Re: virus: Level 3

Robin Faichney (r.j.faichney@stir.ac.uk)
Wed, 28 May 1997 10:25:00 +0100


Eric Boyd wrote:
>>
>> You're close, but not quite there: all of these things
>> *neither* exist *nor* don't exist.
>
>Now that looks like Zen. I've been reading about it recently in a
>book. It says that distinctions like "exist" and "don't-exist" are
>infact only products of our minds and need to be discarded in order to
>"acheive oneness"... looks like a ten year project to me, since
>everything I know and beleive is based on the idea that these
>distinctions /are/ valid.

A particular, well-identified physical thing may or may not
exist at a particular time and place. (Though even if it does,
you'll have trouble defining precisely where it ends and the
next thing begins.) Other than that, "existence" is just a
metaphor. "Is this real" means "is this meme useful".

(Actually, that's just as true for "physical things", but let's
focus on the easy end first.)

>Long journey, but one I think would be worth
>while. Anyone want to donate $100000 so that I can take a few years
off
>and meditate on Zen?

If you were serious, and especially if you live in a fair-sized
connurbation, you could start getting into it at practically no
cost at all. And I'll guarantee you'd understand this sort of
stuff a lot better than you do now in a lot less than 10 years,
even at just a few hours per week.

Proselytizer Robin