Ok, I have done a bit more reading and thinking, and I am starting to form a picture of what it might be. I think that the reason it is so difficult for me to accept is that the whole point of Zen is to think in an intuitive way that is totally in opposition to logic and reason. My mind is perhaps more logical that most (here come the flames!) and so I have a particularly hard time with Zen. A challenge!
So I have come to the suspicion that perhaps there are other forms of thinking that differ from the way that I think. I don’t mean differences of opinion, I mean different styles of thought. It is possible that all the stupid people aren’t stupid, just different. My way is still the best, though.
This discovery has reminded me of arguments I used to have with Jai when she tried to explain art to me. To me, at that time, she was just talking shit, making no real sense. Perhaps instead she was just thinking differently. I think I will have to buy a Zen book. You could buy one for me, if you want. Check out my wish list.
This page helped a bit.
Ha, interesting! May I remind you here about an essay I once wrote about women and nature which was written from an ecofeministic point of view. I remember feeling quite enlightened when I finished writing it but when trying to explain it to you I just kept hitting a wall. Which is funny because part of the essay was about the fact that we should try to get beyond this idea of dualism and patriarchy in Western society. Dualism is the tendency to artificially divide the world into two opposites such as male/ female, reason/emotion. Often this also leads to ranking one side higher than the other. Dualism is a standard practice of patriarchy, which is a practice whereby traditional male beliefs, values & ways of thinking are taken to be the only or the most superior ways. The focus of Western society on scientific thinking has been pointed at as patriarchy. I’m a uni student and so for me too it is hard to imagine that there are other valid ways of thinking. I am not saying here that the feminist point of view or the female way of thinking should be the most dominant, just that it is one of many other valid ways of thinking, learning, perceiving. After not being able to get this point of view through to you at that time, I am pleased to see you write that you are opening yourself up. So….do I make any sense to you this time?
And you call yourself a Jedi. You must unlearn what you have learnt. Let go….