"Before I had studied
Zen
for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters.
When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where
I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But
now that I have got its very substance, I am at rest. For it's just
that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as
waters."
If you want to get to the heart of what human beings lives' are
really all about, if you want to get people to sit bolt
upright and engage (and it could prove to be a very
animated engagement) with what all our carefully
formulated acts, strategies, and modus operandi are based
on, bound up in, and run by, the next time the conversation
turns to the meaning of Life, ante up with "There's no
meaning.". Or the next time the discussion focuses on what the point
of it all is, say off‑handedly "There's no point.".
Be careful how you hear what I'm alluding to here. These are neither
snide nor cynical observations. No, in fact they're waaay
worse than that - worse, that is, if what you're hoping for is they're
not really true. They're statements which are almost impossible to
listen, given how we're thrown to be, given what we've
learned about living, given what we've selectively
interpreted about Life, given how we're run by survival
without realizing we're run by survival, without
confronting we're run by survival.
The meaning we assign to "There's no meaning", the point we assign to
"There's no point" at first is they're statements coming
from apathy, that they're indicative of people with a
gloomy outlook on Life - a Charlie Brown, an
Eeyore perhaps. If either or both of these two statements
have even the teensiest ring of truth, we can't bear to be with
them. We can't bear the thought of Life without meaning. We
can't tolerate the notion there may be no point to it all.
We'll do anything and everything to avoid them being true.
We'll do anything and everything to avoid the domination
of their truth.
It's one of the underpinnings of lives lived without
transformation
that we have no natural ability to listen "There's no
meaning" and "There's no point" as statements heralding enormous
freedom, unbridled joy, and a highly productive way of living.
Say whut? Did you just say "There's no meaning" (of Life)
and "There's no point" (to it all) are statements heralding "enormous
freedom", "unbridled joy", and "a highly productive way of living"?
Everyone knows that's not possible, Laurence. What on
Earth
are you talking about?
There's no meaning of Life. Intrinsically. None. Did we make
up there's a meaning of Life? Yes. We still do. Incessantly.
Did we forget we made up there's a meaning of Life or pretend we
didn't make up there's a meaning of Life? Yes. And if we
didn't make up there's a meaning of Life, we made up there's a meaning
of everything else. When we forgot we made up or pretended we
didn't make up there's a meaning of everything else, we
assumed everything else has meaning, therefore Life
must also have meaning.
There's no point to it all. Intrinsically. None. Did we make up there's
a point to it all? Yes. We still do. Incessantly. Did we forget we made
up there's a point to it all or pretend we didn't make up there's a
point to it all? Yes. And if we didn't make up there's a point to it
all, we made up there's a point to everything else. When we forgot we
made up or pretended we didn't make up there's a point to everything
else, we assumed everything else has a point, therefore it
all must also have a point.
The irony of it is we search for the meaning of Life and the point to
it all as if there's a meaning of Life and a point to it
all, when there's neither a meaning of Life nor a point to it all
other than that which we made up, then forgot we made up
or pretended we didn't make up.
Mountains are just mountains, waters are just waters, there are no
hidden meanings, a
master
is someone who found out (as the two
Zenmasters
may have said). And yes this does herald enormous freedom, unbridled
joy, and a highly productive way of living. Here's how:
This is it. Things are just the way they are (and aren't the way
they aren't). Realizing there's no intrinsic meaning of Life leaves me
free
to
create
any meaning I want (and leaves me
free
to notcreate
any meaning at all), leaves me
free
to invent possibilities of my own for my future and for the outcome of
my life, leaves me
free
to invent ways of being which make a difference. Realizing
there's no intrinsic point to it all leaves me
free
to
create
any point to my life I want. And if I
create
a point to my life that's authentic, it makes a difference (one of the
many ways authentic lives impact is they make a difference).
More profoundly, when I distinguish the
machinery of being human
which is thrown to make meaning, only then do
I discover
who I really am
as distinct from the
meaning making machinery of
being human.
Confronted by no intrinsic meaning in the face of no
intrinsic point to it all, I awaken to
who I really am
as the space, as the
context
in which all made up meaning
shows up.
For I am the author of all meaning. I am the
language
which speaks meaning into existence. And, should I so
choose, I'm also the
language
which speaks no meaning.
In the end, mountains are just mountains and waters are just waters.
That's all.