Labyrinth of Dreams

Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid by Johannes Vermeer

"For the most part...we pass our lives amid shadows and light, illusions and revelations, uncertain of what to believe or where to turn our gaze. Those who have entirely lost the ability to see the transcendent reality that shows itself in all things, and who refuse to seek it out or even to believe the search a meaningful one, have confined themselves for now within an illusory world, and wander in a labyrinth of dreams. Those others, however, who are still able to see the truth that shines in and through and beyond the world of ordinary experience, and who know that nature is in its every aspect the gift of the supernatural, and who understand that God is that absolute reality in whom, in every moment, they live and move and have their being--they are awake."

~from THE EXPERIENCE OF GOD - Being, Consciousness, Bliss by Eastern Orthodox theologian/philosopher David Bentley Hart

Oregon's Hero

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” 
~Ambrose Redmoon

30-year-old Chris Mintz, the student and Army vet who was shot at least five times during an effort to warn others.

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response

“Although we read with our minds, the seat of artistic delight is between the shoulder blades. That little shiver behind is quite certainly the highest form of emotion that humanity has attained when evolving pure art and pure science. Let us worship the spine and its tingle.”

― Vladimir Nabokov  

Zen and the Art of Bravery

Rereading Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I find it no longer has the hold on me that it did when I read it as a college student back in the mid-1970s (it was a huge bestseller). The story between the father and the son now seems even more of a bore than the first time out. But I noticed that the climax of Phaedrus's philosophical quest (for me the more interesting part of the novel) revealed a connection between the Hindus and the ancient Greeks that parallels the East-West connection in my book, The Assassin Lotus.




In Zen and the Art, Phaedrus comes across an interesting passage from Kitto's history, The Greeks:

"What moves the Greek warrior to deeds of heroism...is not a sense of duty as we understand it--duty towards others: it is rather duty towards himself. He strives after that which we translate 'virtue' but is in Greek arete, 'excellence.'"

Excellence. To excel. To surpass. To reach beyond one's uttermost limits. Pirsig continues:

"Phaedrus is fascinated...by the description of the motive of "duty toward self" which is an almost exact translation of the Sanskrit word, dharma... Can the dharma of the Hindus and the "virtue" of the ancient Greeks be identical?"

This mirrors exactly what's in play for Jack Duran in a crucial chapter late in The Assassin Lotus ("What You Have To Do"). Jack is alone in the desert, heading toward a confrontation with a killer, wondering what is driving him to put his life at risk.

"Do what you have to do, resolutely... The path seemed to tug me like the current of a river. Before I was even aware of it I was trudging ahead on the trail. Why did it seem I had no choice? What was it kept me going? Honor? Pride? Ego? Or dharma, duty, selflessness. Submitting to the will of God. Acceptance of my fate. I was on that dharma road connecting East and West. Assert the self? Surrender the self? It seemed I must do both. My heart insisted on it."

Dharma. Arete. Duty toward self. Is this not the best answer to the question, What is courage? Is this not why we find acts of bravery so inspiring? Think of those three young Americans who stopped the train attack in France. Why did their action lift our hearts and bring a tear to our eyes? 

Here's why. Because they honored their duty as men. Because they embodied the noblest of virtues. Because they reached beyond themselves. Because they epitomize excellence.

Safety in Numbers

A man in a powdered wig explains the "modern" Middle East:

“If there were only one religion in England, one would have to fear despotism; if there were two, they would cut each other’s throats; but they have thirty, and they live happy and in peace.”

 Voltaire (1694-1778), Philosophical Letters

Shocker

"It's a great life, if you don't weaken." 

~John Buchan, Scottish novelist (1849-1940) 

Buchan called adventure thrillers ‘shockers’: “the romance where the incidents defy the probabilities, and march just inside the borders of the possible.”

Camille Paglia on "Sneering" Atheists

"I’m speaking here as an atheist. I don’t believe there is a God, but I respect every religion deeply. All the great world religions contain a complex system of beliefs regarding the nature of the universe and human life that is far more profound than anything that liberalism has produced. We have a whole generation of young people who are clinging to politics and to politicized visions of sexuality for their belief system.  They see nothing but politics, but politics is tiny.  Politics applies only to society. There is a huge metaphysical realm out there that involves the eternal principles of life and death. The great tragic texts, including the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles, no longer have the central status they once had in education, because we have steadily moved away from the heritage of western civilization.

"The real problem is a lack of knowledge of religion as well as a lack of respect for religion. I find it completely hypocritical for people in academe or the media to demand understanding of Muslim beliefs and yet be so derisive and dismissive of the devout Christian beliefs of Southern conservatives.

"But yes, the sneering is ridiculous!  Exactly what are these people offering in place of religion? In my system, I offer art–and the whole history of spiritual commentary on the universe. There’s a tremendous body of nondenominational insight into human life that used to be called cosmic consciousness.  It has to be remembered that my generation in college during the 1960s was suffused with Buddhism, which came from the 1950s beatniks. Hinduism was in the air from every direction–you had the Beatles and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Ravi Shankar at Monterey, and there were sitars everywhere in rock music. So I really thought we were entering this great period of religious syncretism, where the religions of the world were going to merge. But all of a sudden, it disappeared!  The Asian religions vanished–and I really feel sorry for young people growing up in this very shallow environment where they’re peppered with images from mass media at a particularly debased stage."

Read the whole interview at Salon HERE.