Comments on “Yes”

Comments

Yes, Indeed!

Kate Gowen's picture

"After the final no there comes a yes
And on that yes the future world depends.
No was the night. Yes is this present sun."

(The Well Dressed Man with a Beard-- Wallace Stevens)

The last section-- particularly and formally-- is wonderful poetry; that said, I realize that your writing generally, in spirit if not in form, is also poignantly poetic. That is, perhaps, how it is with Dzogchen.

Thank you so much for your labors on our behalf.

Thanks; I stole it

David Chapman's picture

Thank you! I like Wallace Stevens a lot.

I stole the form of the last bit from a pre-Buddhist Tibetan poem that appears in Stephan Beyer's The Classical Tibetan Language. Someday I will write a review of that book—it's a delight. It's a real work of philology in the original sense – he loved the language. It's immensely erudite, urbane, poetic, often very funny, and (most unusually, for books on Tibetan language) accurate.

David

"Yes— meaning is neither

Anonymous's picture

"Yes— meaning is neither objective, nor subjective. (Meaning arises in the interaction between subject and object.)"

False. Because subjects are not separate from objects for one. And two, all meaning is intentional, meaning things have the meanings that they do so long as you continue to consent. Consent is effortless and habitual, so we don't notice it. Still. Consent is there and you can withdraw it and thereby shatter this world either temporarily or even permanently, or alter significant parts of it. This assumes you feel comfortable with what is conventionally seen as insanity. If we define sanity as habitually familiar, it's obvious why being willingly insane is important if you want to exercise your intent to the fullest extent possible. This is a fate scarier than death, because in death your body dies, but your mind dies believing same things it believed during life, you die sane. Your stupid tradition either doesn't teach you about this, or vainly and wrongly keeps it a secret. It's vain because none of these truths belong to you anyway. You are all thieves and impostors and none of you are really needed in the world. Wisdom will go on just fine with all of you gone, trust me. You won't be missed.

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