Thanks for the appreciative words, Barry. It so happens that that particular
Zen story is one of my inspirations and I've told it often. The other day
Judy mentioned that I must be "really pissed" because of something Raunchy
said. It surprised me a bit that she would think I would get upset by
something someone wrote here. As you say, it's just a little forum, and I
might add that we're all just visitors on a little planet in a vast galaxy,
a "perspective trick" I find useful. I often look at astronomy photos to
broaden my perspective. If one can get a sense of how small we are in
comparison to the actuality of things, it's hard to take oneself too
seriously. Another thing is that I can usually find something to like in
most people. Judy has many admirable qualities. I've known Raunchy
personally for decades and I think she's a wonderful person. Nabby is the
most entertaining guy here. I'd be disappointed if he left.
I tend to think of people as sense organs of the infinite. "Light that is
one though the lamps be many," as the Incredible String Band put it. God
wants to taste all varieties of experience, from the bum in the gutter to
the President of the United States (little distinction in Raunchy's
opinion). So from that perspective, all the clashing personalities on FFL
and in the world at large aren't really clashing; they're just expressing
various facets of a much larger, more inclusive perspective. God is
entertaining himself. It's my understanding that Brahman incorporates all
apparent opposites and polarities. I think the Vedic literature is written
the way it is, with so many expectation-shattering stories, to culture the
perspective that one's own little peephole on the Universe does not afford a
view of the whole, and that therefore one should not take oneself too
seriously.
