On Sat, 09 Apr 2011 18:24:52 -0700, Louis E. Schmier wrote: >No, Mike, I have to disagree. You're using the term, "perfection," as >hyperbole. As long as we're human, perfection is an impossible goal. >What you call perfection, isn't.
Sorry, Louis, you're wrong. See, two can play your game. >There once lived a priest whose duty it was to tend the garden of a Zen >temple. The priest loved trees, bushes and flowers and took great pride >in his work. A low wall separated the temple from another, smaller shrine >next door, where an aged Zen master lived. [snip] If you have a copy of Ioanna Salajan's Zen Comics II, see pages 18-19 for the different version of your story but this time with an "enlightened" disciple, not a befuddled one. From the outset of your story it is clear that the priest "loved" and took "pride" and tried to make his garden "presentable" -- this reflects his unenlightened state. In your story the priest is engaging in impression management and bourgeois sensibility (i.e., bourgeois in the following sense, 2nd def in Miriam-Webster: "marked by a concern for material interests and respectability and a tendency toward mediocrity"). You do not want to use such a model for defining the word perfect because the situation clearly makes its use bogus. Using the WORD "perfect" or "perfection" means that one is engaging in cognitive distinctions that that distort consciousness. In contrast pointing that ACTIONS can be perfect or achieve perfection, as "being in the zone" or in a state of "flow" means there is nothing between consciousness and action -- one is in a perfect state in their action. Perfection in action is possible and should certainly be sought. In another post by Louis Schmier later in the day, he wrote: >Hey, you good people are always asking for studies, citations, etc. So, >instead of being intuitive, "I think" or "I feel" or holding up Zen above a >scientific study (which doesn't rub me the wrong way), take a peek at the >HBR's Who is HBR? Herbert Broflovski Raskolnikov? Oh, you mean the Harvard Business Review. Why do you require people to use their telepathic abilities to read your mind? If not, providing a better formatted citation/reference will make it easier for you. By the way, given that the whole issue is dedicated to "failure" was there a particular article you wanted to use as evidence for you position? If so, why not identify it? >"Failure Issue," and read one of your own, Martin Seligman or another, Carol >Dweck, or Amy Edmonson, or the work of..... Louis, what is the point of telling someone read Marty Seligman (a one time decent experimental psychologist who got corrupted by the dark side of clinical psychology and has become the Darth Vader of positive psychology) or the others if you won't identify which specific article or chapter you're referring to (for the record: I've read alot of Seligman's work and I have no idea how it related to your conception that perfection can't be achieved). Clearly you think your position is supported by something that they found in empirical research or theorizing or delusion. So, what exactly are you referring to? If I may, Louis, let me suggest you look at the concept of "flow" that was mentioned by William Scott earlier in this thread. I could tell you to read one of "Chicago Mike's" (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) books on flow but that would be unacceptably vague and counterproductive -- how would you know what book(s) or article(s) I have in mind? Instead, allow me to provide some description of flow from its Wikipedia entry (Yadda-yadda): |According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is |a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing |the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions |are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned |with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the |agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling |of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task[2] although flow |is also described (below) as a deep focus on nothing but the activity - not |even oneself or one's emotions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29 For those fond of bullet points, here's a list of descriptors from Wikipedia: |Csíkszentmihályi identifies the following ten factors as accompanying |an experience of flow [3][4] | |1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are |attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities). |Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should both be high.[5] | |2. Concentrating, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of |attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity |to focus and to delve deeply into it). | |3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action |and awareness. | |4. Distorted sense of time, one's subjective experience of time is altered. | |5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course |of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed). | |6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too |easy nor too difficult). | |7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity. | |8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action. | |9. A lack of awareness of bodily needs (to the extent that one can reach a |point of great hunger or fatigue without realizing it) | |10. Absorption into the activity, narrowing of the focus of awareness down |to the activity itself, action awareness merging. | |Not all are needed for flow to be experienced. The extent to which this state has been achieved in different cultures and historical periods is given in this quote: |For millennia, practitioners of Eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism |and Taoism have honed the discipline of overcoming the duality of self and |object as a central feature of spiritual development. Eastern spiritual |practitioners have developed a very thorough and holistic set of theories |around overcoming duality of self and object, tested and refined through |spiritual practice instead of the systematic rigor and controls of modern science. | |The phrase being at one with things is a metaphor of Csíkszentmihályi's flow |concept.[citation needed] Practitioners of the varied schools of Zen Buddhism |apply concepts similar to flow to aid their mastery of art forms, including, in |the case of Japanese Zen Buddhism, Aikido, Cheng Hsin, Judo, Honkyoku, Kendo |and Ikebana. In yogic traditions such as Raja Yoga reference is made to a |state of flow[19] in the practice of Samyama, a psychological absorption |in the object of meditation.[20] Theravada Buddhism refers to "access |concentration," which is a state of flow achieved through meditation and |used to further strengthen concentration into jhana, and/or to develop insight. It should be noted that similar states can be obtained in certain Christian and Judaic practices which make use of meditation as well as in Islam (e.g., in the Sufi sect, the "whirling dervishes" attempt to reach this state). But why don't you read what Chicago Mike has to say about it yourself. No, don't go trying to locate his books and scanning them to find what I'm talking about (or go ahead and do that -- you'll do or not do), instead read portions of this chapter on books.google.com: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2Cr5rP8jOnsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA89&dq=Cs%C3%ADkszentmih%C3%A1lyi+flow&ots=ejC1fwGE-R&sig=EkpaKctY7ZyiCUlV3IzD8NzteKM#v=onepage&q&f=false or http://tinyurl.com/chicagomike001 >Gotta go proof for mistakes in my new book. In summary, if you have Ioanna Salajan's Zen Comics I, see pages 72-73. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=9927 or send a blank email to leave-9927-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
