Mind Yoga

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
Yogi Berra

Ok, the boil of the psyche has been lanced. You've opened the wound, and through your many writings, expressions and outpourings, you've drained out the messy stinky gunk. What a release. How good it feels. You've reached a point where you feel no need to blame anyone. You see it is all part of the plan. The plan to learn. We are all in this together. We all have a stake. We all make mistake. You see a connection beyond the self. To point fingers at another is to poke your own eye. The history of one is the history of all. And yet you are still somehow unsettled. What to do with this problem of good and evil? There is still, after all, so much pain and suffering in the world. There are still, after all, so many more problems to solve.
"Resist not evil."
That's something Jesus said, according to a kind and knowledgeable minister come Jungian follower whom I'd once heard at a lecture. In the same talk, the minister told us Jung himself said something to the effect:
"Develop an imagination in evil." 
Let's face it, as divine as we should see ourselves, there's a hell of a lot of bullsh*t in the world, most of which, if not all, is human derived, as ego fights ego to put one on top of another. Indeed it does seem, as others have said before, we are our own worst enemy. And we continue to be as long as we see ourselves as separate, as least separate to the extent that we think we are somehow immune to that which drives others to acts of madness. In a word, if I may be so bold, nobody here is perfect. Herein, I'll be the first to admit this is true about myself. It's a very uncertain world, so many options, so many dilemmas. There's a lot to figure out, so many opportunities to rise above, so many pitfalls to trip and stumble down. Who is immune to these challenges? Who gets it right all the time? Certainly not me. And I think I'm pretty smart. Who is immune to the inadvertent dirty deed. Not me. And I think I'm a pretty good person.
Life seems to almost set us up for failure. At least it feels that way at times. During the worst of these times, one may either succumb to hopelessness or see a higher purpose. At the most devastating of times, the darkness may overcome all hope, faith and trust in higher purpose. I submit this is no weakness, it just comes with being mere human in a world of infinite challenge. And I submit that to think we must always be able to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps is pure hubris, perhaps ego at its worst. Further, I submit there are certain trials in life where no other human, however great in rank or insight, can fully assist another. For these particular trials demand a sort of peace and reconciliation between one's self and one's world. This is the face-to-face encounter between one and one's Creator, the nature of which is such that the intervention of another human would only serve to stand in the way of a this absolutely personal affair.
There's an old story that provides a clue as what I'm talking about here. In this story Alexander the Great has just conquered the entire known world. He is now the greatest man around, the most powerful human ever with the world's riches at his fingertips and all people at his command and service. One day, in all his greatness with all his conquests, Alexander approaches the ascetic Diogenes, a man of such frugal and humble means his home is an overturned tub and others think he live as a dog. who is said to live. So he approaches Diogenes and asks what he, Alexander the Great can do to help lift Diogenes from his miserable condition. To which Diogenes replies, "You can stand out of my light and let me see the Sun." 
Here is the great challenge of evil. If there is a God, and God is good, how can God allow evil? Why does a good God allow such hurt and suffering as read about in the newspapers? Why does a good God allow the death of those I love? Why does God allow the death of me. These are all heavy dilemmas of which we all face at one time or another. And when we do, however much others might comfort us, we still come face to face with the worst of existence, the worst of life, the worst of Creation. And when we do, it's back to school.

A means to enlightenment, the Zen master presents the koan to the student. A koan is a saying or question designed to frustrate the application of conventional thought. It may present as the intractable problem, the double-bind of a no-win situation or the proverbial trapping between a rock and a hard place. The koan is designed to blow apart our neat and tidy boxes of human thinking, or at least poke a few holes in them. The koan, as with yoga for the body, is practiced to stretch the mind. And while the koan exercise may not intend to obliterate the ego, its practice places the self in proper perspective to the rest of existence.

In this context, we might view Creation as the greatest Zen master, whose intractable Cosmic Koan of evil and suffering is designed to stretch our minds beyond their current conventions and limits, to do exactly what masters Jesus and Jung suggest, to face the problem head on, not as we typically might, but with exceptional and unusual imagination. Herein we might also heed master Einstein who, among many things, said:
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."
"Any intelligent fool can makes things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage, to move in the opposite direction."
"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."
"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

As devoted as I am to knowledge, I cherish imagination just as much. For knowledge without imagination just provides the same old answers to the same old problems, and no real solutions.


Questions. Does humanity now possess any real solutions to its many problems? Does our current course of action provide any light at the end of the tunnel? Is our vast knowledge and technology helping our affairs, making them worse or just keeping the course? How about the individual citizen, where do we fit in the equation? What is the role and responsibility of the everyday person in finding solutions to collective problems? Are there any problems only you can answer? Have you encountered your Alexander? Are you personally facing your own Cosmic Koan of evil and suffering?

Can you stretch your imagination with Stories of Reconciliation?