06-07-2011, 12:01 AM
The tension for me in trying to grasp the Sorcerer’s Explanation
runs along the following vein:
It is difficult, if not impossible, (for me) to understand
the Sorcerer’s Explanation in CC’s terms.
The reason for this is two fold.
First, nothing of the sorcerer’s task is understandable in
anyone else’s terms apart from my own.
I think it safe to say that we’ve all read posts that sound as though
the information/knowledge is being regurgitated by the writer, manipulated through
someone else’s viewpoint, therefore it doesn’t feel ‘real’. I feel this same way when I read
CC. It feels very much like
butting my head against a wall when I try to ‘understand’ experiences through
his explanations. There was a time
when this wasn’t the case at all---I tried to digest everything he said as a
means of understanding this path.
And then came a point when I needed to set him aside in order to forge
my own path. Many people (here on
this forum) are in-between, in the reality between those two last sentences. And that’s perfectly all right! That’s what this forum is all
about. At the same time, there is
a viewpoint within the last sentence that is worth my while to express because
it’s where I’m at currently.
When Lex introduced the topic of the Sorcerer’s Explanation I
was not inclined to respond because I felt Lex was asking for an explanation
via the words of CC and DJ. Lex,
it is your bent to try to grasp these concepts through CC’s works---you explore
his works as though they are gospel, as though they are prima facie
tools with which to explore the journey.
For me, (and I want to qualify all that I say with that phrase because in the end it is only our own experiences that we sleep with at the end of the day ) CC does the best
he can do to explain terms for experiences he’s either not yet had or
experiences he’s not yet “digested”.
As Bob May has indicated sometimes we have experiences that don’t get
unraveled til long after the experience has come and gone.
I believe that CC was looking at the Sorcerer’s Explanation
through the lens of time so he got caught up in thinking and viewing it from
the perspective that it was sequential---1st, then 2nd,
and last the 3rd attention occurs. This was mentioned already in this thread. The reality that we can experience the
attentions at any time, in any order, doesn’t occur to us---nor did it occur to
CC. “Heaven on earth”---we don’t
really believe that happens in our lifetime. We believe instead that it is something to strive for, to
achieve, to work unceasingly for.
And our reward at the end is to either dart past the Eagle or to “arrive
at the third attention”. It
becomes a goal always dangled like a carrot in front of our nose.
Creative Destruction
Second, the term “creative destruction” came up recently in
an autobiography I was reading on Allen Greenspan. Being the “prima donna” economist for the FED for years, he
states in one of the later chapters that his ideas on the economic pulse of the
nation finally had to be recalibrated, not through the theory of economics that
he’d adhered to for decades but through current times. This went against his nature for
precision and what he considered to be tried and true economic theory. Finally, almost begrudgingly, he had to
let go of his ‘experience’ and allow himself to merge that same theory with
reality. Simple to say, difficult to do! At some point, we need to do this same thing with the
sorcerer’s explanation, with 1st, 2nd, 3rd
attention, with the Eagle---with all of it! We need to allow ourselves to enter fully into the moment in
which all explanation becomes moot.
And therein lies the tension for me: the structure of our thoughts, of our
actions, need to be recalibrated, to be re-set. Staring at the Sorcerer’s Explanation as a means of
understanding it is a trap---and yet,
it isn’t----and that’s the mystery,
the nagual. We must look slightly
off center or else the details of trying to grasp the explanation will ensnare
us—as I believe it did CC. Said
another way, clarity becomes the enemy.
Allen Greenspan used the accepted tools of an economist to perform his task
until those tools became less functional and unwieldy in the face of a changing
world. This change was unsettling
for him because it couldn’t be measured and run through his eco-metric
calculations. In other words, he
couldn’t calibrate “change” to his satisfaction until he was able to simply let
go of his preconceived ideas and experiences.
CC clung to wanting the explanation for “The Sorcerer’s
Explanation” as though once he was given it, all of his uncertainty would be
dispelled. DJ kept telling him
that the explanation wasn’t what he thought it would be---he kept warning him
not to get hung up on it. The sorcerer’s
explanation is as ephemeral as a bubble—here for a moment and then gone. The temptation to want there to be more
is a great one though! We do it
all of the time. We want to know,
we want to understand and we figure that getting more information will assist
us in understanding.
The Gateless Gate
For me, the Sorcerer’s Explanation is the Gateless
Gate. Only when looking back can we see that there is no
gate---there is no Sorcerer’s Explanation---- to be given!!!!! God, what does that even mean? For me, it means that there is no
distinction between the attentions, that the attentions were a device to help
with understanding and that we get caught up in differentiating them, that
“unfolding the wings of perception” happens when my mind is gone (literally)
and all of my attention is present at the moment before me. There is no thinking, there is no “me”,
there is only the act of perception, tooled by my awareness. Present and available now! But it takes
that shift away from directly staring at the explanation itself in order to
grasp it. We have to let go of our
preconceived ideas and desire for understanding---those ‘perceptual’ tools that
have served us well on many an occasion but no longer are suited to the task at
hand.
I understand that this discussion is geared toward getting
an understanding of the Sorcerer’s Explanation. And I understand that my description will not suffice for
one with a penchant for detail and description. I offer it, however, because the gate is there in front of
anyone who has yet to walk through it and so it is real and relevant to them at
the moment. What I’m offering is the reality that there is no explanation once
you’ve walked through the gate---it’s a somersault of thought into the
inconceivable and you only get there when you get there.
runs along the following vein:
It is difficult, if not impossible, (for me) to understand
the Sorcerer’s Explanation in CC’s terms.
The reason for this is two fold.
First, nothing of the sorcerer’s task is understandable in
anyone else’s terms apart from my own.
I think it safe to say that we’ve all read posts that sound as though
the information/knowledge is being regurgitated by the writer, manipulated through
someone else’s viewpoint, therefore it doesn’t feel ‘real’. I feel this same way when I read
CC. It feels very much like
butting my head against a wall when I try to ‘understand’ experiences through
his explanations. There was a time
when this wasn’t the case at all---I tried to digest everything he said as a
means of understanding this path.
And then came a point when I needed to set him aside in order to forge
my own path. Many people (here on
this forum) are in-between, in the reality between those two last sentences. And that’s perfectly all right! That’s what this forum is all
about. At the same time, there is
a viewpoint within the last sentence that is worth my while to express because
it’s where I’m at currently.
When Lex introduced the topic of the Sorcerer’s Explanation I
was not inclined to respond because I felt Lex was asking for an explanation
via the words of CC and DJ. Lex,
it is your bent to try to grasp these concepts through CC’s works---you explore
his works as though they are gospel, as though they are prima facie
tools with which to explore the journey.
For me, (and I want to qualify all that I say with that phrase because in the end it is only our own experiences that we sleep with at the end of the day ) CC does the best
he can do to explain terms for experiences he’s either not yet had or
experiences he’s not yet “digested”.
As Bob May has indicated sometimes we have experiences that don’t get
unraveled til long after the experience has come and gone.
I believe that CC was looking at the Sorcerer’s Explanation
through the lens of time so he got caught up in thinking and viewing it from
the perspective that it was sequential---1st, then 2nd,
and last the 3rd attention occurs. This was mentioned already in this thread. The reality that we can experience the
attentions at any time, in any order, doesn’t occur to us---nor did it occur to
CC. “Heaven on earth”---we don’t
really believe that happens in our lifetime. We believe instead that it is something to strive for, to
achieve, to work unceasingly for.
And our reward at the end is to either dart past the Eagle or to “arrive
at the third attention”. It
becomes a goal always dangled like a carrot in front of our nose.
Creative Destruction
Second, the term “creative destruction” came up recently in
an autobiography I was reading on Allen Greenspan. Being the “prima donna” economist for the FED for years, he
states in one of the later chapters that his ideas on the economic pulse of the
nation finally had to be recalibrated, not through the theory of economics that
he’d adhered to for decades but through current times. This went against his nature for
precision and what he considered to be tried and true economic theory. Finally, almost begrudgingly, he had to
let go of his ‘experience’ and allow himself to merge that same theory with
reality. Simple to say, difficult to do! At some point, we need to do this same thing with the
sorcerer’s explanation, with 1st, 2nd, 3rd
attention, with the Eagle---with all of it! We need to allow ourselves to enter fully into the moment in
which all explanation becomes moot.
And therein lies the tension for me: the structure of our thoughts, of our
actions, need to be recalibrated, to be re-set. Staring at the Sorcerer’s Explanation as a means of
understanding it is a trap---and yet,
it isn’t----and that’s the mystery,
the nagual. We must look slightly
off center or else the details of trying to grasp the explanation will ensnare
us—as I believe it did CC. Said
another way, clarity becomes the enemy.
Allen Greenspan used the accepted tools of an economist to perform his task
until those tools became less functional and unwieldy in the face of a changing
world. This change was unsettling
for him because it couldn’t be measured and run through his eco-metric
calculations. In other words, he
couldn’t calibrate “change” to his satisfaction until he was able to simply let
go of his preconceived ideas and experiences.
CC clung to wanting the explanation for “The Sorcerer’s
Explanation” as though once he was given it, all of his uncertainty would be
dispelled. DJ kept telling him
that the explanation wasn’t what he thought it would be---he kept warning him
not to get hung up on it. The sorcerer’s
explanation is as ephemeral as a bubble—here for a moment and then gone. The temptation to want there to be more
is a great one though! We do it
all of the time. We want to know,
we want to understand and we figure that getting more information will assist
us in understanding.
The Gateless Gate
For me, the Sorcerer’s Explanation is the Gateless
Gate. Only when looking back can we see that there is no
gate---there is no Sorcerer’s Explanation---- to be given!!!!! God, what does that even mean? For me, it means that there is no
distinction between the attentions, that the attentions were a device to help
with understanding and that we get caught up in differentiating them, that
“unfolding the wings of perception” happens when my mind is gone (literally)
and all of my attention is present at the moment before me. There is no thinking, there is no “me”,
there is only the act of perception, tooled by my awareness. Present and available now! But it takes
that shift away from directly staring at the explanation itself in order to
grasp it. We have to let go of our
preconceived ideas and desire for understanding---those ‘perceptual’ tools that
have served us well on many an occasion but no longer are suited to the task at
hand.
I understand that this discussion is geared toward getting
an understanding of the Sorcerer’s Explanation. And I understand that my description will not suffice for
one with a penchant for detail and description. I offer it, however, because the gate is there in front of
anyone who has yet to walk through it and so it is real and relevant to them at
the moment. What I’m offering is the reality that there is no explanation once
you’ve walked through the gate---it’s a somersault of thought into the
inconceivable and you only get there when you get there.