For Scot & Ghetufool
A dear friend asks some questions in comments on my previous post. I numbered them for convenience, intending to answer them one by one. (So much for intentions.)
(1) Do you think this kind of serenity is possible in daily life? or (2) that I have to be retired like you to have enough time to ponder about things all around?
(3) how much time a man can devote to understand himself, the spirit part of it? we are all chasing that illusive security in life that will never come. Obviously, you have some kind of security to fall back so that you can hone your calm lifestyle. you don’t need to worry about deadlines. you declare your own deadlines. you dismiss them at your will.
(4) So is this a kind of writing expected from a retired man? (5) were you such sensitive when you were struggling to feed your family?
(6) or is this plain maturity which can only come after going through all the turmoil and realising, as wise men say, everything is futile?
I think every part of our experience needs to be given equal respect and value. We may cherish serenity as a goal. Usually we do. We are wired that way. We are programmed to seek serenity, but only under certain conditions, which don’t always apply. See Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Physiological needs take precedence! Then physical safety. Then psychological security. The sun we love so much can be obscured by many layers of clouds.
We may dance on the pinnacle of Maslow’s Pyramid, but clear skies today doesn’t mean no storms tomorrow. The most primitive need can puncture the highest pretension.
I cannot pretend to know anything of what happens in any other person, or whether it is possible to be serene anywhere else but here and now. Doubtless I’m spoilt, pampered, over-privileged; but why should that matter to anyone else? No writer can make any promise to any reader. It’s best to consider the written word as fiction—the spoken word too! All the same I want to speak truth, and prefer silence to lies. Words—these kind of words—are meant to touch a place, not deliver a guarantee. Anything else is corrupt in principle.
I think in this world there are more would-be Alexanders than would-be Diogenes. But here’s a delightful story copied verbatim from the website of King Biscuit Man, to whom hearty thanks.
The time Alexander the Great came to Athens, he heard about Diogenes.
One day he went to pay a visit to him.
[Diogenes continues the tale.]
It was morning, just time of dusk: I heard voices and marching horses, I came out my pithos (large tub) and saw Alexander and his horse men. I lay down in front of my tub, feeling the warm sun.
Alexander and the horse men stopped, and he came to me. He greeted me and I did the same, then stared at me for a long time with out saying anything. I looked at him as well, he was young, very young, allmost a child.
Then he asked: it is true that you live in that tub? or it is just one of those pranks filosophers do in order for the people to talk and admire them?
I will answer with a question, Alexander! Is it true you want to conquer Persia, and so unite all Greeks under your leadership? or do you do all this just for the sake of getting the admiration of people?
He liked my answer! he smiled and touched my tub said: one tub full of wisdom.
I liked his words and I felt flattered, but quickly replied: I prefer one drop of luck than a tub full of wisdom, great King! Sometimes wisdom drives you to a bitter taste of vanity, and all your works will stop in death! and one drop of luck can open streets you never could imagine and give you happiness you never knew!
Alexander understood every word and knew the meaning of luck in life better than anyone, then he came closer to me and said: I would like to do something very important for you Diogenes. I know you chose this kind solitaire life, but I think that sometimes in your life you want something better. Ask me, what you want and it will be a pleasure for me to give it to you.
He stood in front of me while hiding the sun, I gave him the following answer:
I want only one thing Alexander. You stand in front of me, and you’ re hiding the sun, so, don’ t take from me, the thing that you can not give me!
a wayfarer’s notes 
I took the courage to read my own comment again (I normally never prefer to read my own writings that much). And I wish to correct an unintentional error that had crawled in.
I wrote:
My purpose here to leave this comment is not to glorify yourself in any way; for that I apologize. But rather to offer myself as a possible alibi.
I mean:
My purpose here to leave this comment is not to glorify MYSELF in any way; for that I apologize. But rather to offer myself as a possible alibi.
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Not that there is a difference between You or Me or Anyone Else, Really; haha; Ok, Enough of spamming your blog with comments…
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Thanks Sumedh! I note that you see it as choice.
I see it as luck and take the liberty of repeating part of Diogenes' words to Alexander (this time with the spelling, grammar etc edited):
I prefer one drop of luck to a tub full of wisdom, great King! Sometimes wisdom drives you to a bitter taste of vanity, and all your works will end in death! For one drop of luck can open streets you never could imagine and give you happiness you never knew!
We flatter ourselves to have chosen wisely from our wisdom. It might be true, or it might just be luck.
Luck can change.
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Yes, I can understand your point of view as well.
But for me, luck, coincidence, fate, happenstance etcetera simply do not exist. That's what I “believe” or rather have experienced.
Nothing exists or occurs without being conceived at some level or another. The forces that put the universe into motion are extremely subtle, and are added onto by an infinite myriad of factors.
But, in short, every thing that “happens to us” (whether we term it good or bad) is being caused by ourselves (hence a choice). We are the creators of the same reality we experience.
Yes, it is true that we may not even be in touch/tune with that part of ourselves which is causing it to happen. In which case our experience affirms our belief that it is “happening to us”.
And that's what awareness is all about. But the closed circle is that even if we might believe that we are not the creators of our own experiences, we create that very experience and hence experience everything as something created by someone/thing else.
In a way, whatever we truly believe in is what becomes true for us in our experience.
I'm not aiming to challenge your views or debate here. I'm simply declaring mine. Therefore I won't continue with this particular thread, lest it appears to be a debate. I respect all other views just as equally.
Thanks for allowing my verbosity!
Take Care.
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Ok Sumedh, you are right. We should not swamp our other readers with such a debate, if that is not what they came for.
I shall brood on what you say, and see where that leads!
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“I think every part of our experience needs to be given equal respect and value.”
How much time people spend wishing and hoping for something to be other than what it currently is…either present struggles, future worries, or past failures. If we really could give each and every struggle, failure, and shame their equal place in our being, how much more serenity there might be…regardless of situation or constraint. Like a caterpillar undergoing the metamorphosis to a butterfly, each stage is necessary and is no less valuable than another.
I'm finally learning for myself that serenity is not the absence of the storm, bur rather balancing inside the storm. (I think someone said this but I'm not sure who to attribute it to.)
It's always wonderful to read your writing and come away with thoughts to think and ponderings to ponder.
Wishing you well.
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“…don’ t take from me, the thing that you can not give me!”
That's one of the most poignant and insightful things I've experienced in a long while. Thank you for sharing it, Vincent.
Great perspective.
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yes, the last line said it all–put it on a t-shirt and start walking.
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thanks vincent. i understand.
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Thank you for sharing this with us, Vincent.
I enjoyed taking my time to read it.
best wishes and a fresh cuppa for you, my dear friend.
Annie
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I love this story and had forgotten it, thanks for telling it.
always brings gleeful laughter!
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(3) how much time a man can devote to understand himself, the spirit part of it?
How much time does a man want to would be a better question. But once it grabs you it won't let go so you have to deal with it the best you can.
Actually, spiritual journeys are a pain in the butt and I wish I had never got on one.
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BBC, I do agree, except that I wonder if there is a choice in the matter: whether to embark on a spiritual journey, how much time etc.
When the impulse strikes you can ignore it but there's a price to pay.
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Hayden, yes, i particularly liked the translation, which was by a modern Greek living on Lesbos, whose English is imperfect.
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Annie, bless you for the tea which being in virtual form has especial invigorating qualities. I love the way you encourage writers. I shall have to visit your site for succour because I'm blocked again.
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Scot & Ghetufool. Ah, T-shirt graffiti. Can't even put enough words together at present even for that. Ghetu, it was so good seeing you in the midst of some garish but authentic Hindu phantasmagoria. Will you publish some of that on your blog? & explain in English what it means to you? I was dumbfounded. I felt “This is a living tradition!”
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Serenity, you commenting about serenity in a post about serenity! So glad to see you here.
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Tim, I'm glad those borrowed words hit the spot for you. See you at your place!
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