boy have i got a deal for you

"The sage is still not because he takes stillness to be good and is therefore still. The ten thousand things are insufficient to distract his mind -- that is the reason he is still." -- Chuang Tzu

Buddha sat down in a lotus posture and enlightenment came. Folk have been sitting in a lotus posture ever since, looking for enlightenment. If Buddha had been shooting a game of pool when enlightenment came, folk would be giving seminars (and writing books) on cues and chalk and racking and the significance of six holes. The pool halls would be filled with pilgrims; Fast Eddie and Minnesota Fats would be saints.

Carl Jung tells the story of an old dude in a cave who was just looking for a little piece and quiet. A bunch of folk glommed on to the idea that he was holy and they wanted some of that action. But the "queer old man ... was not thinking of any such thing. He was only seeking to know what it was that he did not know, but which, he felt certain, was always happening."

Finally he decided to "draw all kinds of diagrams on the walls of his cave, in order to find out what that which he did not know might look like." His "disciples" got all excited and began to imitate the diagrams. Jung says that "is how it happened then and how it still happens today." Spontaneous transformation is replaced by technical strivings in the hope of spontaneous transformation.

I don't know about you but all these technical strivings, these spiritual calisthenics, seem mighty funny to me. Want to come to my workshop, Chalking Your Cue For Spiritual Profit & Glory? It's only $1200 for a weekend and Saturday night is free for shopping in Palm Springs.