"Isn't your idée fixe apropos Reddit Zen / ewk another case of frozen water though?'
no it's not, its a development !
this is the whole secret of message board posting, to let the writing develop you a bit so you come out in a different spot to where you went in, o goer in circles :o()
I liked what I wrote there and it was helpful to me, just as writing this now is helpful ! :o)(
In 1991 when Slovenia became a separate country, everyone declared their religion and there were 71% Catholics and 1% Muslims. Today there are more Atheists (world trend). I'd say the Muslim influence is minimal. Up until recently, Muslims couldn't even build a mosque in the capital - many years of debates convincing back and forth, whether we should or shouldn't allow them to (the right winger insisted mosques are not really / not only places of religious gathering but primarily political gathering or even "plotting"). People here are fairly Islamophobic, but not more than elsewhere in Europe. Serbia has large Muslim population ... Slovenia was always Catholic and more influenced by Italy and Austria. We were under Austrian Empire for a long time. I'm bilingual myself (speak both Italian and Slovenian "native-level"). - If you do a Google Image search of Slovenia, you'll see it resembles rural Austria. - Why do you ask about Muslims? Because of the wars? We "escaped" from Yugoslavia before shit hit the fan.
(Slovenia was very much Protestant at one point, but that's long time ago. We still celebrate Reformation Day as a national holiday. I'm not sure if any other country in Europe does, not even Germany. But somehow the Vatican managed to "recatholicize" us with a strong Counter-reformation movement in the 16th/17th centuries.)
(Our "Founding Fathers" were all Lutheran / Protestant Christian, but presently the majority is Catholic. It's rather strange to me. Protestant Christianity seems like a better fit for this country.)
I don't know about you, but the history of Slovenia is pretty boring! Even to me, and I'm Slovenian! What's more interesting to me is the history of Buddhism, especially Pure Land Buddhism! I want to read the PhD thesis called "Siming Zhili and Tiantai Pure Land in the Song Dynasty" - I would do anything to get it ! Sooner or later I will. I can't find it here, it's unobtainable ... one of the negative things about being from a very small country with only 2 million people is that you have to work hard for many things that are easily available to you Anglosaxon bastards!
(Siming Zhili was actually of the Tiantai school ... he fascinates me. He decided to cut off his own fingers and burn himself into a pyre. A Zen master tried to convince him not to do this and they wrote many letters back and forth ... ultimately the Emperor of China himself intervened - or at least his officials - eventually he decided against the act. Perhaps it was a publicity stunt for his own school / temple. But it was a fascinating antinomian character - he is famous for having uttered the heresy "there is no devil other than the Buddha, there is no Buddha other than the devil" and then for saying that a dung-beetle was the ultimate reality everything is reducible to!)
NZ population: 4.433 million Slovenia population: 2.058 million
Why did you move from there in the first place? My relatives who live in the US and traveled all around the world said that NZ was the most beautiful - they were speaking about natural beauty I believe. Also the economy seems to be pretty good, at least compared to Europe's situation now. I was already thinking of emigrating to NZ a year ago or so!
What makes it your favourite film of all time, I'm curious? I know it's hard or impossible to verbalize tastes, but nevertheless, one can at least point to a certain focal point, so to speak.
Andrew explained it beautifully, Zakaf. This is why I frequent his blog & site and left my Soto Zen Center:
"when we die the world also dies which is why being faced with death is such a topsy turvey disturbing process, yet paradoxically so opening ! "
I actually conjured up a poem expressing the same thing while walking in the woods alone once but forgot it.
This is why I love Death of Ivan Ilyich and I felt Ikiru was faithful in "spirit". I felt The Mirror also captured Andrew's quote but in a different way. The ending definitely felt opening to me in The Mirror when the protagonist dies and lets go of the bird.
I look forward to reading Emily Dickinson more because I've heard her poems sear with her romantic appreciation for death and so forth.
In the field of philosophy I recommend Heidegger's Being and Time or rather secondary literature that explains / introduces the thought of Being and Time, as it is very hard to read directly. No philosopher has thought "death" more radically and given it as much weight as Heidegger. Before Heidegger, "death" was seen just as fact of life that has nothing to do with ontology. With him the existential dimension of "being in the world" acquires a precedence over the traditional metaphysical stuff - so that "death" becomes fundamental to understand what is time. And what is time? We are time - is the answer in that book.
Isn't your idée fixe apropos Reddit Zen / ewk another case of frozen water though?
ReplyDelete(Not criticizing you; just, as a reader, I'd rather see different material. Ewk is boring.)
Deleteyeah this "consumer mind" you have ! why not stretch out and write something from your own experience ! :o()
DeleteSlovenia is pretty exotic to readers on this board, just about anything you could write about it and life there would be interesting !
"Isn't your idée fixe apropos Reddit Zen / ewk another case of frozen water though?'
Deleteno it's not, its a development !
this is the whole secret of message board posting, to let the writing develop you a bit so you come out in a different spot to where you went in, o goer in circles :o()
I liked what I wrote there and it was helpful to me, just as writing this now is helpful ! :o)(
Slovenia in a nutshell:
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlcCZuUV3JA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L5Qm-qRjqg
DeleteSlovenia never had a war, except a brief 10 day skirmish.
Deleteany muslim influence/divide in Slovenia ?
DeleteIn 1991 when Slovenia became a separate country, everyone declared their religion and there were 71% Catholics and 1% Muslims. Today there are more Atheists (world trend). I'd say the Muslim influence is minimal. Up until recently, Muslims couldn't even build a mosque in the capital - many years of debates convincing back and forth, whether we should or shouldn't allow them to (the right winger insisted mosques are not really / not only places of religious gathering but primarily political gathering or even "plotting"). People here are fairly Islamophobic, but not more than elsewhere in Europe. Serbia has large Muslim population ... Slovenia was always Catholic and more influenced by Italy and Austria. We were under Austrian Empire for a long time. I'm bilingual myself (speak both Italian and Slovenian "native-level"). - If you do a Google Image search of Slovenia, you'll see it resembles rural Austria. - Why do you ask about Muslims? Because of the wars? We "escaped" from Yugoslavia before shit hit the fan.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete(Slovenia was very much Protestant at one point, but that's long time ago. We still celebrate Reformation Day as a national holiday. I'm not sure if any other country in Europe does, not even Germany. But somehow the Vatican managed to "recatholicize" us with a strong Counter-reformation movement in the 16th/17th centuries.)
Delete(Our "Founding Fathers" were all Lutheran / Protestant Christian, but presently the majority is Catholic. It's rather strange to me. Protestant Christianity seems like a better fit for this country.)
DeleteI don't know about you, but the history of Slovenia is pretty boring! Even to me, and I'm Slovenian! What's more interesting to me is the history of Buddhism, especially Pure Land Buddhism! I want to read the PhD thesis called "Siming Zhili and Tiantai Pure Land in the Song Dynasty" - I would do anything to get it ! Sooner or later I will. I can't find it here, it's unobtainable ... one of the negative things about being from a very small country with only 2 million people is that you have to work hard for many things that are easily available to you Anglosaxon bastards!
Delete(Siming Zhili was actually of the Tiantai school ... he fascinates me. He decided to cut off his own fingers and burn himself into a pyre. A Zen master tried to convince him not to do this and they wrote many letters back and forth ... ultimately the Emperor of China himself intervened - or at least his officials - eventually he decided against the act. Perhaps it was a publicity stunt for his own school / temple. But it was a fascinating antinomian character - he is famous for having uttered the heresy "there is no devil other than the Buddha, there is no Buddha other than the devil" and then for saying that a dung-beetle was the ultimate reality everything is reducible to!)
Deletezakaj, I am from new zealand , smaller than slovenia !
DeleteNZ population: 4.433 million
DeleteSlovenia population: 2.058 million
Why did you move from there in the first place? My relatives who live in the US and traveled all around the world said that NZ was the most beautiful - they were speaking about natural beauty I believe. Also the economy seems to be pretty good, at least compared to Europe's situation now. I was already thinking of emigrating to NZ a year ago or so!
Have you ever read the Gathas of Zoroastra, Andrew? Just curious. It's cool.
ReplyDeletejust a quick look now on the net !
DeleteHave you ever seen Ikiru, Andrew? It's my favorite film of all time.
ReplyDeletejust looking at it, very interesting !
Deletewhen we die the world also dies which is why being faced with death is such a topsy turvey disturbing process, yet paradoxically so opening !
What makes it your favourite film of all time, I'm curious? I know it's hard or impossible to verbalize tastes, but nevertheless, one can at least point to a certain focal point, so to speak.
DeleteAndrew explained it beautifully, Zakaf. This is why I frequent his blog & site and left my Soto Zen Center:
Delete"when we die the world also dies which is why being faced with death is such a topsy turvey disturbing process, yet paradoxically so opening ! "
I actually conjured up a poem expressing the same thing while walking in the woods alone once but forgot it.
This is why I love Death of Ivan Ilyich and I felt Ikiru was faithful in "spirit". I felt The Mirror also captured Andrew's quote but in a different way. The ending definitely felt opening to me in The Mirror when the protagonist dies and lets go of the bird.
I look forward to reading Emily Dickinson more because I've heard her poems sear with her romantic appreciation for death and so forth.
In the field of philosophy I recommend Heidegger's Being and Time or rather secondary literature that explains / introduces the thought of Being and Time, as it is very hard to read directly. No philosopher has thought "death" more radically and given it as much weight as Heidegger. Before Heidegger, "death" was seen just as fact of life that has nothing to do with ontology. With him the existential dimension of "being in the world" acquires a precedence over the traditional metaphysical stuff - so that "death" becomes fundamental to understand what is time. And what is time? We are time - is the answer in that book.
Delete