“Was not their mistake once more bred of the life of slavery that they had been living?—a life which was always looking upon everything, except mankind, animate and inanimate—‘nature,’ as people used to call it—as one thing, and mankind as another, it was natural to people thinking in this way, that they should try to make ‘nature’ their slave, since they thought ‘nature’ was something outside them” — William Morris


Friday, January 6, 2012

The Sad Case of the Lost Object

I love pens, in fact I am a bit obsessed by them. Not fancy pens, just biros. There are certain biros that glide across the paper very smoothly and don't leave blots. Those are the objects of my desire.

At South Florida University (the religion conference), I was given a biro with a paper wrapping around the barrel. It felt so good. And I'm in constant fear of losing it. And last night I must have left it at the panel, or maybe I didn't even take it out of the plane—for when I looked, lo, it was gone.

And I call myself a Buddhist! I can't even let go of a little biro for Christ's sake! Happily OOO came to the rescue. I reasoned that even if I had the biro in my possession for the rest of its life, I wouldn't be able to grasp its essence. And now the biro is enjoying fresh fields and pastures new. The lucky bastard.

3 comments:

camerontw said...

some music for your loss:
http://bangonacan.org/audio/staged_productions/i_lost_a_sock

Cameron

Schizostroller said...

There's a buddhist (might be taoist) tale about letting things go.

two monks who have sworn not to touch women as part of their orders arrive at a river.
a woman is waiting there unable to cross. so one of the monks puts her on his shoulders and carries her across. On the other side the first monk puts her down.
The two monks carry on for a while, but the second monk can't contain himself, and turns to the first monk and says 'How could you brother! We have sworn off women and you carried that woman across the river".
"Brother, this is true" replied the first monk "but I put her down on the other side of the river. You are still carrying her."

However given your statement about how OOO allowed you to understand the essence of the pen. I am now confused as to which monk knew the essence of the woman.

Sally said...

Yes. I get it. Had some sort of tendonitis in my hand/fingers after losing my one and only favorite
pen for writing! Took a few weeks to clear up after
being very mindful of how I used my hand -- whether computer, other pens, or finger tapping. The consolation: gratitude that I enjoyed the perfect pen for several years. Life is good!