joe.... i have read many of merton's books..and i subscribe to a weekly reflection from kentucky where merton was living..now a retreat etc yes joseph campbell..brilliant!..love him it is lovely that you are a scientist with mystical alignments... you are blessed ..i have a dear dear friend jonh 57 who is also scientist/ mathematician..and too is blessed with mysticism.. .. when you say empiricist...can you clarify? no i am not into the formal. ..at the end of the day: it's about experience it's about understanding as you are..as you can and as you will. ..back to origins ..back to the beginning. .fresh insight. ..freshness the sunlight of zen.. . reading and listening to others is fine however to climb the mountain one must do it oneself.. . and if that means being out of breath and returning to base camp be it so.. .one then attempts again, and again..and the realisation is you have to do it alone. .. a hard lesson for me ..i wanted a guru..i wanted a firm set of rules however there are no rules no gurus greater than oneself.. once you finally reach the mountain top..you realise there is was mountain to climb..it's an illusion. .. you've been "there" all the time... simple as that... and your still breathing. ..breathing the breath of life living and experiencing it as YOU
i am not having a funeral.. . my preference is for a traditional mongolian event..but since that would not be permitted in our society. .i opted to donate my body to medical research... weddings..silly events..the wedding..as i believed at 21 was it needs to be after you've done the hard yards..maybe at 30 years of slogging at it. .after all what a feat to be knotted to one person...is it love, was it love?..till death do us part....? knotted to one person...can have it's draw backs. ..they can overpower you with their mind set. .you leave the family nest..and as r.d. laing says that is an institution in itself.. .you break loose. .then you have society ramming down your neck the rules and regulations as if freedom is it a dirty word. .the question is..freedom to do what? sandals.. . no foot wear required..what does it matter ..most my days are spent in slippers..love em..love a bit of slipper and dressing gown attire.. . mornings at computer are with the slipper and dressing gown...(well i am retired..don't have to run out the door at 100 miles an hour to go do the treadmill run) hell's bells enjoy your training.. for? above all have fun..merle Merton, yes. I attended a church in NYC in college-years dedicated to Merton's ways of practice, led by renegade young Jesuits of Woodstock Seminary, New York. They could do no wrong, in my eyes. Totally deconstructed and destroyed the conservative Italian Catholicism of my adolescent youth -- which I knew needed doing -- enabling an opening into Spirituality, instead (what a concept!) -- and basic human nature -- instead. Eternally grateful. Big debt. (Joe Campbell helped me a good deal, too, the American Mythologist,early on) I converted to Chan Buddhism in a formal way 5 years later, if not sooner. ;-) Never seen a church, since. When it comes to weddings and funerals, I only go to my OWN. Shihfu Sheng Yen was just the right person. I suppose we had a connection, from the past. That's the only way that even a hard-headed scientist such as myself can explain it. But we are both Natural Philosophers. We have that in common, and it is fundamental. He is "The Environmental Monk of Taiwan", according to Taiwan's president, too boot. But, as a monk, he always wore sandals, even in Winter in NYC. As I did! Funny. Or the Adidas SL-72 running shoe (which I still wear: down to 20 miles per week, nowadays, training-wise). I've always been a mystic... until zen practice erased the need for that. I am again an empiricist, as all mystics are. And all zen practitioners are. Nonetheless spiritual, in the strongest sense. Just as Buddha taught. Practice never runs-out, never ends. "The Three Poisons rise endlessly: I vow to put an end to them." Different translations for different folks, and different places. You are not into the formal stuff at all, are you!! Hail! --Joe > Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@...> wrote: > > yes yes joe..herman hesse...my all time favourite writer... and with a part > estonian heritage...brilliant...love him...and have you read thomas merton?
