« November 2005 | Main | January 2006 »
December 9, 2005
What Winter Discontent?
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
I recently finished reading Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt. The book was a bit of a desperation purchase at the start of a trip (at the Burlington airport book store), and was very pleasantly surprised at how interesting the book is. Mind you, I’ve always been attracted to Shakespeare’s writing, but Greenblatt lays bare the inner Shakespeare (as well as anyone can this far removed), making his work so much richer and fulfilling to read.
The opening lines of Richard III above are a tiny example of Shakespeare’s ability to sketch out feelings quickly, elegantly and clearly. Yet despite the brilliance of the authors’ creative linguistic ability, he was not particularly happy. He had serious issues with his wife, and he felt estranged from all but one of his three children. He seemed to only marginally enjoy his financial success, apparently feeling stress having to manage his ever increasing estate.
The words Shakespeare places in King Richard’s mouth reflect the authors sense of “winter” – sadness and depression, juxtaposed with “summer” – happiness and joy as if these two sets of feelings are somehow mutually exclusive, and one (winter) to be avoided and the other (summer) to be pursued.
Winter is much maligned, and summer over rated. Even saying that misses the truth: our feelings don’t do a good job bringing us understanding of the world around us. Thus, not enjoying an experience doesn’t mean that it’s bad for us to participate in that thing.
I admit that following this line of thinking can (at first) seem to be a house of mirrors. It’s true that at some level our feelings are what make up our personality. But just like other parts of our bodies, training our feelings is critical to growth.
Winter is the time for contemplation and inner discovery. We need the darkness to understand the light, the cold to give meaning to warmth. All of these are important to who we are, and should not be avoided.
Posted by pgutwin at 8:19 AM | Comments (0)
December 6, 2005
Beginner Mind
My friend and I were talking about paths to awareness recently, and our conversation reminded me of a small book I acquired years ago: “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”. It’s a book on Zen practice, but filled with a rich wisdom that I am regularly drawn back to.
I’ve been thinking of “Beginner’s Mind” recently:
In the beginners mind there are many possibilities, but in the experts there are few.
The beginners mind is radically aware of the present, but the experts mind is consumed with the past and future. The beginners mind is open to what may be, the experts mind is focused on what should be.
In Zen tradition, “Begginer’s Mind” is a part of a discipline leading to “buoyancy, vigor, straightforwardness, simplicity, humility, serenity, joyousness, uncanny perspicacity, and unfathomable compassion”.
It’s possible to be highly experienced and yet have a beginner’s mind. Putting this into practice is the work of a lifetime.
Posted by pgutwin at 8:29 AM | Comments (0)