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Chapter of the Week: #44 [Archive]
[cite] Lynn Cornish:[/cite]...It seems to me that caring results in attachment ...
The short reply:
Caring without thought to future or past abolishes attachment. Attachment plays itself out in our illusion of time - future and past - and the 'life' we live in that fantasy world. Care felt 'now' is eternal.
The long reply:
Words are funny little critters. So, I looked up care and I'll list its synonyms below. This situation is reflected in Buddha's Fourth Truth, "let you sole desire be the performance of your duty", or similarly,... [chref=15]He who holds fast to this way desires not to be full,[/chref] and,... [chref=64]Therefore the sage desires not to desire[/chref]. Desire? But desire "results in attachment", and attachment causes us sorrow. Why do such [chref=78]straightforward words seem paradoxical[/chref]?
Caring and desire are like a double edged sword. Too much and/or directed in the 'wrong' direction increases suffering. But, an optimal amount directed in a direction 'just right' may decrease suffering. The 'middle path' as Buddha called it. So, on one hand, [chref=46]there is no crime greater than having too many desires[/chref]. On the other hand, one must desire self integrity enough to care enough to ponder consequences; otherwise history will repeat itself.
In short, I see this as simply the will to survive actually panning out the way nature intended. Civilization has made that problematic for us. We need to care enough about this if we wish to [chref=71]be alive to [this] difficulty [and] avoid it.[/chref] The problem is not that we care, but that our care is scattered all over the place, conflicting desires, wanting to have it both ways. Care is what drives the squirrel to search for nuts, the tree to grow toward the sun, the bees to find nectar. We, on the other hand, scatter our care in a thousand different directions between a thousand different cares. When we realize what we truly care about and follow that [chref=14]thread[/chref], we can become one with nature.
The synonyms:
aid; attention; care about; caution; concern; fear ([chref=15]Hesitant, as if in fear of his neighbors[/chref]); feel concern; feel interest; guardianship; maintenance ([chref=64]It is easy to maintain a situation while it is still secure[/chref]); precaution; safekeeping; tend to; upkeep; forethought (as in moment to moment); like; worry about (not hand wringing, but concern); wish (enough wish, want, desire to [chref=16]hold firmly to stillness[/chref]).
Care and fear are related as we see in the synonym list above. Thus, [chref=53]were I possessed of the least knowledge, I would, when walking on the great way, fear only paths that lead astray. The great way is easy, yet people prefer by-paths.[/chref] By paths? People? Who? Us! We don't care enough to mind our moment because we are caring about some future or past moment instead. I find just knowing this helps! Of course, knowing is easier than doing. And what is the doing? Nothing more than remembering what we know. Remembering [chref=28]returns[/chref] us, and we must care to remember.
Finally, correlations pull care into a 'bigger picture',... well, maybe too big? Anyway, try them out.
YIN:.............YANG:
carefulness....negligence
settled..........moving
patient..........hurry
still...............impetuous
fear..............need
content.........anxious
dark.............bright
eternal.........fleeting
obscure........obvious
death...........life
NOTE:
I had that reply above ready to post when Joe Frank came by and also had reservations about caring. The issue is so central to the 'big picture' that I see now, that I'll continue on and try to hone it down a bit more. Though can I do it justice? Perhaps I'm just beating around the bush. Oh well, here goes nothing...
Fear comes in two flavors, adrenalin pumping autonomic and cognitive. The later is the fear I'm referring to. This is the realm of care, concern, and worry listed above as synonyms of care. Invariably this all boils down to one thing - fear of loss. Paramount among the losses we suffer in life is death itself. - either of a loved one or our 'self'. Death of 'self' is much more than actual physical death mind you. Loss of our 'stuff' or our social standing is a death of sorts. As Buddha pointed out in Truth #2, "the illusion of self originates and manifests itself in a cleaving to things".
What do we fear losing in death? We don't regret losing the 'moment', but rather fret over the loss of an imagined future or a remembered past. Here in lies the irony: Life only lives 'now', yet we are either waiting for 'tomorrow' or lugging around 'yesterday'. The Tao Te Ching speaks to this in [chref=33]He who lives out his days has had a long life[/chref]. So essentially, caring about this day, this hour, this moment pulls you into eternity both literally and unavoidably.
On the other hand, giving our awareness and caring concern over to imagined futures and remembered pasts leave us feeling disconnected - dead to the present, so to speak. Understanding this is easy, but putting it into [chref=78]practice[/chref]? All the understanding in the world won't help. We must simply care enough about the quality of our moment to [chref=56]let our wheels move only along [that] old ruts[/chref]. When that is all that we care about, the external world takes care of itself,...
[chref=57]I take no action and the people are transformed of themselves;
I prefer stillness and the people are rectified of themselves;
I am not meddlesome and the people prosper of themselves;
I am free from desire and the people of themselves become simple like the uncarved block. [/chref]
So, in summary, I'd say that it is only when we fear losing the moment that we continually [chref=14]return[/chref] to it. It is fear, not need that pulls us there. Need pushes us forward into the future (i.e., future desires) or backward into past longings, 'good times' or regrets.
Generally it is the visceral awareness - fear - of consequences that makes us care. For instance, you need only burn yourself once to seriously care about how you handle fire. Concern, at the visceral level, drives our behavior. I call this 'pseudo free will', and it works. Our [chref=70]ignorance[/chref] is all that stands in the way. That, and not caring enough. It looks like we have to care enough in order to care enough. I suppose overcoming our ignorance is the key. And the key to that, in my experience, is experience - [chref=51]circumstances bring [us] to maturity[/chref]. The 'answer' is really very easy, though we may not like it when we are in a hurry to get 'there'. Simply said, we must burn our fingers first, or as the good book puts it, [chref=36]If you would have a thing shrink, You must first stretch it[/chref]. We can't 'shrink it' until we 'stretch it' to the breaking point... ouch! Of course, we are always 'burning our fingers', but we don't care until we feel it so.
:yy:
Comments
Chapter 44
Your name or your person,
Which is dearer?
Your person or your goods,
Which is worth more?
Gain or loss,
Which is a greater bane?
That is why excessive meanness
Is sure to lead to great expense;
Too much store
Is sure to end in immense loss.
Know contentment
And you will suffer no disgrace
Know when to stop
And you will meet with no danger.
You can then endure.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Your name or your person, Which is dearer? has long puzzled me. Today I realized that name refers to the social context of humanity. And I suspect that the social instinct is the most powerful one we have; it even trumps the individual survival instinct (generally). Mr. Lao translates qing to dearer, but the basic meaning of qing is more like 'entwined'. As a species, we sure are socially 'entwined', which along with our big brain has brought us to where we are today.
Excessive meanness calls to mind the expression 'penny wise pound foolish'. Whenever I put short term 'penny' interest ahead of long term ones, I lose in the end. The 'letting go' quality of patience always gives me time to ponder consequences. Excessive meanness is simply hanging on for dear life, which always ends in immense loss. Of course the emotional fever of too much store blinds us. We are [chref=16]ignorant[/chref] of the trade off. This exemplifies what [chref=70]ignorance[/chref] truly is; it is not an ignorance of thought, but rather of emotion. After all, Christ's comment, "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it" has been around a long time for all to 'know'. Yet, we are largely ignorant of the simple fact that 'we lose whatever we cling to'. (Or to cut it more finely, clinging is a symptom of the loss we feel and it never fills the hole).
Why are we so ignorant of this? Because, it goes against our emotional common sense. Our instinctive drive screams just the opposite. We feel that winning is the way to happiness. We feel, "If [chref=51]circumstances[/chref] would just match my expectations and ideals, I'll be content and live happily ever after". Ah, such a powerful illusion; it has us by the you know what! We feel that being rich (i.e., having what we desire) will make us content, while the truth is just the opposite - [chref=33]He who knows contentment is rich[/chref]. And, even if we accept this truth, we [chref=18]cleverly[/chref] hold out for the other as well... I can eat my cake and have it too!
How can we climb out of this ignorance into enlightenment? First, we can see that it has nothing to do with external knowledge, information or action. These are like placebo's which make us feel right with the world momentarily as we trudge our way along our [chref=53]by-paths[/chref]. Now, there is nothing wrong with a placebo. But, we [chref=65]hoodwink [/chref] ourselves if we don't also look deeper and [chref=21]inspect [that] shadowy and indistinct[/chref] side of ourselves more [chref=5]ruthlessly[/chref]. This [chref=25]void[/chref] is eternal; dealing with it is the 'short cut' to contentment
PS: Loss in wang in Chinese. The Chinese character for busy is composed of two characters: 'wang' and 'shin'. Shin means mind-heart. This combination implies that when we are busy, we lose our mind-heart. I've noticed this to be very true. It is neat how the character for busy incorporates the reality of busy. That is why [chref=16]I do my utmost to attain emptiness; I hold firmly to stillness.[/chref] Ironically, the emptier I am, the busier I feel. Why? I suppose I'm more sensitive to the mind-heart loss which underlies all action - and life is action. In short, all action is busy to some degree. That is why meditation reacquaints us with our mind-heart. That is why hold firmly to stillness in all daily activity helps keep mind-heart loss to a minimum.