> At 09:28 AM 5/5/97 -0700, you wrote:
> >On Fri, 2 May 1997, Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
> >
> >> One must have the
> >> courage to commit oneself to a meaningful, specific description of
> >> the world in order to use that world in the service of your will.
> >
> >"...to use that world in service of your will"? What if you have other
> >uses for the world, beyond bending it to your will? What of that courage?
> >
> I don't think you can escape the use of your will. Just my opinion. I
> know some Zen fans would say otherwise, but I think that's just a
> sublimated or more subtle will, not an absence of one.
I didn't have a problem with the use of the word "will", it was "in
service of" that caused me to bristle. I find that my will is much more
flexible than the world is and, although I do consider myself a great and
well practiced manipulator, it is often more advantageous to adapt to the
world than to make it adapt to suit me. (Taoism not Zen, close though.)
Maybe that's why I only see the need to "commit to a meaningful, specific
description of the world" as it suits me or my purposes of the moment.
Specific descriptions are only tools. I have no loyalty to my hammer or
saw.
-Prof. Tim