A flurry of posts!

Maybe it's just the newness of Blogger, but here goes another one:

I texted my ex-girlfriend the other day and the conversation turned to why two people so horribly mismatched as she and I ended up together.  First, she blamed it on my impulsiveness.  When pressed, she also said she was bored and unhappy and hence made bad decisions.  I didn't bother to point out to her that she laid out a scenario that blamed our misguided union on an intrinsic flaw on my part and a situational reality on hers.  I didn't take psychology, but I'm pretty sure that's the fundamental attribution error in action.

I hit the gym today for the first time in three and a half weeks. Goddamn, it feels good to be back!  I also sat zazen for the first time in a very long while.  Did I mention, "Goddamn, it feels good to be back!"?

You're not supposed to talk about any supposed 'benefits' to zazen - it's nearly heretical to speak of such a thing in a lot of circles, and there are VERY good reasons for this if one can genuinely get to that point. On the most important hand, yeah, zazen REALLY is useless and Zen in general will not provide any of the things that it seems people are looking for from it.  That said, on a relative level, it seems to provide a valuable counterpoint to heavy weightlifting.  The thing I most often forget though, is that zazen provides a tiny bit of relief from the tyranny of the mind.  I don't mean that the mind doesn't keep running - oh dear, it surely does - but it's almost like the steering wheel is disengaged from the car.  The mind turns and turns, but it doesn't drive anything.  During zazen (and maybe in extremely dangerous situations) is the only time I've ever experienced this.  It's valuable to realize that the mind doesn't have to drive.  The universe doesn't need you to drive...