Imagine a chair. You are standing by the chair. You look at the chair. You believe the chair will hold your weight, will seat you without fail, will seat you comfortably though you may need to shift your position every once in a while. This is your belief. Nothing happens unless you try it out.
You sit in the chair. This is faith. You have faith that the chair will hold you. Faith is action. The chair holds you. You grow. The chair grows with you. You and the chair have melded. You do not know where you begin and the chair ends. Once two, you become seamless.
Now you start to believe that your chair is the only chair, that other people’s chairs are false, unreal. If they do not adopt your chair, they are doomed to a life of false chair. You have the exclusive seat. Other seats are seats of error. You have the true and only seat. This is dogma.
Any chair can become dogma. The theist chairs of various kinds and genders. The a-theist chairs, seats of no theism. The materialist chairs which seat those who say that only matter matters. The chair of being that says only just be. The chair of nonbeing which gives rise to all being. And so on. Many chairs.
Many chairs exist because many humans exist. Each human needs a chair that fits. Both chairs and humans evolve, grow over time. "When I understood as a child, I sat in a child’s seat, but as I grew, I put away childish things." This too can become dogma. Your seat is childish. Mine is mature.
A chair is a vehicle. Our transport. We believe in our transportation, have faith. We refuse to exist naked and open in the cosmos, with no bounds. We need a safe taxi. So we take it.
You sit in the chair. This is faith. You have faith that the chair will hold you. Faith is action. The chair holds you. You grow. The chair grows with you. You and the chair have melded. You do not know where you begin and the chair ends. Once two, you become seamless.
Now you start to believe that your chair is the only chair, that other people’s chairs are false, unreal. If they do not adopt your chair, they are doomed to a life of false chair. You have the exclusive seat. Other seats are seats of error. You have the true and only seat. This is dogma.
Any chair can become dogma. The theist chairs of various kinds and genders. The a-theist chairs, seats of no theism. The materialist chairs which seat those who say that only matter matters. The chair of being that says only just be. The chair of nonbeing which gives rise to all being. And so on. Many chairs.
Many chairs exist because many humans exist. Each human needs a chair that fits. Both chairs and humans evolve, grow over time. "When I understood as a child, I sat in a child’s seat, but as I grew, I put away childish things." This too can become dogma. Your seat is childish. Mine is mature.
A chair is a vehicle. Our transport. We believe in our transportation, have faith. We refuse to exist naked and open in the cosmos, with no bounds. We need a safe taxi. So we take it.
Sitting back reading this new book is pure joy ,George, for the Season and the New Year..Thanks!! HB
ReplyDeleteIt is the rare person who has no belief, no dogma. But, that person still has faith in God whatever that word, "God" means. It takes courage to test one's ideas and beliefs, but it is the essence of Buddhism and Zen Buddhism in particular. Strip away thoughts and ideas that don't work and trying to find that which works and leads to enlightenment. Even Douglas Adam's said that religion needed to adopt the scientific method to question dogmas and beliefs. However, scientists have their dogmas. But, the smart ones realize that there are always exceptions to dogmatic rules.
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