Interesting thread. Victor Frankl's "Man's Search For Meaning" was a very significant book for me - his ability to assert meaning in an insane environment is very heartening, even as the horror breaks your heart. Courage is indeed the fundamental virtue, without which no other virtue has much depth.
Another favorite book of mine is another horrific depiction of humanity's depravity: When Rabbit Howls, about the childhood abuse of a New York woman who developed what was then called MPD. In the midst of this suffering, she did not stop seeing the beauty of the world - the beauty of the world was what made the violence so clearly wrong. Life is not meant to be chopped up and hewn to bits, it is meant to be loved and lived. The systemic horror of the holocaust or Shoa was not that *all* turned to evil ugliness - it is that in midst of beauty of the world and the glory of our human existence people systematically and methodically cut themselves off from that glory and arranged the gifts of law, train schedules, chemistry, and cultural varieties to butcher millions of precious human lives. this chopping of the world into us and them trapped the perpetrators and the Jewish people into gross evil in the midst of wonder. When it happened to him, Frankl was not defeated, did not despair. Surely we here now with relative safety can indeed see and share the wonder and stay alert to the attempts to divide our glorious reality and hence unleash the brutality that lurks in human brains and has from time to time acted out in human behavior. As I have written in my history of my zen path, I had some history of abuse as a child, leaving me with an acquired taste to take heart in people resisting violence - to stick to the plainly visible right action in the face of credible death threats was my first Dharma gate. to blindly say that it is all ok without being willing to look into the depths of our depravity is not worth two cents. to know the depravity and reject its power (not its reality nor even whatever causes it has) to define our common reality, that will get one through the current moment whole. Nonetheless, life here is in truth breathtakingly beautiful, weeds, flowers and all; heart broken open glory pours in. I shed a tear for all who cannot see this where ever they are. May this email find you all well, whole, and free of suffering. Thanks, --Chris On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 11:45 AM, mike brown <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Edgar, > > >The holocaust is about as absolute truth as you can get. > > Then you don't understand the difference between 'conventional' and > 'absolute'. Where did the holocaust begin and end? Has it, in fact, ended > (eg trauma, injuries etc)? Who was involved in the Holocaust? Just the Jews > imprisoned and their German guards? German civilians? The West who turned a > blind eye to the intelligence about it? Was a German civilian who made the > chemicals for the gas chambers (but didn't know what it was to be used for) > part of the Holocaust etc. etc? Why isn't a Dutch civilian who sheltered a > family of Jews a part of the Holocaust and why isn't that selflessness a > thing of beauty? > > You say "Mountains are mountains", but is the small rock on the side of > the valley just a rock, part of the valley or part of the mountain? If it > gets wedged in your boot and you bring it home - what have you brought home > and when did it change? Labels change. Absolutes don't. > > Mike > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Edgar Owen <[email protected]> > *To:* [email protected] > *Sent:* Monday, 26 November 2012, 12:11 > > *Subject:* Re: [Zen] truth is beauty > > > Merle and Mike, > > The holocaust is about as absolute truth as you can get. There is no doubt > at all that it occurred... > > Feel good catchy aphorisms are not Zen... > > Accurate language is Zen because it correctly expresses reality. > > "Truth=Beauty" is NOT true, nor is it beautiful..... > > Edgar > > > > On Nov 25, 2012, at 10:45 PM, Merle Lester wrote: > > > > > edgar..there is some truth to what mike posts..are you listening?..merle > > > Edgar, > > >The holocaust is truth. Was the holocaust beautiful? > > The Holocaust is actually a conventional truth and not an absolute truth. > Also, there are examples of people giving shelter to Jews at great risk to > themselves and their families. Isn't this an example of beauty? > > Mike > > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Edgar Owen <[email protected]> > *To:* [email protected] > *Sent:* Sunday, 25 November 2012, 23:39 > *Subject:* Re: [Zen] truth is beauty > > > Merle and Joe, > > This is so obvious. > > The holocaust is truth. Was the holocaust beautiful? > > If not then TRUTH IS NOT = BEAUTY. > > You two need to start using your heads on this. > > If you don't agree then to you the holocaust and all other horrible truths > are beautiful... > > > Edgar > > > > > > On Nov 25, 2012, at 5:10 PM, Joe wrote: > > > Edgar, > > Thanks, yep. > > That's me; warm and fuzzy; fuzzy and warm. I have left hard-headed > left-brain sidedness aside. At least in my post with Merle!, which is where > it counts. > > With you, I reverse the hemispherectomy, and come at you with both fists. > > I mean, just don't tempt me. > > ;-) > > --Joe > > > Edgar Owen <edgarowen@...> wrote: > > > > This is fuzzy thinking on your part. Mathematicians and many scientists > agree with me that truth is beautiful, but it is not beauty itself, it's > mathematical and scientific truth which has THE CHARACTERISTIC of beauty. > > > > Important distinction though I doubt it will register with the fuzzy > minded... > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
