In cooking your life out of life's cookbook ... you had better see clearly what's what.
If you do so, you may be able to obtain a life of whole and harmonious flavor ... not limited to the words in the book.
If not, you may end up with a bitter, unpalatable, poisoned mess of a life.
So much of the result is up to you.
Viktor Frankl's 1946
book Man's Search for Meaning chronicles his experiences as a concentration
camp inmate and describes his psychotherapeutic method of finding a reason to
live. ... Frankl concludes that the meaning of life is found in every moment of
living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death. ... Frankl concludes from his experience that a prisoner's
psychological reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of his
life, but also from the freedom of choice he always has even in severe
suffering. The inner hold a prisoner has on his spiritual self relies on having
a faith in the future, and that once a prisoner loses that faith, he is doomed.
Some Viktor Frankl
quotes ...
* "A man can get used to anything, but
do not ask us how."
* "We who lived in concentration camps
can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away
their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer
sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the
last of the human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given set of
circumstances, to choose one's own way."
* "When we are no longer able to
change a situation - just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable
cancer - we are challenged to change ourselves."
* "Fundamentally, therefore, any man
can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him - mentally
and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration
camp."
You disciples who come after me, [must be able to see that side from this side, as well as this side from that side]. If you make this kind of effort, you will be able to obtain ... the Zen of a single flavor [that goes beyond the surface of words]. If you are not like this, you will be subjected willy-nilly to the poison of the Zen of five flavors, and when it comes to arranging the monks' meals, you will not be able to do it skillfully.
From: Tenzo Kyokun - Instructions for the Cook by Eihei Dogen - Translated by Griffith Foulk [with portion from Uchiyama]
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"When we are no longer able to change a situation,we are challenged to change ourselves". That is such a powerful statement. Having burnt much toast while trying to cook my life, the above eloquent statement humbles me. I've been lucky in my life with few "problems" to speak of, but have managed to muck things up enough to get all the negative attention I was seeking.Thank you Jundo Gassho Kent
Jundo,
Gassho.
Charlie
for some reason, what you wrote reminds me of Joshu's saying...that blankness is not nothingness. Thank you for this teaching!
gassho
"In cooking your life out of life's cookbook ... you had better see clearly what's what.
If you do so, you may be able to obtain a life of whole and harmonious flavor ... not limited to the words in the book.
If not, you may end up with a bitter, unpalatable, poisoned mess of a life."
So much of the result is up to you
your comment about the Holocaust reminded me that Bernie Glassman is still doing those "Bearing Witness" retreats to Auschwitz:
http://www.zenpeacemakers.org/sa/auschwitz.htm
gassho
when you talked of ingredients it reminded me of how they work in my life sometimes fresh spices sometimes not but always create something palatable Best we can with what we have to work with
Dubar
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