Nothing noths

"Nozick’s own hypotheses were certainly strange. One was that the primal nothingness might have been so annihilating that it annihilated itself, thus producing being. This echoes a much-mocked line of Heidegger’s: “nothing noths” (“Das Nichts nichtet”)."

'Why Does the World Exist?' by Jim Holt; New York Times, August 2, 2012.

Pain

"The fear of pain is the greatest inhibitor of growth."

--Fritz Perls, Gestalt Therapy Verbatim (1969)

Internalization

"The task of all our knowing is to enable us to incarnate all that we tend only to believe is outside and independent of us."

--Bubba Free John

I was thinking about this quote in terms of what we were talking about the other day--the observation that conflict which appears external, playing out with the people around us, is often mirrored by the same conflict within ourselves. I don't think all conflicts with others can be accurately described as only and truly internal, but I do think that this idea helps clarify a lot of interpersonal strife (by returning to and recognizing the intrapersonal).

This relationship takes on many guises, one of which is the process of projection. The mechanism whereby we cast out a conflict, tension, or ambiguity within the psyche onto the external world, especially other people, is learned pretty early in childhood. It has its purpose--to protect the sanity and coherence of the fledgling ego as it gradually develops in a relatively stressful world. But it is a sign of maturity, I think, when the ego is strong enough to recognize and face its intrapersonal or intrapsychic dynamics that are reflected in its conflicts with other people.

Although Bubba Free John is speaking in a spiritual context--namely, the conviction held by the mystics that one can even "incarnate" (or, rather, realize or recognize) God within oneself--I find the principle also applicable to more "grounded" realms of human experience. Take the perception of beauty--if I find a particular painting beautiful, I believe that the painting, which I feel is outside of me, possesses the beauty. But I think a more accurate appraisal of the situation is that the painting reflects the beauty that I possess within. Or--I have used the metaphor of enjoying a natural landscape elsewhere (and I think I may have encountered the image somewhere in my reading). If I and a squirrel are looking at the Grand Canyon, only I will be able to feel the beauty and grandeur of the vista. The squirrel cannot. So it must be that the beauty is not finally an attribute of the vista, but is an attribute of me. Or perhaps the beauty is inherent in the vista but it takes a perceiver, a subject, that is capable of registering that beauty for it to be expressed or exchanged. Either way, my capacity as a human is crucial to the manifestation, or perception, of this beauty. And if I realize that, I have taken the first step towards incarnating the beauty within. Because it is certainly there, I just need to find it.

I think this is one of the general principles behind the many schools of meditation across the world, especially those involving visualization. But that is for another day.

Natural vs. conventional

Love is probably the emotion most talked about and extolled by Americans and probably also the least understood. In large measure this is because love seems a natural human emotion that requires no explanation. It is taken for granted that love for one's spouse and children is a universal element in human experience, something that men of all places and ages have felt in common. Affection and warmth are universal, to be sure, but not love in the middle-class sense of the word. What seems to be a natural emotional response is largely a conventional response.

The range of human emotional potential is broad, and that set of responses which accorded the highest value in one society may not be highly regarded in another. Thus, filial piety was considered the finest emotion in traditional Chinese society, patriotism was the transcendent emotion in ancient Sparta, the Puritans extolled the fear of God above all else, and the modern Americans exalt love.

--Gail and Snell Putney, The Adjusted American: Normal Neuroses in the Individual and Society (1964)

An excellent book by two sociologists, analyzing some of the assumptions underlying mid-century, middle class American society, and their psychological ramifications. Particularly interesting are discussions, like the one above, about the consequences of equating natural with conventional. (They use "love" in a few different ways in the book, some more consistent and precise than others, so it's difficult to get the full sense of that discussion from just this quote. I am emphasizing the "emotional potential" point more here).

(J)

...symbols, theories and opinions...

  Everything written symbols can say has already passed by.  They are like tracks left by animals.  That is why the masters of meditation refuse to accept that writings are final.  The aim is to reach true being by means of those tracks, those letters, those signs - but reality itself is not a sign, and it leaves no tracks.  It doesn't come to us by the way of letters or words.  We can go toward it, by following those words and letters back to what they came from.  But so long as we are preoccupied with symbols, theories and opinions, we will fail to reach the principle.
  But when we give up symbols and opinions, are we left in the utter nothingness of being?
  Yes.

Kimura Kyuho, Kenjutsu Fushigi Hen [On the Mysteries of Swordsmanship], 1768

(H)

A Thousand Peaceful Cities

"I'm concerned with the spiritual aspect," Mr. Trąba started to giggle unexpectedly and in a very peculiar manner. "I'm concerned with the spiritual aspect, plus practice, of course.  Training is the way of life.  Moreover, one mustn't forget that this," Mr Trąba raised the crossbow to his shoulder, "is the weapon of the ancient Chinese.  And the ancient Chinese say that when you shoot at your target, you must free yourself from trivial thoughts of the necessity of hitting it.  The shot must have a spiritual scope, whereas the shooter must remain in intense tension until the shot falls upon the target like a ripe fruit falling, like snow from a bamboo leaf..."

(H)

Truth is a pathless land.

"I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organised; nor should any organisation be formed to lead or coerce people along any particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see how impossible it is to organise a belief. A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organise it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallised; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others."

--Jiddu Krishnamurti, from this speech

This reminds me of don Juan's statement about all paths leading nowhere.