Re: Playable Mysticism

From: simon_hibbs2 <simon.hibbs_at_marconi.com>
Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 11:57:25 -0000

I can't fully agree with Greg that whirling blades bald chicks aren't anything to do with mysticism. I do agree that ultimately mystics aim to achieve transcendence, and this means renouncing engagement with the world, however I think most mystics cannot achieve this all in one leap. This is an argument for socalled  'entangled' mysticism, and why it is realy mysticism after all.

Some mystics resolve this by sealing themselves up in isolated monastic communities and contemplating their own navels. Well that's fine, but it is actualy just avoiding the problem. Hiding away doesn't make the world go away, it just makes it seem smaller, but this doesn't work because scale itself is just an illusion. The small isolated community contains plenty of distractions and petty entaglements, and these are just as difficult for the mystic to disentangle from as anything the greater world can throw at them.

Going to the toilet because you feel the need is just as much of an entanglement with the world as smiting those barbarians when they attack your village. Arguably, facing up to real-world prolems and coming to terms with them may actualy be a faster route to enlightenment than the monastic way, but certainly a more perilous one in developmental as well as physical terms.

So, why smite the barbarians at all? For the same reason you eat, or go to the bog. It's all just part of the world. The important thing is that inside yourself, you realise that it doesn't realy matter. Denying it's relevence to transcendence doesn't mean denying action, it means denying the meaning of action. The world of matter is a world of action, and so long as you are present in it, the world will act on you whether you like it or not. In this sense, reacting in a certain way is simply surfing the tide. Eventualy it becomes a reflex, something that your body does simply because it is in it's nature to do it, and at that point true freedom is within reach.

Let's take Obi-Wan. Why does he teach Luke and fight Vader? Because that path is placed in front of him and he walks it, and it was in his previous neature to do such things. However does he realy fret over bringing down the Emperor? In fact he seems pretty relaxed and unruffled about the whole thing. When it becomes clear that Darth outmatches him in their lightsabre duel, does he agonise that without him the rebellion might be lost? No, he shrugs his shoulders, says something characteristicaly pithy and accepts his fate - and transcends. He doesn't _realy_ care about the Empire and the Death Star and all that. If he did, he'd have been doing soemthing about it a long time before.

So, why be a Jedi Knight and poliece the galaxy in the first place? Well, you've got to do something with your time. The same goes for the Sith plotting for galactic domination. All that Force mastery and the cool powers that come from getting all enlightened up might as well express themselves in one way or another. Any path to enlightenment takes place in the world, and preforce therefore must lead the mystic on a route through it. Those are the paths these two schools of pystics have developed. It doesn't realy _matter_ which you follow, but when you're starting out, it may be hard to realise that.

Simon Hibbs

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