10.23.06
Posted in Spirituality, Philosophy at 3:00 am by Tristan
Last week, when I walked into my local bookstore, they had a display paying homage to this being the Islamic Holy month of Ramadan. Seeing this, I thought it would be prudent to honor it by reading up on Islamic Mysticism, as seen by the Sufis. So I picked up The Way of the Sufi (Penguin Arkana).
Although the book was a valuable read, and at times very inthrawling, it was also quite difficult to proccess. Part of Sufism states that the right spiritual path is dependent on time and location. Thus, teachings that apply to one locality at one time, do not apply in another time or place. Therefore I was reading something that was telling me again and again that it was not applicable to me.
Although it was frustrating, I found the Sufis did (do) exhibit quite a bit of true wisdom. Their general philosophy of education as described above is actually quite intriguing in and of itself. It reminds me that applying ancient texts like the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, Homer’s works, the Koran etc. Are never going to be as applicable as they were to the contemporaries of those works. I would argue, as I believe the Sufi’s certainly would that such ancient texts are not devoid of meaning outside their original contexts, just that they should be taken with a grain of salt.
The Sufis also make extensive use of parable and poetry, often meant to misdirect the reader/student to learn something he doesn’t necessarily expect or even desire, while at the same time something that student needs to learn. This principle is well illustrated in a story I’ll attempt to paraphrase:
The Happiest Man in the World
A young man went to a Sufi teacher and asked him, “What do I need to do to attain true happiness? ”. The master responded that the questioner should seek out the happiest man in the world and ask for his shirt. Thus he would attain true happiness.
Eager to find the answer, the young man packed his bags and went on a journey to find the happiest man in the world. As he arrived in a new town, he asked the townsfolk who was the happiest person they knew. Each time he would meet someone, they always said “I know of a man who is much happier than I. He lives in such and such a place; seek him out”. For 40 years the man searched the world from town to town, from country, seeking ever happier and happier men.
Finally, the man’s tiring travels led him to a very old man, living alone atop a high mountain. Exhausted he asked the old man: “Are you the happiest man in the world?” The old man, smiled and replied that he could not think of anyone who was happier than he. Relived that he had reached the end of Journey and was near attainment of what he had sought all these many years he asked the old one, “Please, I was instructed to ask for your shirt so that I may be as happy as you are”, the man requested, “May I please have your shirt?”
At the question, the old man laughed a large and hearty laugh saying, “I’m sorry son, but I do not have a shirt. Can you not see that my chest is bare?”
Puzzled, the younger man studied elder. Not only was he not wearing a shirt but looking under the old one’s long beard and wrinkled, leather-like skin was the face of the the Sufi teacher who first sent him on the quest. “Why!, Why”, the man cried, “why did you send me on this quest, when I had known you all those years ago?”
The old man smiled a wide grin and said, “Because that is what you needed at the time. Now you are ready to learn”.
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Posted in Philosophy, Sunday Quote of Wisdom at 2:19 am by Tristan
In order to maintain a true balance in my quest for spiritual wisdom, I’ve decided to take a while to investigate the counter-argument. Thus, today I started reading: Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects. So far I am finding that Russell presents very good arguments against the formalized dogma and religious hierarchy, such as that in the Catholic church, or Tibetan Buddhism.
That said, his arguments don’t seem to hold up against less dogmatic spirituality as presented in Buddhism by Tich Naht Hanh (in my brief exposure to him) Eckhart Tolle and Quakerism, that focus on an individual connection with “the infinite” be it God, the Tao or whatever you’d like to call it.
Still, I think there is a lot Russell and his spiritual adversaries can agree on. This quote struck me as such a case:
The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
Although many spiritual teachers I have read seem to reject knowledge as part of “enlightenment”, reading deeper, they do see knowledge as a valued asset for one’s day to day life.
Russell brings up the point that religions tend to open up and become more mild in free, open societies. What he may not realize is that perhaps that openness is part of the human race’s spiritual argument. Yes, Dogmatic, closed, judgemental religion probably isn’t good for society. It perpetuates situations like Europe saw in the Middle Ages, and what parts of the middle east are experiencing today. On the other hand, it doesn’t necessarily follow that all spiritual beliefs are useless.
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10.12.06
Posted in Programming, Spirituality, Philosophy at 3:39 pm by Tristan
Reading the Tao, several of it’s short chapters seemed to speak to me as a programmer. I’ll quote some of them here and give my thoughts.
Chapter 4
The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities.
It is hidden but always present.
I don’t know who gave birth to it.
It is older than God.
In this chapter, the Tao reminds me of the ideal code behind a software application. Its code can be used again and again, as many times as needed. It’s objects and classes can be used in infinite combinations, making for very flexible software. The users can’t see the code, and may not even know its there, but it is.
The last two lines are a little harder to fit into this perspective. Perhaps this is referring to some of the old BASIC and FORTRAN programs my grandfather wrote in the 70’s and 80’s - Powerful and flexible for their time, yet impossible to maintain :)
Chapter 63
Act without doing;
work without effort.
Think of the small as large
and the few as many.
Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts.
The Master never reaches for the great;
thus she achieves greatness.
When she runs into a difficulty,
she stops and gives herself to it.
She doesn’t cling to her own comfort;
thus problems are no problem for her.
This chapter describes the ideal attitude for a programmer. In my mind, this passage speaks for itself. I’ll leave the commentary to you.
Chapter 64
What is rooted is easy to nourish.
What is recent is easy to correct.
What is brittle is easy to break.
What is small is easy to scatter.
Prevent trouble before it arises.
Put things in order before they exist.
The giant pine tree
grows from a tiny sprout.
The journey of a thousand miles
starts from beneath your feet.
Rushing into action, you fail.
Trying to grasp things, you lose them.
Forcing a project to completion,
you ruin what was almost ripe.
Therefore the Master takes action
by letting things take their course.
He remains as calm
at the end as at the beginning.
He has nothing,
thus has nothing to lose.
What he desires is non-desire;
what he learns is to unlearn.
He simply reminds people
of who they have always been.
He cares about nothing but the Tao.
Thus he can care for all things.
This passage brings me back to the Pragmatic Programmers who detailed such practices as
- Care About Your Craft
- Think! About Your Work
- Don’t Panic When Debugging
- Remember the Big Picture
- Abstractions Live Longer than Details
and just about every other chapter in their book, seems to speak this chapter of the Tao.
Overall Thoughts
A word of advice for all my programmer readers out there (I think there might be 2 of you): As a first step, put away that book on Ajax, Ruby, Haskell, the upcoming .Net Framework or whatever the latest language is and pick up some books that will help you become a better programmer in general. Second, at the same time, do not forget that programming does not exist in isolation. Be sure to expand your mind and spirit to other ideas outside of the day to day grind. I’ll end with a fitting stanza from Chapter 12 of the Tao Te Ching:
The Master observes the world
but trusts his inner vision.
He allows things to come and go.
His heart is open as the sky.
Quotes taken from Stephen Mitchell’s version of Lao Tzu’s Tao te Ching. (c) 1988.
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10.09.06
Posted in Spirituality, Philosophy at 5:02 am by Tristan
I’ve just finsihed my second, slower read of Lau Tzu’s Tao Te Ching as translated by Stephen Mitchell. While pondering this short but rich (as in cheesecake) book, I thought of many things that would make great blog entries. I couldn’t decide on just one, so here is a preview of blog posts to come regarding and/or inspired by this ancient writing:
- The Tao Te Ching for programmers (Not to be confused with the Tao of Programming)
- A time for this and a time for that – One stanza of the Tao Te Ching that seems strangely similar to a book of the bible (and, by proxy a classic rock song)
- Is there a role for the “enlightend” in Politics?
- Lao Tzu – Adam Smith from 500 BC?
- A Quick Summary of the Tao – Not what you expect.
Meanwhile, I’ll be starting on my next book. It’s back to the western world for a while with Holy Silence: The Gift Of Quaker Spirituality
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10.08.06
Posted in Philosophy, Sunday Quote of Wisdom at 3:45 pm by Tristan
On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow. – Nietzsche
Whether in science or in spirit, this rings ture. So long as we keep an open mind and keep pressing forward, we come closer to truth.
This weeks image is an artists rendering of the mountains of Saturn’s moon, Titan.
Note that the Sunday Quote of Wisdom is a shameless ripoff of my sister’s Friday Fractal at her blog, Chaotic Utopia.
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