a saying by Confucius that government is safer in the hands of the greedy because greed cannot be requited without having other people to dispossess of their goods. Ideologues, on the other hand, do not need other people to satisfy their impulses, ergo, they do not hesitate to eliminate infidels and disbelievers (as witnessed by the 250 million plus individuals put to death in the 20th Century by Communists, Fascists, and others of the same ilk). Anyway, I digress. I have had many acquaintances that pursued Eastern philosophy and became “Zen Southern Baptists.” (My current view of these individuals is that they may be influenced by physiological anomalies – there is a condition called temporal lobe epilepsy that is significantly associated with religiosity and strong fundamentalist dispositions.) Yet, my experience with Brown and his synthesis of literature, anthropology, and philosophy suggested a phenomenological approach to understanding activities embedded in different cultural contexts. It is difficult, most often impossible to bridge the gap between cultural frameworks, but with tenacity, some alternative perspectives seep through. I think the main insight for me was the realization that Zen Southern Baptists tend to speak of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, etc. are monolithic and homogenous movements when in fact every tradition is infused with variety. Furthermore, within this variety are activities that work free of ideological constraints without abandoning the symbolic framework of the dominant culture. This variety within the totalitarian and monolithic traditions of the Catholic Church has roots in Augustine whose teachings also became the basis for many of the most rigid dogmas of the Catechism. Some elements of a pattern that seems apparent to me in comparing these various activities is the theme of renewal, transformation, Eros, unity of mind and body and mind with nature, distrust of belief and finality…all of which may be observed in many of the comments of this community of inquirers. While I may have indulged in the opportunity to insinuate my own presuppositions into this thread (I think legitimately), this theme seems definitely palpable; but only when there is enough pressure to push through the sinews and fascia. The theories of psychology that attempt to explain how awareness of time is linked to experience with clocks fail to reach the mysteries of consciousness. Consciousness is inseparable from nature; it is not a disenfranchised spectator of the cosmos. As you point out, language confounds, nature cannot speak about nature, it can only be nature. Where discourse fails, I follow your leap into poetry with more poetry. To the haunting “otherworldliness” of Rilke, I add the images of HD:

Mysteries Remain

The mysteries remain,
I keep the same
cycle of seed-time
and of sun and rain;
Demeter in the grass,
I multiply,
renew and bless
Bacchus in the vine;
I hold the law,
I keep the mysteries true,
the first of these
to name the living, dead;
I am the wine and bread.

I keep the law,
I hold the mysteries true,
I am the vine,
the branches, you,
and you.