| The Cartography of Zen
This is for anyone who has read the epic article “The Cartography of Hell.” That article held many truths for me, but left me lacking answers. If you have not read the article I recommend that you read it before you continue reading this.
Understanding the framework of hell is only the first step in ridding yourself of its presence in your life forever. Although it is true that knowledge is power, Understanding it will only help you recognize the problem. However through one own analyzation, the cartography of hell only grows more complex. Because hell is built from your own limited beliefs and thoughts, if you fight hell with the same destructive thought processes you will only be building your hell around your very desire to break free from hell. Every turn you make trying to navigate yourself out will only make the path more complicated.
“Then How” you might ask “Can I break free from its hold.” The truth is that the components of hell that you use to build it, the individual thoughts and beliefs, are ever present and part of the world as a whole. This, however, does not mean hope is lost. Consider life when you are not in hell. The world is simple. Although it includes all of your previous hellish thoughts of it and more, although it itself is an infinitely complex animal of all things living and non-living interacting with each other, it is simple. Everything simply is. Everything is nothing, and nothing is everything.
This, my friend, is Zen. It is the desired destination of any inhabitant of hell. It, though, is misunderstood. You do not leave hell to enter Zen. When you leave a hell you only enter a different hell even if that hell is that of escaping hell itself. This is because they are specific and concrete forms of self torture and limitations. No matter how large and complex your hell is, it is no less narrow than any single thought involved therein. It is a puzzle made of infinitesimally small fractions of the word(thoughts) and as such is itself infinitesimally small. Zen is everything. It includes everything and excludes nothing. It is not the opposite of hell. It has no opposite. It includes hell as the infinitesimally small fraction of the whole that it is.
The cartography of Zen includes the complexities of all of the world’s components. It, though, could not be simpler. It is ever present and right in front of you, but in order for it to be seen you must free yourself from your own personal beliefs about the world. You cannot see the world as it truly is if you limit yourself to how you believe it exists.
Zen is greater than you. It includes you, but it I not something you own. The world is not about you; you are only part of the world. This, though, does not limit you. It sets you free to grow without limits. If you are part of everything, than you are part of the greatness of everything. The second you think yourself great in yourself, you remove yourself from the greatness that surrounds you.
For that reason you must destroy your ego. The idea that you are separate from the rest of the world I the seed that spawns hell. The idea that your destiny can be controlled despite the rest of the world is the momentum that drives you to your hell. You must destroy your ego to live with Zen. Only then will the simple truth of the world reveal itself to you and work with you for the good of both you and it.
When living with Zen everything just makes sense. The world falls into place. You are not preoccupied by your thoughts. You do not think that YOU are there performing actions. You simply are part of the actions that are taking place. You are not aware that YOU are doing anything, but rather that things happen because of you or happen to you.
It may seem, though, from time to time, from the perspective of hell, that although simple, a state of Zen is hard to attain. It shouldn’t be that way, though. Zen requires no effort. Any effort put forth into it is counterproductive. Hell requires your full concentration to perpetuate. Large amounts of effort and thought in seeking Zen creates a paradoxical situation, a hell built around the pursuit of Zen.
Don’t preoccupy yourself with your thoughts. Forget yourself and rather don’t think at all. This is not to say you are numbing yourself intellectually. When you stop your thoughts you can think with a deeper mind. You will live out and practice the disciplines you have trained yourself in and you won’t have to think to do it. It will be natural. It will be Zen.
In knowing this, it is clear that despite you there will be good and there will be bad, but if you are Zen this is not important. Zen does not favor anything and does not reject anything. Do not like or dislike anything; only accept it as it is. The state of nothought will set you free, but analysis will cage you in. Do not be for anything or against anything; This will only hold you back. Do not seek to be special; this is common. Be simple like Zen and you will be great like Zen. You cannot be greater than the universe, but you can be great with it, as part of it. In this you will find freedom. In this you will find peace.
Zen has no opposite, therefore it cannot be defined. To define it is to belittle it. Though partial truth, your definition will only be a fraction of what is. Do not dwell on it. Just live it. Be with it. Everything is constantly changing, and so must you. Change, though, in response to the world; change with the world. It does not require your analyzation, for when you finally figure it out, it would have already changed and left you behind. At that point, that which you have figured out will be obsolete, for there are new horizons to be had. In that lies your limitless growth.
So take with you this key to free yourself from hell. Live each day to the fullest. Carpe diem,
Tommy
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CHAT