08-12-2004, 10:08 PM
While there is no denying that there is indeed quite knowledgable peope on any subject matter, the problem is that they need to prove a particular point of view correct, which has superseded their desire to seek truth. The have effectively shut themselves off from experiencing anything new or different about the subject.
When viewed within the grander perspective (i.e., the macrocosm), disagreement or argument often serves to sow the seed of understaing, and to cultivate fresh ideas and concepts, resulting in new insights, and spiritual awareness. Those "knowledgable" of the world, however, refuse to look at the grand perspective--the forest, as it were--for fear of losing sight of the trees. They are the archetypes of the microcosmic perspective. Their minds are made up on specific subjects well in advance, and therefore, they are quite impervious to the viewpoints of others, however accurate or well reasoned such positions may be. Further, since such individuals believe that they have all the answers already, they really aren't interested in seeking any further insight or understanding so much as they are in winning people over to their particular point of view.
Instead of actively seeking converts to a position of partial truth, we should instead seek to expand our understanding and to recognice the fact that knowledge, like life itself, is an ongoing rocess and never fixed at one point--or one point of view--in time. Truth, if that is what you are seeking to express, has no need of defenders--it simply is. To therefore take great pains to convey the obvious is folly, so why trouble yourself
"Wise men don't need to prove their point; Men who need to prove their point aren't wise." (Chapter 81 of the Tao te Ching)
In other words, those who insist on dominating conversation, who refuse to listen to evidence or points of view that are challenging or opposite to what they feel safe in believing, have thereby laid the foundation for dogma--a position of close-mindedness that will stifle and eventually choke out any possibility of true learning.
Let me tell a story of a Zen master who recieved a university professor who had come to inquire about Zen:
It was obviouse to the master from the start of the conversation that the professor was not so much interested in learning about Zen as he was in impressing the master with his own opinions and knowledge. As the Zen teacher explained, the learned man would frequently interrupt him with remarks like "Oh, yes, we have that, too" and so on.
Finally, the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, then kept pouring until the cup overflowed.
"Enough!" the learned man once more interrupted. "The cup is full, no more will go in!"
"Indeed, I see," answered the Zen teacher. "Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. If you do not first empty your cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?"
The need for an empty cup, or an open mind, shall serve as our starting point. Let us assume for the moment that we do not have all the answers. Let us begin with a blank slate, with no preconceived ideas, biases, opinions, or prejudices that will influence our judgment or impede our attempt at acquiring new understanding on the ways of the world.
When viewed within the grander perspective (i.e., the macrocosm), disagreement or argument often serves to sow the seed of understaing, and to cultivate fresh ideas and concepts, resulting in new insights, and spiritual awareness. Those "knowledgable" of the world, however, refuse to look at the grand perspective--the forest, as it were--for fear of losing sight of the trees. They are the archetypes of the microcosmic perspective. Their minds are made up on specific subjects well in advance, and therefore, they are quite impervious to the viewpoints of others, however accurate or well reasoned such positions may be. Further, since such individuals believe that they have all the answers already, they really aren't interested in seeking any further insight or understanding so much as they are in winning people over to their particular point of view.
Instead of actively seeking converts to a position of partial truth, we should instead seek to expand our understanding and to recognice the fact that knowledge, like life itself, is an ongoing rocess and never fixed at one point--or one point of view--in time. Truth, if that is what you are seeking to express, has no need of defenders--it simply is. To therefore take great pains to convey the obvious is folly, so why trouble yourself
"Wise men don't need to prove their point; Men who need to prove their point aren't wise." (Chapter 81 of the Tao te Ching)
In other words, those who insist on dominating conversation, who refuse to listen to evidence or points of view that are challenging or opposite to what they feel safe in believing, have thereby laid the foundation for dogma--a position of close-mindedness that will stifle and eventually choke out any possibility of true learning.
Let me tell a story of a Zen master who recieved a university professor who had come to inquire about Zen:
It was obviouse to the master from the start of the conversation that the professor was not so much interested in learning about Zen as he was in impressing the master with his own opinions and knowledge. As the Zen teacher explained, the learned man would frequently interrupt him with remarks like "Oh, yes, we have that, too" and so on.
Finally, the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, then kept pouring until the cup overflowed.
"Enough!" the learned man once more interrupted. "The cup is full, no more will go in!"
"Indeed, I see," answered the Zen teacher. "Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. If you do not first empty your cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?"
The need for an empty cup, or an open mind, shall serve as our starting point. Let us assume for the moment that we do not have all the answers. Let us begin with a blank slate, with no preconceived ideas, biases, opinions, or prejudices that will influence our judgment or impede our attempt at acquiring new understanding on the ways of the world.