Edgar Nice to meet a fellow Missourian . . . The Show Me State, which should easily translate into Zen experience. In fact, for years I have sort of played with the conservative/libertarian/quasi live and let live nature of rural Missourians as an example of Emersonian Universalism. Missouri is not the South and not truly the Midwest either,having its culture in a Gateway position. At the turn of the century it was progressive, the St Louis Worlds's Fair. It's history an amalgamation of French, Spanish, Native American (Cherokee/Osage/Cahokia), English and Irish filtered from Appalachian region, and of course African American seeking refuge and work after the Civil War. It is also a lake and river culture, along with soft mountains, which appealed to Scottish immigrants. Sufism took hold early there, much earlier than many places in the US, in the form of the Inayati Tariqa of Hazrat Inayat Khan. There is and has been, at least until recent political times, a live and live way about its inhabitants. Of course John Ashcroft would be a sign and symptom of the regions slide into evangelical fundamentalism, but primarily out of fear mongering of both right and left cultural hysteria. When I was a kid, hanging in a small town, there were some gay boys around, I remembering the only thing that my grandmother said about them is that they were a little odd, no real denunciation to even discuss it. Or, when we picked up using slang about blacks from the city of St Louis, my granparents, being old school in methods, but progressive and knowing right from wrong, washed our mouths out with soap. I used to watch the Porter Wagoner show which featured Dolly Parton, and my great grandfather and grandfather never missed it if they had the time, and of course we all know why, and my great grandmother and grandmother knew as well. It was a time and a place in America where people minded their own business, didn't flout their Jesus at everyone like a flag, and kept their voting records to themselves, although my great grandfather caned a man on the streets of Dixon Missouri for trying to pin a Nixon button on him during the 1960 election. He was old school Democrat and farmer, and by todays standards, a Conservative/Libertarian -- careful with his money, keeper of traditions, and left others alone. When I was a kid and early embraced Zen as well as other paths, of course at first it was far too exotic and not understood, however it did not take long for the elders to see that there was a difference between ruining yourself with excess and embracing the middle path of Buddhism. In fact, they knew how bankrupt the Christianity they saw around them truly was, and where it was heading. So on the surface, these Missouri Yokels, commonly referred to as fly over on MSNBC, might appear to be dismissable and culturally irrelevant in contrast to Lady Gaga and Oprah, however simple is not all the simple. In fact, I would venture to say that there is less flexibility in current urban experience of fico scores, hip hop, mortgage/no mortgage, and the lastest and greatest afforded by Madonna, Octomommy, Steven Spielberg, and the wave of various disposable ambassadors of more crap. In those days people could talk, and would talk, just about anything and everything. Differences were accepted and dismissed in the manner of the flexibility of the people. During the Civil Rights riots of sixties, not one right in St Louis. Sure there was tension, you could sense it, but there was also a sense of transition as well.
Anyway, nothing like the morning hours and some coffee to get that conventional language thing fired up. thanks for letting me share gasho zendervish --- In [email protected], Edgar Owen <edgarowen@...> wrote: > > I spent my summers on my dad's land in Branson... > > Edgar > > > On Apr 10, 2012, at 10:36 PM, salik888 wrote: > > > Yes > > > > Family is from Pulaski County in Missouri, but I was raised in St Louis and > > spent my summers in Dixon Missouri, and on my great grandfather's farm > > > > gasho > > > > zendervish > > > > --- In [email protected], Edgar Owen <edgarowen@> wrote: > > > > > > Are you really from the Ozarks? I am... > > > > > > Edgar > > > > > > > > > On Apr 10, 2012, at 7:00 PM, salik888 wrote: > > > > > > > I like my grammatic error > > > > > > > > Bubbhism . . . reminds me of home in the Ozarks all the local yokels > > > > calling each other Bub, ... Hey Bub > > > > > > > > which leads to > > > > > > > > Bubbhism > > > > > > > > gasho > > > > > > > > zendervish > > > > > > > > --- In [email protected], "salik888" <novelidea8@> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > there is no way to answer your question since your question is not > > > > > really a question but an assertion in the form of a question. So it > > > > > is yes and no. > > > > > > > > > > We could have dialogue in terms of Buddhism perhaps -- Zen and Amida > > > > > Bubbhism, their respective religious natures . . . > > > > > > > > > > but well, some think Zen is this or that or what have you . . . > > > > > within that context there is nothing to say. > > > > > > > > > > It is like the monk who was given koans and the master mocked his > > > > > studies, while with other monks, he encouraged their studies. > > > > > > > > > > gasho > > > > > > > > > > zendervish > > > > > > > > > > --- In [email protected], "ED" <seacrofter001@> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > (Quite uncritically) I ask: > > > > > > > > > > > > Is the possession or not of free will of relevance to zen? > > > > > > > > > > > > Or would it be viewed as just more discursive thinking? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --- In [email protected], "salik888" <novelidea8@> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.samharris.org/media/video > > > > > > <http://www.samharris.org/media/video> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > TODAY(Beta) Powered by Yahoo! > > > > Steven Seagal turning 60 years old > > > > To celebrate, the star and his iconic ponytail return to acting in a TV > > > > cop show called "True Justice." > > > > Privacy Policy > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
