Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Zen is a different way of looking at the world. This quote—copied from Daily Zen—is illustrative:
In the stillness by the empty window
I sit in formal meditation
Navel and nose in alignment,
Ears parallel with shoulders.
Moonlight floods the room;
The rain stops, but the eaves drip and drip.
Perfect this moment;
In the vast emptiness, my understanding deepens.
- Ryokan (1758-1831)
Rambling, now. . .
I've walked through a few modern art exhibits and just wondered: What in the world is this all about? I went with a good friend in NYC to MOMA where many of the pieces we enjoyed quite a lot, some provoked thought, and some were seemingly senseless. The New Criterion has a nice piece by Roger Kimball that talks about the current state of affairs in the art world.
Over the weekend, my children built an old Lego kit that I had stashed away to keep its pieces from being mixed in with all the other ones we have. What fun they had! It's still set up and they've had hours of fun building it and then playing various pretend games with it. When I watch the imagination and creativity that is stimulated, along with the sheer fun they have with that stuff, I feel incredible joy for and with them.
In the stillness by the empty window
I sit in formal meditation
Navel and nose in alignment,
Ears parallel with shoulders.
Moonlight floods the room;
The rain stops, but the eaves drip and drip.
Perfect this moment;
In the vast emptiness, my understanding deepens.
- Ryokan (1758-1831)
Rambling, now. . .
I've walked through a few modern art exhibits and just wondered: What in the world is this all about? I went with a good friend in NYC to MOMA where many of the pieces we enjoyed quite a lot, some provoked thought, and some were seemingly senseless. The New Criterion has a nice piece by Roger Kimball that talks about the current state of affairs in the art world.
Over the weekend, my children built an old Lego kit that I had stashed away to keep its pieces from being mixed in with all the other ones we have. What fun they had! It's still set up and they've had hours of fun building it and then playing various pretend games with it. When I watch the imagination and creativity that is stimulated, along with the sheer fun they have with that stuff, I feel incredible joy for and with them.
# posted by goldpython @ 12:33 PM 
