My rather pathetic attempts at house hunting this weekend ended with little to show for my efforts. This is partly due to poor planning. What I really should’ve done (and will do next weekend) is hire a car. All these places you’ve gotta get to in a short space of time not so easy on the ol’ public transport.
After viewing a couple of places (duds), I found myself in one of my old haunting grounds. I allowed myself to be diverted, knowing I wouldn’t get to see all the places I wanted to see, and resolving to do better next weekend.
So I felt drawn towards the local art house cinema. Well, it does play mainstream movies too, but it’s a great venue for seeing flicks on the road less travelled. I went to see “Burn After Reading” the Cohen Brothers’ latest offering.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. But not because of George Clooney and Brad Pitt! And not even because of John Malkovich, Frances McDormand or Tilda Swinton. It’s full of dark humour a-plenty which tickled my fancy almost as much as some of the slap-stick moments.
But none of these were the reason I enjoyed it so much.
What was blatantly clear as the story unfolded was the madness of mankind. We’re all happy to point the finger at someone else’s craziness, but we often fail to see our own day to day activities or thoughts as quite insane.
Frances McDormand’s character justifies her attempt at bribery due to her desperation for plastic surgery. When her first plan fails, she is insistent it could still work: “There’s always the Chinese!“
George Clooney’s smooth player/nutter was so sure he was in control until his encounter with Brad Pitt in the wardrobe. Things took a turn for the worse when he realised who was following him and why. His is easily one of the most lost characters in the movie, and his ultimate spin into paranoia is splendid to watch.
Mr Malkovich on first appearance is logical and rational. Even if he is an alcoholic. But in the end proves to be just as crazy as the others.
Richard Jenkins as the owner of the gym where Frances and Brad work even has his moments. In his misguided but well meaning way, he brings disaster down on his own head (a pun for those who’ve seen the movie), in the name of love.
Thing is, it’s possible to sympathise with each of these characters. From their own particular world view, everything they think and do is quite logical. Even when it’s clear they are deluded.
My Guru talks about ‘basic sanity’. He says there’s no point attempting spiritual work until you are basically sane. That said, many of my Guru’s students (including me) are still struggling with 100% basic sanity ourselves!
Perhaps the most ubiquitous and subtle form of our madness is plain old every day insanity which is in fact how most people function.
Let me try to explain…
Human beings take what we think we see and assign it a meaning regardless how relevant or irrelevant that meaning is. We do this in all sorts of situations down to the tiniest thoughts and feelings.
We layer many such meanings on top of each other and then we assume we see things clearly based on what we already ‘know’. As long as we’re not on medication, we think we are sane and logical.
But what do we really actually really ‘know’?
How can we be sure we haven’t hoodwinked ourselves at some point, or at multiple points? When do we truly see clearly?
We regularly assume the actions and reactions of others around us are personal. But most of the time other people are too busy doing the same thing as we do ourselves, within the confines of their own befuddled brains.
George Clooney’s character demonstrates this very well when he freaks out in the park with Frances McDormand.
Clear seeing is crucial to basic sanity. By that I mean seeing reality as it actually is. Without story. Separating fact from exaggeration and emotional bias.
Once clear seeing comes to the party, it’s possible to create some space between stimulus and response. And learn to become detached and non-reactive in a way you never could before.
Which means most of us are insane to one degree or another. We don’t possess basic sanity when our daily experience is one of stimulus / response / stimulus / response without pause.
For mine, yoga/meditation is the path that delivers this knowledge for me. It can create the ‘gaps’ required to allow basic sanity to gain a foothold.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t other paths that work just as well. But when people start assuming their way is the only way that too is a form of madness.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, that’s okay. That probably means that you’re a little insane and you just don’t know it.
But don’t worry – you’re in good company with a solid 95% or more of the world’s population!
~Svasti
Yes… Basic sanity. I guess then we come up against another paradox here. In zazen, how sane is it, to seek sanity in sitting still and being here now if the moment of now cannot exist accept in the immediacy. I am attempting to focus on something that is already gone. Yet without attempting to focus, I will not be able to discover that I am sane or insane for trying.
95%? Would it not be a bigger percentage than that? If they have to use words to convey spirituality would they not still be in the domain of rationality? Few masters have just sat wordless in front of their followers and enlightened them. It is written that Buddha did, but who else?
It is a case of without words, without silence, show me enlightenment. That sounds crazy, but apparently not!
Thank you for the challenge.
I think a big part of seeing clearly is also leaving your ego behind. This is incredibly difficult to do (speaking from experience here!), especially when you don’t know when your ego has its hold on you! I think the ego is responsible for a lot of the not so nice voices in one’s head…
And of course, I happen to be having a week when I feel like someone’s slowly and sadistically twisting the (in)sanity key in my head. Good blog post timing! xx
hehe – look at my little icon! That says it all!!
@Derek – I’m not entirely sure I understand all of your comments, but it really depends where you’re coming from. I don’t think you can ‘discover’ your insanity or not… pretty much you can assume you are on some level whilst stimulus/reaction is still a part of your life. Its not a bad thing, its just what is.
And yeah, its probably a way bigger percentage than 95% – but I didn’t know what to put so I just plucked any old number!
I don’t know that wordlessness is necessarily the ‘only’ way to enlightenment either. For most of us, it definitely isn’t. Especially since we’re not made of the same stuff as beings like Buddha!
@LBG – Sure, naturally as part of the process the ego’s actions are revealed. And once revealed you see them for what they are and have an opportunity not to go with it. The ego or ahamkara – is a natural part of who we are but it is definitely limited in what it can achieve.
And darlin’ – no one actually has the power over you to be ‘slowly and sadistically twisting the (in)sanity key in my head’ – you have the ability to manage how their behaviour affects you or doesn’t affect you. xo
@Derek: My teachers never once attempted to “show me” enlightenment. Like Svasti, I am not 100% sure of your meaning. Buddha never enlightened anyone and we cannot ever expect to be enlightened by another person – we can only ourselves become enlightened. Besides, Buddha is not a real person; he is a myth based on many other stories along the journey of history (in my educated opinion).
@Svasti: I have serotonin/dopamine brain chemistry problems. I have had that determined through many actual tests, such an indole-5 ring test of my urine among many others. Without meditation – and I mean constant meditation, I meditate even while eating, driving, conversing and so forth – I would literally be in an insane asylum.
Constant awareness of every breath keeps me calm throughout the day. Though my depression can be debilitating, I remain relatively stress free during most of it – to not allow it to eat at me physically. I remain detached from my ego, allowing clarity, but cannot “rid” myself of all ego. Without control of my ego, my writing would suffer and ego is a natural part of life – that is just my opinion.
I really enjoy your view on how we can fool ourselves, learning from stimulus/outcome and so forth. I am thankful to have meditation in my life – I could not imagine my life without it. I am also thankful for having the privilege of you and your blog! You give me great food for thought. It’s always wonderful to read the introspection of a fellow human being on a similar path to mine. Have a great day
@Bobby – yeah, no one can actually ‘show’ anyone enlightenment… and its not like arriving in a town you’ve never been to either – you know, you just suddenly ‘arrive’. It doesn’t work that way as far as I can tell and from what I’ve learned.
Its something I haven’t talked about much here, but what you do to keep yourself calm sounds alot like a technique my Guru teaches called ‘second attention’. Not sure I entirely agree with the need to retain the ego in the long term. But while you need it, you need it. We all do!
Meditation is perhaps the greatest thing I’ve ever learned in my life to date.
To explain what I meant about ego a little more clearly: I use my understanding of ego as a tool in my writing to achieve better communication of ideas and so forth. I may write something about it coming up to further explain exactly what I mean.
2nd attention? Sounds like a good explanation to me! I call it “mujodo no taigen” or actualization of the supreme way in our daily lives – the third aim of Zazen. I learned Zen through my Aikido teachers, but all of Zen is so similar to the yoga philosophies, I see no difference other than in terminology.
To me, enlightenment is nothing more than the true realization that we are constantly arriving – we never actually arrive. Of course that is a redundant statement as you already know that! My favorite quote is:
“Nothing exists…all things are becoming”.
I am simply a student of life and know nothing – gotta keep that glass empty
@Bobby – I think a mistake alot of eastern teachings make with respect to westerners is to give the highest view to people who have no idea. Westerners just see it as a failing they can’t get there yet instead of feeling inspired.
I’ve been told 2nd attention is the key to achieving enlightenment – you can’t get there without it. People think its easier than it actually is. Looks easy, sounds easy. Isn’t easy!
I’m kinda with you on the enlightenment thing – basically its a “road to nowhere” as I quoted on someone else’s blog recently. Look up those words and include “Talking Heads lyrics” – the song is great! In some respects you’re simply more ‘here’ than ever before. That’s about the extent of it in one sense. I’ve had glimpses… tiny glimpses…
And yeah. I know nothing too!!