h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oh, I remember what the real topic was...













But I wasn't going to dwell on the past.

Ah. Past, future, present, all is one.

Oooohm.

zoooooooom

How very zen.

There is no strawberry.

(long story)

If I had time I'd ask... but you can simply post it here and then we'll *all* know about it.

I had actually posted this somewhere else recently, but once more won't hurt.

Dr. Lou Gallo, my English professor from last spring, told us this Zen koan once, and it sorta speaks volumes about him, and how he thinks people should live their lives.

A man was being chased through the countryside, and he suddenly fell over the edge of a cliff. Somehow, he caught hold of a root sticking out about halfway down, and hung on for dear life with both hands. The men who were chasing him stood at the edge of the cliff, saying they could help him up, but he'd of course have to go with them. Below him was a ferocious (and very hungry) tiger, circling, just waiting for the root to break. The man glanced quickly between his two fates, knowing he was going to die either way. But once, when looking up towards his persuers, he noticed a tiny, perfect strawberry growing on a plant that had somehow attached itself to the cliff face.

The story ends there as he told it to us - that's typical of Zen koans. They're to make you think, to make you wonder about the nature of Zen and everything relating to it. The epiphany does not like in the koan itself, but what you bring to it, and how you interpret it and what you do after hearing it.



Wow, I learned something.

So how do *you* interpret it and what do you do after hearing it?

I sorta see it as disregarding dangers on all sides... like, you have to sorta allow the happy things to *make* you happy even if you have no chance of reaching them. Or reaching for them at the cost of your life. Can you imagine how lovely that'd taste falling down, despite the consequence?

That story reminds me of one I've got in a couple of collections at home... If I remember to look, I'll put it up (definately not a copyright issue--it's a few centuries old...)

Mhmm... I'm reading a few others in GEB, the crazy math-philosophy-art book I'm reading right now.