once again, i am trying to abide by natalie goldman's rules from "wild mind." one of the rules is to not stop the writing hand from moving. i think she wrote this in the time of pen/pencil and paper, and not so much in the technological age we live in now, but the principle remains the same... do not stop writing for the duration you set out. i have set a modest time of ten minutes, so... here goes.
today, i made a sirloin beef soup. i utilized the steak my wife made for dinner last night, not the one i ate, of course, but the remaining generous steak, which had been sitting bent in half on a plate, covered over with seran wrap in the refrigerator. i took the steak out, cut it in cubes, and - what's the word - cooked it in a pot (the instructions said a large sauce pan, but the instructions also said to pour in four cups of water, and what i had wasn't all that deep). i poured in the aforementioned four cups, brought it all to a boil, and then poured in the powdered soup and noodle mix, turned the heat low, and allowed the mixture to simmer for about 20 minutes. what i loved most about the whole procedure wasn't the end product (although it was tasty!); it was the whole process, the whole "neatness" and crispness of each action. of course, it was an easy, pre-made recipe. but i suppose that easy recipes like this make it much easier to realize the "zen" (i'm probably abusing the term) of things. that's not to say that "zen" (presence of mind) doesn't exist in very difficult, awkward, complicated tasks; it's all about the approach, the settling, the mindset, i suppose. but all i'm saying is that i approached the task of making this soup (for my kids) with a settled mindset, and the overall experience of it all was "great," simple, perfect. i like this, and if it is in my cards, i hope to keep it, to maintain it...
speaking of "zen" stuff... well, i started playing an app called "osmos" on our new ipad. it is a very well-done game. i think a lot of thought was put into it. of course, being the "contemplative fool" that i am, i read a lot into it, into the gameplay, into the mission of the game. basically, and simply put, you are a cell/orb/planet, and your objective is to absorb anything that is smaller than yourself (by touching it), and keep away from anything that is larger than yourself (which will absorb you). you maneuver by ejecting little pieces of yourself, and using the propulsion of such ejection... many insights in this. first of all, if you "move" too much, via continual ejection, then you diminish yourself, you lose size, and thus you complicate your situation (because the goal of the game is to get big, not small). reminds me that continual, nonstop action will only result in powerless restlessness. this is a truth of life, i have directly experienced this...
another truth which i have "gleaned" from the game is that: it matters little what intentions you have for the universe, if you are small and of little influence, then you will only succeed in getting absorbed by those around you, and all of your good intentions will be for naught. if you manage to strategically influence the universe (i.e., if you work locally, gradually absorbing those whom you CAN influence), then you will eventually have the MASS (momentum/inertia) to absorb others to your cause... this is true as well. it matters little what intentions you bring, and how "hard" you have worked (refer to the previous paragraph about excessive action), you must find a way to accumulate mass/wealth/influence, and primarily via understanding and "going with" the way of things, the tao, the whatever, to be in a position of advantage... this, i suppose, is where zen becomes "strategic."
we usually consider "zen" to be a philosophy of liberation, and we usually (especially here in america) consider liberation to be a wildness, an uncontrollable force that is good in and of itself. but in actuality, such "wildness," if left untempered by an understanding/awareness of the nature of things, the way of the universe, it only becomes a self-aggrandizement, a greediness on the way to the destruction of both the self and the world. that is the delusion that i feel we in the modern world are trapped in, the blind belief in our own "liberation" and "mastery." we must seek liberation, it is true, but we must also learn to align our liberation, our self-hood with what is best for nature and the world at large... this is the complexity of zen, the part that americans in particular are reluctant to acknowledge...
well, ten minutes is up. enough psycho-babble...
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