In Rumi's Garden
#108
108
In the world of common sense,
yes is yes,
and no is no.
To the Taoist sage,
yes and no are identical.
-- Jos Stabbert
My Al Anon sponsor has assigned me the task of reading the first 164 pages of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. I have been struggling with the chapter (4) addressed to agnostics. In this chapter, in what appears to be his solidifying argument the author (Bill W.?) cites what he takes to be the assumption of the agnostic (but really of the atheist.)
"...Were our contentions true, it would follow that life originated out of nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere."
Certainly a nihilistic statement: ...nothing, ...nothing, ...nowhere. But it seems to me that i have read statements like that somewhere before, and it wasn't in Feuerbach or Dawkins. I am reminded of many of the mystics of many religious traditions including neo-Platonic Christians.
Perhaps that is why the author of The Cloud of Unknowing discouraged "ordinary" Christians and even "ordinary" monks from reading his book, whose intended audience was a single reader for whom he was spiritual director, He probably feared that his heart's passionate reaching out for contact with God who was beyond reason and beyond words would be mistaken for nihilism or atheism. "God cannot be known, he can only be loved."
I cannot say that yes and no mean nothing because i live in a world of illusion where words are supposed to mean something and where people as wise as Taoist sages have warned us that words can give life and words can kill. I am not a mystic, i have not crossed over into Rumi's garden. I live in a world where saying yes when no was called for or vice versa is dishonest and selfish. But i need to remind myself that there is a world, or at least a world view, where compassion and selflessness prevail and where yes and no are identical.
108
In the world of common sense,
yes is yes,
and no is no.
To the Taoist sage,
yes and no are identical.
-- Jos Stabbert
My Al Anon sponsor has assigned me the task of reading the first 164 pages of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. I have been struggling with the chapter (4) addressed to agnostics. In this chapter, in what appears to be his solidifying argument the author (Bill W.?) cites what he takes to be the assumption of the agnostic (but really of the atheist.)
"...Were our contentions true, it would follow that life originated out of nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere."
Certainly a nihilistic statement: ...nothing, ...nothing, ...nowhere. But it seems to me that i have read statements like that somewhere before, and it wasn't in Feuerbach or Dawkins. I am reminded of many of the mystics of many religious traditions including neo-Platonic Christians.
Perhaps that is why the author of The Cloud of Unknowing discouraged "ordinary" Christians and even "ordinary" monks from reading his book, whose intended audience was a single reader for whom he was spiritual director, He probably feared that his heart's passionate reaching out for contact with God who was beyond reason and beyond words would be mistaken for nihilism or atheism. "God cannot be known, he can only be loved."
I cannot say that yes and no mean nothing because i live in a world of illusion where words are supposed to mean something and where people as wise as Taoist sages have warned us that words can give life and words can kill. I am not a mystic, i have not crossed over into Rumi's garden. I live in a world where saying yes when no was called for or vice versa is dishonest and selfish. But i need to remind myself that there is a world, or at least a world view, where compassion and selflessness prevail and where yes and no are identical.