Comments on: Chop Wood, Carry Water

By: My Story of My Awakening | Liberation from the Lie

My Story of My Awakening | Liberation from the Lie — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 11:58:58 +0000

[...] There is an old zen phrase that talks about life before and after awakening. It talks about chopping wood and carrying water. Nothing is changed, yet everything is [...]

By: Angry Days « Older Eyes

Angry Days « Older Eyes — Sat, 14 May 2011 20:56:51 +0000

[...] what my friend Don calls Doing the Next Indicated Thing, and with chores, mindless or otherwise. Chop Wood, Carry Water. Eventually, I can see the [...]

By: David

David — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:36:22 +0000

Hi Iva. You are right on with that. Our brains have enabled an incredible quality of life, which they also spoil.

Thoughts involving security and safety do seem to be the strongest attachements we have, and therefore cause the greatest suffering. It’s a powerful but cruel bit of evolution: we worry so intensely that survival is almost automatic, and so is suffering.

By: David

David — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:31:27 +0000

Haha hadn’t heard that one. I think I lucked out; it definitely wasn’t wisdom that led me there.

By: David

David — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:29:59 +0000

I would love to have a coffee with Mark Twain. He has a playful contempt about him.

I believe I am the king of overwritten blog posts. I end up with 1500, 2000 words, then a reader sums it up in two sentences in a comment. Happens all the time.

By: David

David — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:26:47 +0000

Thank you Daphne. I hope to be ‘back’ in the online community before I’m back in North America, but we’ll see how it all shapes up.

By: David

David — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:25:14 +0000

Ian, good to hear from you. Yes, extremely liberating, especially with people. People seem to trigger the mind’s most presumptuous parts.

By: David

David — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:23:17 +0000

Haha… Festivus was excellent, though not quites as I pictured it. My feets actually were not that strengthful; unbroken-in shoes wreaked havoc on them. So I chose to spend it with my new friends back in the village instead of out on the trail. ‘Twas the right decision.

Happy Festivus! I will see you at the Airing of Grievances.

By: David

David — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:19:17 +0000

I don’t suggest you stop thinking, not that it’s ever really a choice. But you can certainly recognize when your mind is dissecting the imaginary, and let it all drift away unsupervised as you pick up an axe…

By: Iva

Iva — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:08:10 +0000

Haha, great article, David! Your description of constant blabber that goes on in our heads made me laugh. We humans seem to be creatures of paradox. What is our biggest advantage – our brain- is at the same time our biggest shortcoming.

You also made me wonder – it seems we are used to having some sort of safety net made out of our expectations. Knowing where we are going to go tomorow or which shoes we’ll wear makes us feel safe. And although we know that it is totally illusionary, we cannot stop clinging to that, and we seem to cling to it even more when times are uncertain (speaking from personal experience).

For some reason, the zen proverb “Jump and the net will appear” hangs in my head after reading your article. Probably because it is an antidote to too much thinking.

Anyways, I wish you great hinking, all the best for Christmas, and also more shoes and less expectations in the New Year (to all of us :).
.-= Iva´s last blog ..U potrazi za ljubavlju =-.