Everything.thepureaxiomNovember 1 2005, 15:08:25 UTC
In a strange sense, we are everything. Granted, this isn't entirely related to your question, it is however something that was brought to mind.
This is an excerpt from the book Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse -------------------------------------------------------------------- Siddhartha bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, and weighed it in his hand.
"This," he said playing with it, "is a stone, and will, after a certain time, perhaps turn into soil, and will turn from soil into a plant or animal or human being. In the past, I would have said: This stone is just a stone, it is worthless, it belongs to the world of the Maja; but because it might be able to become also a human being and a spirit in the cycle of transformations, therefore I also grant it importance. Thus, I would perhaps have thought in the past. But today I think: this stone is a stone, it is also animal, it is also god, it is also Buddha, I do not venerate and love it because it could turn into this or that, but rather because it is already and always everything-- and it is this very fact, that it is a stone, that it appears to me now and today as a stone, this is why I love it and see worth and purpose in each of its veins and cavities, in the yellow, in the gray, in the hardness, in the sound it makes when I knock at it, in the dryness or wetness of its surface. There are stones which feel like oil or soap, and others like leaves, others like sand, and every one is special and prays the Om in its own way, each one is Brahman, but simultaneously and just as much it is a stone, is oily or soapy, and this is this very fact which I like and regard as wonderful and worthy of worship.--But let me speak no more of this. The words are not good for the secret meaning, everything always becomes a bit different, as soon as it is put into words, gets distorted a bit, a bit silly--yes, and this is also very good, and I like it a lot, I also very much agree with this, that this what is one man's treasure and wisdom always sounds like foolishness to another person." --------------------------------------------------------------------
In this sense, we need not become everything to know who we are.
That speech, about finding our own answers last week, that was in answer to a question I had asked Gulner. The answer he gave to the class, to seek our own answers, that is what we so often miss.
So busy looking beyond ourselves, we forget who we are, we forget what we are looking for, we lose sight of the truth which should be evident within ourselves.
Re: Everything.snowmagnoliasNovember 1 2005, 18:45:33 UTC
"In this sense, we need not become everything to know who we are."
I think we all know WHAT we are - but who we are is something else.
In one definition, who we are is shaped by time and experience I believe. In another definition who we are is pre-defined... "Who" knows... I'll add you as friend Thanks for sharing. You are a great thinker! I think saw you with that Hesse book in class.
This is an excerpt from the book Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Siddhartha bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, and weighed it
in his hand.
"This," he said playing with it, "is a stone, and will, after a
certain time, perhaps turn into soil, and will turn from soil into a
plant or animal or human being. In the past, I would have said: This
stone is just a stone, it is worthless, it belongs to the world of the
Maja; but because it might be able to become also a human being and a
spirit in the cycle of transformations, therefore I also grant it
importance. Thus, I would perhaps have thought in the past. But today
I think: this stone is a stone, it is also animal, it is also god, it is
also Buddha, I do not venerate and love it because it could turn into
this or that, but rather because it is already and always everything--
and it is this very fact, that it is a stone, that it appears to me now
and today as a stone, this is why I love it and see worth and purpose in
each of its veins and cavities, in the yellow, in the gray, in the
hardness, in the sound it makes when I knock at it, in the dryness or
wetness of its surface. There are stones which feel like oil or soap,
and others like leaves, others like sand, and every one is special and
prays the Om in its own way, each one is Brahman, but simultaneously and
just as much it is a stone, is oily or soapy, and this is this very fact
which I like and regard as wonderful and worthy of worship.--But let me
speak no more of this. The words are not good for the secret meaning,
everything always becomes a bit different, as soon as it is put into
words, gets distorted a bit, a bit silly--yes, and this is also very
good, and I like it a lot, I also very much agree with this, that this
what is one man's treasure and wisdom always sounds like foolishness to
another person."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
In this sense, we need not become everything to know who we are.
That speech, about finding our own answers last week, that was in answer to a question I had asked Gulner. The answer he gave to the class, to seek our own answers, that is what we so often miss.
So busy looking beyond ourselves, we forget who we are, we forget what we are looking for, we lose sight of the truth which should be evident within ourselves.
At least that's what I think.
Reply
I think we all know WHAT we are -
but who we are is something else.
In one definition, who we are is shaped by time and experience I believe.
In another definition who we are is pre-defined...
"Who" knows...
I'll add you as friend
Thanks for sharing. You are a great thinker!
I think saw you with that Hesse book in class.
Reply
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