Hey, Moe, Did you hear the one. . . ?
abe: Hey, Moe, Did you hear the one about the king?
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moe: Did that one involve poultry, war, and a Middle Eastern deity?
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abe: No, I think the one you're thinking about involves absolutely everything; but yes, I guess, then it would involve the one about the king--and involve poultry, war, and a Middle Eastern deity, to boot. Wouldn't it?
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moe: Yeah, yer right. So... which king is it? The dreamy one, the one in boxer shorts, or the one with a dependancy problem? If I knew what "the king" yer ask'n about, I could answer ya or na. Unless yer talk'n about "The King" ...
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abe: Wow, now you've got me so confused I can't remember which king is the king in the one about the king. With all these kings, where do we turn to know? With thrones shining down from so many places on high, how do I know which way to prostrate?
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moe: Why would you wanna do that? You were gonna crack a king joke just a second ago and now yer running 'round looking fer a direction to lo' yerse'f. You remind me of my dog, Merle, chasing his tail. And that reminds me of a joke: What did the king say to the Grim Reaper?
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abe: "Well now once my conscience left me, I found a hot place to dwell. It's down at the end of all my lies--The Gates of Hell."
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moe: Hahaha! I just spit my coffee all over the place. [Sorry Honey! Can you wipe off the kids?]. It took a few sips of java to get that one, but what an eruption when I did. Funny!
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Say have you recalled what you wanted to say about the king before I ventured on this detour?
posted by Santari Santari @ 9:22 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
Abraham: At the end of the day, when I lay down upon the firmness of my carpet upon the firmness of the ground, everything feels okay to be finished. Then, when I wake, roll up my carpet and lift my head, it feels like I have to unknot the threads of some tangled eternity untill a finish comes again.
Moses: It does feel like a thankless Sysiphean task, this knotting and unknotting. Just when I figure I have solved one of life's conundrums another buds up and flowers with the unmistakable aroma of decay. When I was a younger man this cycle really pulled me down. Once, at that so desperate age of 17, I looked at that knot as an chance to escape this endless pulling and tugging. I had two choices with that eternal rope hanging in front of me. Obviously I chose to use it to swing further into existence.
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Now, years later, I like to think that my approach to these knots is more akin to a Japanese tea ceremony where the presence of the knot is not troublesome, but rather it merely is an object to be examined and its imperfections and beauty admired. And the the tugging and pulling become a slow and methodical ritual. Gone is the worry that tomorrow there will be another knot to tend to. Instead, I sit and regard the unknotting as an end unto itself: an act of beauty.
Abraham: Wow, you sound like a saved man. If you walk that talk, people will follow your shine. They'll name their goats after you and build cities atop your footprints.
Moses: Ahhh, now there's the knot of all knots: turning the aesthetic into function. Of course you're right because I can feel that sting whenever a truth is coupled with an action. I never cease to be amazed by the alchemy between words and action, beauty and function - the proverbial power of words and the shine when put into action. But the sting is actually less mysterious than the alchemy of words: it is the gulf that sometimes exists between what is said and what is done. In this gulf I can find insecurities and fears conspiring with duplicity of motive to inspire a hopeless lethargy against action. Ironic, isn't it? The energy spent on not doing is almost equal or greater than doing. If you equate the shine with the tang of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil, it takes a lot more energy to keep that hammer up than it does to letting it fall and create. I suppose this gulf is what separates us from the Divine; when God spoke there was no doubt or hesitation between the word and the action. All the great teachers that we've known shone because of what they did rather than just what they said.
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As for the goats and whatnot, haha, that's all we need to find an excuse to keep on sitting here and do nothing more than be deep and loquacious on our carpets.
Abraham: Very nice. You're making me want to wear a t-shirt with your "white-man likeness" on it.
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Your blacksmith's hammer and the contrasting energies for lifting it up and letting it hit remind me of those old yingy-yangy Chinese guys who could see the invisible in its invisiblity and feel the presence of absence in its very absence. When they hesitated it meant they weren't hesitating to hesitate. For them, doing nothing was a very important part of everything, and one of the most difficult things to "do" well. They'd sit together for days and days, speaking in the most loquacious silence. Once, when I was visiting, I heard an old wall say, "The most powerful mind-altering agent is patience."
Moses: Haha, I guess I'm approaching my Andy Warhol moment... well at least with you. Thanks.
That reminds me of my old friend Dr. Cheu years ago always laughing at me spinning around trying to be whirling dervish whenever I had to ponder something of apparent consequence, which happened to be practically every moment. What he was laughing at, in essence, was my worrying about hesitation - to use your example - and not recognize that even that moment possesses its own tang. Kind of like what that latter-day philosopher Walter Cronkite use to say: "It is what it is , and what is is what is." Even Mother use to paste a sticker on the back of her camel saying LET GO & LET GOD, which always caused bales of laughter considering what would happen if you didn't let go of the camel's tail.
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Still, I can't help thinking that this approach is merely a justification for procrastination, an excuse for not acting when the opportunity presents itself. After all, Dr. Cheu didn't become a teacher by merely sitting around thinking beautiful thought or Mother become mother of a whole tribe without some considerable effort on her part. There is a rightness to what you and they say - that I can sense - but I just can't crack that nut. I guess I'm still whirling and Dr. Cheu is still laughing.
Abraham: What's the difference between procrasternation and patience?
Moses: I guess the difference lies in the quality of stillness. The stillness of patience is sure and calm where the stillness of procrastination is edgy and muddied.
Abraham: Very nice, Grasshoppa. Where do those different stillness come from?
Moses: Well, Masta, the first stillness comes from what Father often said, "Acceptance, Acceptance, Acceptance." And the second stillness is merely the lack of acceptance. Given that I use to get very annoyed with Father for repeating those word to me at least twice a day, I'd say the quality of my stillness continues to be edgy. How's that for an answer Mr. Limpid Pools of Tranquility?
Abraham: That's very nice, too. You're really doing well on this. I hope you're not cheating.
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Now, can you tell me how acceptance and the lack of acceptance come about?
Moses: Doubt. And with this answer I did "cheat" because you gave me the answer.
Abraham: Very sly. The doubt of what?
Mose: It doesn't matter what you doubt. Just as long as either the veracity of what is being confronted is questioned or self-doubt take hold. To answer what a person may doubt is to speculate where that particle of dust you just breathed in came from.
Abraham: By "self-doubt" do you mean lacking confidence or undermining the supports that lead us to the assumption that we exist?
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The former is a pair of toy handcuffs. The latter is the doorway out of prison.
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