Tuesday, February 11, 2014

sayings and cmments 5




      SAYINGS: 

         "The spider dances her web without knowing there are flies that will get caught in it.  The fly, dancing nonchalantly on a sunbeam, gets caught without knowing what lies in store.  But through both of them "It" dances, and inside and outside are united in this dance.  So, too, the archer hits the target without having aimed-more I cannot say."  (Eugen Herrigel, German Philosopher)



     COMMENT:

           Any one who is familiar with Zen teachings can tell that this saying is dipped in  Zen batter.  As a matter of fact, Mr. Herrigel was a student and practitioner of Zen Buddhism.

The meaning of the "saying" can be unraveled be explaining the meaning of "It."  "It" is that unmodified, continuous consciousness which abides within all manifest things and beings.  This One Consciousness is the Witness or Spectator of all the actions and experiences of every state we are in or pass through.  The One Consciousness  pierces through all the states or planes of Being, and serves to uphold the memory-whether complete or incomplete-of each state's experiences.  Because it is unmodified, it is the foundation of unity and unification of all things and beings, bringing it an attribute of omniscience.  This One Consciousness is termed the Higher Self or in Sanskrit, Atman or in our Western Civilization, some kind of ramification of God. 

Since the One Consciousness, creates, sustains, and restructures, all aspects of life comes under Its preview; that means that the spider and the fly, even though their state of consciousness is low, the One Consciousness initiates the conditions in which they act and the appropriate results.  And since the human archer, is acting under a higher self-consciousness, with the meaning that he is to rely upon the One Consciousness, which is differentiated in man, as his higher self.  When the human archer picks up his bow with the idea of hitting the target, the arrow will hit the target without the archer aiming,  because the archer is relying on his Higher Self  and there is no difference in time between the arising of the idea of hitting the target and its expression in manifested objects.  To carry the logic a step further,  even before the arrow flies the target is hit.

here is a  BONUS SAYING:

           "I'm not young enough to know everything."
                      (J.M. Berrie)


COMMENT:

You must be over forty to understand this one.






















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