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Old 01-21-2007, 01:52 PM   #1
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Zen and Lateralus: my interpretation (kinda long)

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me,
lets me see.

This is the beginning of one’s journey through life. Infancy could mean the literal meaning of being a baby; however, when speaking of the Zen mind, infancy is the stage of the dualistic mind. Black and white: the essence of the dualistic mind. What begins with a human’s mind is that there is this and that, here and there, I and you, us and nature. We look at everything in our lives as being something that is opposite of us. Inhaling and exhaling; the idea of in and out, up and down. These dualistic thoughts cloud our mind’s eye, and disable us from breaking through to the dimensions we cannot see or experience. The student of Zen begins with the infant mind, analyzing and questioning everything with a consciousness of reason. The student does not accept everything for what it is and does not become one with reality, rather dividing it as being two.
Yet, the student begins to learn the idea of nothingness and the importance of following the path to enlightenment in a way that one must look at things non-dualistically. Red and yellow are two of the primary colors in life. This primary state is showing how the student is progressing towards an enlightened state; reality begins to become clearer, and images become sharper. This primary position reaches out to the student as the mind reaches closer to its eye, thus letting the student see the world in a more non-dualistic sense.

As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn beyond the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

The student carries on through life, and just as below him (the earth and the experience around him) he looks above and beyond; imagining the world and existence non-dualistically. The mind’s eye is beginning to open, and he is reaching closer towards it, accepting the reality in which he exists. As he grows closer, the mind’s eye allows him to be drawn beyond the lines of reason: the non-dualistic mind. He is unfolding the path towards enlightenment. This, in turn, allows him to push the threshold of existence: the envelope that keeps him in his physical form and outside of the mind’s eye. As he pushes the envelope, he watches it bend, but cannot break through.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.

Now the student is at the brink, and knows that his non-dualistic sense has carried him over thinking and over analyzing, and he is separating the body from his mind. He is becoming one with reality, and yet at the same time he is withering his intuition: the feeling and knowing of each realm of existence and each dimension of reality. This withering of his intuition is causing him to miss opportunities in his physical world. Yet, as a student of Zen with a desire to become enlightened, he knows he must let go of the opportunities and instead, feed his will to keep going; feed his moment of awakening where he is drawn way outside the lines of physical existence and duality.

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see there is so much more
and beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities.

He returns. Duality has blurred the vision of his mind’s eye. The duality of feeding his will; the idea that there is a “he” and his desire to become enlightened has made him unworthy of becoming awakened. He has returned to infancy, where he must start all over again.
As he builds back to the mind’s eye and makes the primary step, he then begins to see so much more this time. There is not just the single line that he must cross outside of reason, rather, there are infinite possibilities...the many more dimensions that make up the envelope.

As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

With this new gained knowledge, he moves on again imagining above and beyond his reality and once again reaches the envelope. Pushing it again, he just watches it bend. He is still not yet there.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition leaving all these opportunities behind.

Above and beyond thinking and analyzing, his mind’s eye separates him from the physical realm, again withering his intuition and leaving all opportunities behind.

Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.

The dualistic mind comes in again, as he feeds his will and moment that urges him to cross the line and break the envelope. Breaking down, he reaches out to embrace the random and whatever may come: the understanding of the non-dualistic mind.

I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to step aside and weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power,
to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
to swing on the spiral
of our divinity and still be a human.

Meditating again, the student works with his new found understanding of these realms in his dualistic sense. The non-duality which lay ahead requires him to embrace all the random, as well as all of the four-fold truths (suffering, desire, cessation, and path): to feel, experience, and be one with all that surrounds him. He embraces his desire to feel the rhythm of nature around him, to feel connected enough with his reality to a point where he would weep like a widow, to feel inspired by his reality, and fathom the power that his awakening will bring, to witness the beauty of all that exists and bathe in the fountain of youth that his awakening will possess.
Finally, to swing on the spiral of life, the one entity that makes up everything in existence. The spiral is existent everywhere: from the perfection that is the mathematical makeup of the Fibonacci sequence, to the makeup of everything that is physical in existence: shells, insects, animals, plants, galaxies, and the human body. The spiral makes up the whirling entity in our mind that is God and Heaven. By swinging on the spiral, we can ride along the edge of all that is in existence around us and the Heavens as one, and yet still be a human: the ultimate power.

With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in,
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out,
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.

The student, sitting in meditation, with his feet upon the ground and earth that surrounds him, he loses his self between the sounds, growing closer to his mind’s eye again. Opening his senses wide, he sucks it all in, feeling it move across his skin: the physical sense that his body is being numbed by all that surrounds him. His mind is overridden by all of the senses; its eye opens wide as he reaches up and reaches out, he reaches for the random or whatever will bewilder or confuse him. He begins to cross the line and follow the path of his mind’s eye, accepting everything as one, as non-duality.
He changes his views from “I” to “US” as he envelopes the envelope, taking in everything at once. As we follow our will and wind, leaving all opportunities behind and crossing the line, we may all just go where no one’s been. We will ride the spiral of existence and life to the end and may just go where no one’s ever been: the beauty and existence of all that the power of enlightenment possesses. The dualistic mind is cleared...the mind’s eye is open to the fullest in the student...the student has become the teacher to the world...he is enlightened.

Spiral out. Keep going, going...

All that is his life is: riding the spiral with the non-dualistic mind. His enlightenment makes him one with the heavens and God. Our lesson in life as awakened minds is to ride the spiral out along its never-ending rings...there is no end of existence, just keep going.
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