The following quotes describe ecopath's from
a ZEN perspective.
A journey of a thousand miles starts under one's feet.
-- Lao Tzu
To me this say we should focus on our present environment and
not on grand principles or idealistic future goals. Our future
is created by small steps in the present. Having an ambitious
goal may be useful, but our daily actions and feedback from
these actions is the only reality we will ever know.
It is in the beginning we are most accurately aware of
what we don't know. This not-knowing can seem at first
like simple ignorance, but if we stay with it -- if we
don't reject our not-knowing it becomes part of our
intrinsic wisdom. -- Chop Wood, Carry Water
When we assume our knowledge is complete there is little
chance we can learn new ideas or move freely along a path.
This idea is part of humility, tolerance, and respect for
diversity. Most harm is done by those who think they
know and have little humility/tolerance to provide balance.
It is the function of many cultural structures to explain
things (science, religion, etc.) but the truth is we know
very little and accepting this fact makes us uncomfortable.
We have little control of ourselves, the universe, our
mortality, the future, the weather, and as we dig into matter
we see it may be just energy. So what? What makes us think
we can control, explain, and dominate everything.
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make our end is to make a beginning
The end is where we start from. -- T. S. Eliot
The concept of "beginnings" and "endings" is an abstract
concept which is applied to a flowing universe. The world
never stops or begins it just goes on and on. Small events
trigger other events and life goes on. If we reach some
milestone it is an opportunity to begin another step. We are
stuck with all that has come before and we can't stop time
from moving forward. Still, we try to identify endings and
points where time stops.
Why do we worry about "beginnings" and "endings" in our
lives. It can get in the way of connecting with the present.
We create milestones and focus on them forgetting to laugh
along the way. It is much better to view milestones as a
tool and not confuse it with life. Milestones don't feel,
think, act... they are just a tool.
jeff
