elephant guessed:
> Andrea, I don't think you really want to say that Zen amounts to accepting
> incoherent stuff as valid answers to coherent questions. But I am just
> guessing.
Well, no.
Who knows, maybe another physical metaphor may be understood, this time. Let's
try:
If a question addresses something that lies on your intellectual horizon, for
example, language. Of course I'm not referring to just "any and whatever"
question about language (e.g., what's a noun?), but some general question such
as "is all language metaphorical?"... Since the subject lies on our horizon (is
actually the tool by which we conceptualize, and we need to conceptualize to
understand/reply to questions), trying to answer short-circuits language. The
answer would require a perspective from outside your horizon. So you build a
mock answer, which somehow, in your opinion, resembles what the "true" answer
should be. Nonsensical or self-contradictory statement seem to work better than
other kinds of mock answers for Zen disciples, probably because they too clearly
reveal the short-circuit that occurred.
(Not that all contradictions work - they have to somehow resemble, in your own
opinion, what the true answer would be if we could phrase them. Surely some
contradictions have more value than others, don't you think so?)
Andrea
--
Andrea Sosio
RIM/PSPM/PPITMN
Tel. (8)9006
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