Title: Zen seedling

Location: Washington, DC

Seek the wisdom that will untie you
See the path that demands your whole being
Leave that which is not, but appears to be
Seek that which is, but is not apparent.
-Rumi
Life is a conversion process. We come into this world as balls of potential. Some of us becomes actualized, and the rest remains potential or becomes barriers, chains that run through our veins. But even that is potential. We are always potential, and always actualizing. Aristotle defines happiness as converting as much of our potential energy into actual energy as possible. We have this tension when life is too passive, unactivated, because we all want to become as autonomous as possible, as in control, as active, as real as possible.
For Plato, life was about “work”, working to bridge the divide between the way things are and the way things ought to be (the Ideal); for Aristotle, life was about “play”, living to live. Put those two together, and life is about converting work into play, learning to just be, to just live, and to enjoy things as they are… to find joy in “work”. In the little things, in ordinary tasks, in the conversion process.

Life is that conversion process. We must accept being both potential and actual, accept the tension between the two. Moreover, we must accept that neither one is an end, neither one a beginning, for the universe is a single event. A single unfolding of potential. We, as individuals, are but tiny reflections of that moment. Tiny facets of One orb, One Eye, one “I”. Therefore, indeed, there is more to life than “work”, and more to life even than life.

In Action: Example, when I am tempted to eat more than my share, I think of my body as potential health, potential lightness, potential energy. Will I make the decision to turn that potential into activity? Will I choose suffering or joy, death or life, needy self or autonomy? Always to be seen. Deliberation is like an endless fork in the road, but at least I have a good pair of glasses for looking at both potential paths.


She has a flower to bloom in her heart, blooming before the first petal swells. (Zhou Meng Die)
“J'accepte” - Les Escailles de la mémoire. Je suis en traîn d'accepter.

Pace pe p?mânt. Pace în tine.
Salama. Amani katika Ardhi.
(read first blog entry to learn more about my journey)

Member Since: Tuesday, October 03 2006

Last Visit: 2 days ago.

Profile Viewed: 610 times (last viewed less than a minute ago)