Self Defence


 

Hui Tzu said to Chuang:

I have a big tree
The kind they call a stink tree.
The trunk is so distorted,
So full of knots,
No one can get a straight plank
Out of it. The branches are so crooked
You cannot cut them up
In any way that makes sense.

There it stands beside the road.
No carpenter will even look at it.

Such is your teaching-
Big and useless.

Chuang Tzu replied:

Have you ever watched the wildcat
Crouching, watching his prey-
This way it leaps, and that way,
High and low, and at last
Lands in the trap.

But have you seen the yak?
Great as a thundercloud
He stands in his might.
Big? Sure,
He can't catch mice!
So for your big tree. No use?

Then plant it in the wasteland
In emptiness.

Walk idly around,
Rest under its shadow;
No axe or bill prepares its end.
No one will ever cut it down.

Useless? You should worry!

(Chuang Tzu) 

Purpose

We are told that life must have meaning and purpose, but who says so?
And why do you choose to believe them?
Are they saying what you want to hear?
Is that it?

Maybe we do not have a purpose. Maybe our actions are largely meaningless.
Do you know for sure?

Utility

We are told that we need to make a contribution. To be useful, to be a tool. Why is this?
Has humanity become happier by acting like a tool?
Do people feel worthwhile and needed because they have a role to fill?

As an adult we are asked to define our contribution, to be something useful.
This may sound positive but how many people are doing things they do not want to do?
How many people are fulfilled?

Often the pursuit of one action has an unforeseen side effect. Unforeseen consequences.
Pollution. Toxic waste. Garbage. Stress. Injury. Physical strain. Psychological problems.

The Industrial Revolution reduced the human being to a cog in the machine.
Is this all we are? Really?


Function

Does everything need to have a function?

Humanity is obsessed with being productive.
We fill our living spaces with junk, and then work harder and harder to acquire more and more.
But why? What is it all in aid of? Do we need all this stuff? Why are we doing this?

A functional life may sound fulfilling and useful, but it also sounds mechanical.
Where is the fun, the pleasure, the creative spirit?
Do you explore who you are? Or what you want from life?


Distractions

TV, food, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, caffeine - these do not free you. They are addictive and harmful.
They are distractions. They dull our minds and use up our time.
Instead of living, we waste our lives 'killing time'.

People attend football matches and jeer as people race up and down the field.
Others are glued to reality TV shows.
Distractions come in all forms.

Some distractions can seem to be more academic or even spiritual:

  1. Reading 'intelligent' newspapers

  2. Gossiping

  3. Politics

  4. Further education

  5. The news/current events

  6. Religion

  7. New Age interests: crystals, auras, chanting...

These may be further illusions, more convincing deceptions... Who can say?


A deliberate life

Not many people actually think to live a deliberate life.
They just do what their friends do, or their family, or the people on TV, in the newspapers, in the magazines.
Instead of waking up and noticing the cage of convention that surrounds us all, most people just carry on sleeping.

Waking up is not easy. It may even prove to be disheartening and lonely.
You will be one voice in a tornado of noise, one person swimming against the current.
No one around you will notice, care about what you are doing, or offer you support.

People may even try and persuade you to stop.
They may invite you to set-aside your quest and re-join the ranks of the sleeping many.


You cannot step twice into the same river...

This is a one-way trip.
As soon as you notice an alternative way to live, you have changed. There is no turning back.
Even if you think to stop, the seeds of your transformation have already been planted, and will continue to grow.

Living a deliberate life is an opportunity for self-fulfilment, a chance to be you, to do what you want to do.
It is a chance to transcend pettiness and ego, to be free of your conditioning.
To die contented and happy. Without regret.




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Page created 1 December 2004