"Of all the
disciplines
that I studied, practiced, learned,
Zen
was the essential one. It was not so much an influence on
me; rather, it created space. It allowed those things that were there
to be there. It gave some form to my
experience.
And it built up in me the critical mass from which was kindled the
experience
that produced
est.
Although the
est
training
is not
Zen,
nor even anything like it, some features of
est
resonate with
Zen
teaching and practice. It is entirely appropriate for persons
interested in
est
to be interested also in
Zen."
Man! That's
mastery
for you. So
Zen
was the essentialdiscipline?
... and I'm particularly interested in / enthralled by his emphasis on
the descriptor "essential". Why?
Hmmm ... since he's cited
Zen
as the essential
discipline
... I'm asking myself "At what could he be pointing, both with his
quote, as well as with its vocally italicized 'essential'?".
Given the plethora of
intersections
(a term coined by
Professor William Warren
"Bill" Bartley III,
Werner's
official biographer)
Werner
was exploring / immersed in before that fateful day out of time on the
Golden Gate Bridge
in March of 1971 when
he got transformation for the
first time,
it's far from trivial that he designates
Zen
as the essential one. Exactly what did
Zen
provide before March 1971 which facilitated and contributed to what
happened later on the iconic
Golden Gate Bridge?
Now to be clear about this, I've not asked
Werner
personally or directly (at least not yet) what he means by designating
Zen
as the "essential"
discipline.
It's not come up in
our conversations
so far. So I'm wondering if I can come up with a possible explanation
for myself. To this end, whatever I've read of what he's spoken about
it, I've set aside (at least for now) to see if I can discover why
Zen
was essential in facilitating (or at least in playing an essential role
in) creating the space in which was kindled,
for the first time,
transformation
and the possibility of being transformed. So please allow me to
walk
you through this next, knowing it's only my conjecture.
The gentle, sublime art of
Zen,
is having things be the way they are, and the way they aren't - in
other words, in having things be ... just ... so. A thing is
the thing in itself. It has no intrinsic meaning other
than the meaning we ascribe to it (which is a subject for
another conversation on another occasion).
Mountains are mountains, and
trees are trees,
both before and after
Zenenlightenment
/ satori. It's only during our "smart rat" stage between the
two, that we insist on trying to figure out what mountains
mean and what trees mean. The art of
Zen
then, is assigning to things their own space, their own place, and
their own time, without adding any meaning or significance. Things are.
They just are. The thing in itself, is perfect. And it's of the
utmost supremely profound beauty that anything in itself, is perfect.
Really it is.
And that, it could be
tersely
said, is what
Zen
reveals when it's aimed at the
physical universe
and all the objects in it. But
Zen's
also aimed at people, at ourselves, at living, and at
Life itself.
And when it's aimed at people, at living, and at
Life itself,
the same sublimity becomes enlivened as when it's aimed at the
physical universe
and all the objects in it, resulting in the same profundity. But it's
when we aim
Zen
at ourselves that something truly extraordinary becomes
possible, that something truly extraordinary can happen, something
truly extraordinary which I'll propose here may have been (just
may have been ...) what gave form to
Werner's
experience.
The thing as the thing in itself, with no meaning or significance added
... is, given our typical
thinking,
remarkable. And that's one order of business. Who I am, as the
thing in itself, with no meaning or significance added, is another
order of business entirely. The way I am, as the thing in
itself, with no meaning or significance added, is another order of
business entirely. My mind, my
opinions,
and my
interpretations,
as things in themselves, with no meaning or significance added, is
another order of business entirely. So with
Werner
aiming
Zen
at himself, it's just possible it built up in him the critical mass
from which was kindled the
experience
which produced transformation. That may be what happened ie it may be
why he cites
Zen
the
discipline,
as "essential": no
Zen
before, no form for
experiencing
transformation later.
And look: I did say "may be". All of the above are purely
my own speculations. One day I may ask him for a definitive answer.
And if I get one, I'll
share
it with you.
