November Project: Question #13
This question comes from Matt through email
Do you find it difficult to write on the subject of enlightenment or liberation?
Thanks for the question, Matt.
As far as ‘writing on the subject of enlightenment or liberation‘, I am not sure that is what I do. I know I usually hover in that area, and many people think that is what I do, but I don’t quite see it in that way.
Much of what is written about enlightenment, online and in blogs or what have you, comes from that subject matter directly. In other words, there is a body of literature most people work from. It is in this or that tradition, or it sprouted from this or that teacher or lineage. That is all well and good, and I have nothing bad to say about it.
(I can’t speak for everyone, of course, and I am probably the worst person to comment because I don’t really read those blogs anyway, haha. I am working from the info given by all the people I have met with over the years.)
In my own case, I have no ‘training’ at all. I don’t come from a teaching, teacher, lineage, religion or anything else. I am just some jackass that had this accident occur on December 1st, 2006. So, I’m the last person you should trust for information on the subject of enlightenment and liberation! 
In the beginning, all I wanted to do was just try to find a way to talk about this thing that had happened to me. In those early days before this site, I didn’t seem to have words for anything, and that in itself fascinated me. I would be in, what I thought was, an intense conversation with someone and I would never say a word. Other people thought it was strange, but it seemed so right to me. Those kind of experiences led me to write so I could learn how to speak, if that is the right way to put it.
All I have ever tried to do is see things as they happen within. So if someone asks me about the origin of thought, for example, I don’t grab a book about Thought, look for the pertinent information, then re-word it and present it as the answer. I just look within. There is thought here, and I don’t have to go somewhere else to find out how it works.
More Than One Face
So, thinking of it in that way, I don’t really write on the subject of enlightenment and liberation. I write based on whatever arises within. And many people are not interested in that, and it is fine. I get it. But that is all I can do, for better or worse.
As far as difficulty in execution, it is not really so bad. I imagine it was far worse in the beginning. But using the November Project as an example, I take a question and start writing. I just go until I think I have said all I need to say. Then I go back and remove a lot of nonsense (never enough, haha). At that point, it is good to go.
It is really an easy thing to do if you are willing to let go of the outcome.
There is one thing that I do find annoying…well, maybe more interesting than annoying. I don’t know if it is the subject matter, the way I write, the words I use, or something else, but every once in awhile I get emails from some kind of Enlightenment Grammar Police. I get guys (it is always men) who will, quite literally, take each sentence word for word and explain why it is wrong, why I am wrong, and why they are right.
I just don’t get why it is so important to them. I mean, these are LONG, VERY DETAILED emails. Had they used the energy it took to craft such a thing and directed it toward cancer research, we’d probably have more healthy people in the world.
Hope that answers your question, Matt! Thanks…
{ 7 comments }
“All I have ever tried to do is see things as they happen within.”
Perhaps the best advice and teaching out there. Thanks Takuin!
Thank you, Brooks…
What does this mean?: “intense conversation with someone and I would never say a word.”
Thanks, A. Sorry about that! Let’s see if I can clear it up a bit.
There were times when I would be sitting with someone. And the conversation would go to great depths. But I would not say a word for the entire conversation.
In a conversation things progress in a step-wise fashion. And the two sides go back and forth until the end is finally realized, whatever that might be. In the conversation I described, the same progression would take place with the exploration and all of that, yet I would never say a word.
Some people found it ‘difficult’ to sit like that, haha; to sit and explore and react to Takuin’s inquiry, yet Takuin never said a word. And the conversation would go on as if he had. Certain people found it too uncomfortable.
I can understand that.
I have been pulled over many times by the Enlightenment Grammar Police and given a nasty ticket with a whopping fine. I have to say, that’s the number one reason comments have disappeared from my website. A shame, really.
Thanks, Tom.
THAT is the reason? Wow, they must have come after you hard, haha.
Hello everyone!
taukin you point out that one reason that made you start writing was to learn how to speak. Well, I don´t mean that it “made you” as in ” it forced you” , but you maybe know what i mean, anyway.
Sooo , I wonder if you have it easier to make yourself understood in a conversation nowdays after all the writings ? Did you get better at speaking?
I find it impossible to ” explain” to someone where thought comes from , or things like watching oneself, not that I really know this things myself , but I mean, the feeling inside oneself when a thought is coming and its happening , hearing the voice , the thought in words . Looking within yourself as you said , or listening to oneself .
Is it always a battle of beliefs ? it seems like it to me . It feels like a debate. Opposing ideas .
If one does not believe in something someone tells you , then it instantly transports oneself to be against it , and so reject it
OR if they take your word for it, they just give it for granted , either way the result is the same, to deny or accept which leads to not watching the thing at all but going around it .
It has come to a point where I gave up since a while ago to give opinions about anything in a conversation because I can see how people get annoyed by what I say , it offends them. I do speak my mind freely with friends since we know each other for a while ago , but with people I just know or strangers , It´s just too much energy , which is not so bad because then I can just take a nap to recover hehehe , I love my sleep.
It would be nice if one could speak in a way that does not make the other person feel threatened or offended. I really don´t enjoy making people uncomfortable but it seems unavoidable as I cant express myself properly.
Which triggered my curiosity from you saying , again, that you started writing to learn how to speak, i sort of related to that, but perhaps you didn´t even mean what I understood at all!!!
And so It could even be that I have a terrible time trying to make myself understood because I myself can´t understand anything at all!
Oh the humanity….
I tend to delete and rewrite things a lot too , it seems like once I pop I just can´t stop, and the longer it gets the less sense it makes , could it be so that im just worried about what people think about what I write ? Or is is it just that I wish that I could properly communicate .
I can see that all the “I” are hinting somewhere else I have to look at , hmmmmm
sorry about the spam
{ 1 trackback }
Comments on this entry are closed.