I received a private message in response to this post that said: "Do you really believe the body is conceptual? What does that mean? It worries me that people's increasing disconnection from nature, including their own nature and their own bodies is causing suffering to humankind and the earth. I don't believe my body is any more conceptual than my dog's body, or the tree outside my window! Insight into the impermanence and interconnectedness of all does not, in my opinion, require us to conceptualise out of reality the infinite wonders of fingers, flowers and frogs."
In case anyone else had a similar reaction, this was my reply to this person:
I was actually hoping my post would validate the "infinite wonders of fingers, flowers and frogs,” not invalidate any of it! I was by no means suggesting that your body, your dog, or the trees are unreal or that there is nothing there other than a mere concept. What I was attempting to point out was that all the “things” we can name are in some sense conceptual abstractions mentally carved out of an ever-changing, flowing, boundless aliveness (the sensory world). I’m not negating the actuality of any of this—quite the opposite. I’m saying that “Your body,” “Your dog,” and “the tree outside your window,” are word-labels that describe a living actuality that never really holds still. Nothing can actually be pulled out of the whole. We learn to label and categorize things: body, dog, tree. This is, of course, functionally useful and necessary, and I’m not denying the relative reality of these “things” that we’ve learned to see and identify. The recognition of thorough-going impermanence and interdependence doesn’t in any way negate the beautiful and unique particularity of you, your dog, and that particular tree. It simply invites the recognition that the world is not actually made up of a bunch of separate objects. It is one whole undivided aliveness. Your body, like the body of your dog, is constantly changing. It doesn’t hold still. It can’t be separated from everything that is supposedly “not it."
If we imagine that the world is made up of a separate ”things,” and that these “things” are all impermanent, this is not yet the full understanding of impermanence. The flux is so thorough-going that no separate, independent, persisting “things” ever actually form and persist to be impermanent. When we really grok this, it doesn’t diminish our love for our dog or our appreciation for each unique and precious expression, each unique waving of the vast ocean. It actually opens up the sense of being this whole body-mind-world.
In pointing out the dualistic division in so much of spirituality between body/mind, matter/spirit, etc., I was attempting to suggest that this division is false and, as you say, I agree that it is contributing to humanity’s increasing disconnection from nature and the harm that flows from that lack of sensitivity. Along those lines, I highly recommend a book by David Hinton called Wild Mind, Wild Earth: Our Place in the Sixth Extinction. Hinton is a poet and a translator of early Chinese poetry and Chan (Zen) and Taoist texts. He’s written many great books, but this one specifically addresses this issue. (He’s on my website recommended books list where you can learn more about him if you’re interested).
There is a sense of poetry in your examples of experiencing "just this" that not only feels very pleasant when they are read, but contributes to their resonance with my own experiences.
Ultimately, of course, all attempts to contain the experiencing of "what is" within language are going to fall short - hence the apparent paradoxes in zen, and the wildly divergent worldviews of various approaches to "spirituality"....but may just, in the "right" moment nudge the "right" person into a paradigm shift that brings with it a sense of clearer seeing.
Brilliant. Your writing makes it so clear, is such a touching map that helps me to see. Maybe one day I’ll grok and step into the boundless happening and wake up. You’re a blessing!
Why wait for someday? Just notice that you ARE this boundless happening, this present moment, this aware presence, this experiencing, this aliveness. This is it, right here, right now.
hi Joan, a neighbor who is both deaf, unable to speak and with no apparent desire to read creates beautiful figures from bowling balls then sells them from a table in front of his brother's
house where he lives. His only mode of winter and summer transportation is a bicycle which he rides on the wrong side of the street smiling. Always smiling
Hola ¡ Koco loko
Semblava que no però sí has encertat la definició de cos.
I mira que es un tema controvertit entre Nisrga. i Tich Nhat
Gracies a la comunitat orgànica cos puc dir jo soc
Gracies ¡ Cuida't camina pren banys de mans i peus amb aigua de romaní.
hmmm. In Nicaragua, and then with one Nicaraguan friend, my nickname was coco loco. Seems like you may have sensed this?
Hola ¡ No ho vas di tu a un comentari meu, però t'escau ¡
Amazing. So well put, so well touched upon. Thank you. You have urged me to get your book!
Beautiful!
Thankyou. 🙏🩷
There must be two to be one. Because without the two, without the opposites, there cannot be one.
Beautiful 😍 😍 😘
I received a private message in response to this post that said: "Do you really believe the body is conceptual? What does that mean? It worries me that people's increasing disconnection from nature, including their own nature and their own bodies is causing suffering to humankind and the earth. I don't believe my body is any more conceptual than my dog's body, or the tree outside my window! Insight into the impermanence and interconnectedness of all does not, in my opinion, require us to conceptualise out of reality the infinite wonders of fingers, flowers and frogs."
In case anyone else had a similar reaction, this was my reply to this person:
I was actually hoping my post would validate the "infinite wonders of fingers, flowers and frogs,” not invalidate any of it! I was by no means suggesting that your body, your dog, or the trees are unreal or that there is nothing there other than a mere concept. What I was attempting to point out was that all the “things” we can name are in some sense conceptual abstractions mentally carved out of an ever-changing, flowing, boundless aliveness (the sensory world). I’m not negating the actuality of any of this—quite the opposite. I’m saying that “Your body,” “Your dog,” and “the tree outside your window,” are word-labels that describe a living actuality that never really holds still. Nothing can actually be pulled out of the whole. We learn to label and categorize things: body, dog, tree. This is, of course, functionally useful and necessary, and I’m not denying the relative reality of these “things” that we’ve learned to see and identify. The recognition of thorough-going impermanence and interdependence doesn’t in any way negate the beautiful and unique particularity of you, your dog, and that particular tree. It simply invites the recognition that the world is not actually made up of a bunch of separate objects. It is one whole undivided aliveness. Your body, like the body of your dog, is constantly changing. It doesn’t hold still. It can’t be separated from everything that is supposedly “not it."
If we imagine that the world is made up of a separate ”things,” and that these “things” are all impermanent, this is not yet the full understanding of impermanence. The flux is so thorough-going that no separate, independent, persisting “things” ever actually form and persist to be impermanent. When we really grok this, it doesn’t diminish our love for our dog or our appreciation for each unique and precious expression, each unique waving of the vast ocean. It actually opens up the sense of being this whole body-mind-world.
In pointing out the dualistic division in so much of spirituality between body/mind, matter/spirit, etc., I was attempting to suggest that this division is false and, as you say, I agree that it is contributing to humanity’s increasing disconnection from nature and the harm that flows from that lack of sensitivity. Along those lines, I highly recommend a book by David Hinton called Wild Mind, Wild Earth: Our Place in the Sixth Extinction. Hinton is a poet and a translator of early Chinese poetry and Chan (Zen) and Taoist texts. He’s written many great books, but this one specifically addresses this issue. (He’s on my website recommended books list where you can learn more about him if you’re interested).
Hi Joan, Would love to hear your reaction to this story:🙏
https://evolutionnews.org/2025/06/the-boy-who-proved-most-theories-of-consciousness-wrong/
Wow! Right up my alley! Happy I found this
Hey Joan - once again, I'm grateful to you....
There is a sense of poetry in your examples of experiencing "just this" that not only feels very pleasant when they are read, but contributes to their resonance with my own experiences.
Ultimately, of course, all attempts to contain the experiencing of "what is" within language are going to fall short - hence the apparent paradoxes in zen, and the wildly divergent worldviews of various approaches to "spirituality"....but may just, in the "right" moment nudge the "right" person into a paradigm shift that brings with it a sense of clearer seeing.
Have a great day mate!
Thanks, Joan
Brilliant. Your writing makes it so clear, is such a touching map that helps me to see. Maybe one day I’ll grok and step into the boundless happening and wake up. You’re a blessing!
Why wait for someday? Just notice that you ARE this boundless happening, this present moment, this aware presence, this experiencing, this aliveness. This is it, right here, right now.
Another home run 🥰 weekly doses of your wisdom is great medicine 😇
hi Joan, a neighbor who is both deaf, unable to speak and with no apparent desire to read creates beautiful figures from bowling balls then sells them from a table in front of his brother's
house where he lives. His only mode of winter and summer transportation is a bicycle which he rides on the wrong side of the street smiling. Always smiling