There are many things I'd like to do in the week ahead, but there are many things I have to do. Hopefully those things that have to be done I will do, and those that I want to do, for which I have time, will be helpful.
For whatever reason - maybe because it's in response to an equally jumbled post from Brad Warner I'm adding the following to this post:
I wish I could have an in-depth response to Brad Warner's post here, as well as his post on depression here. However, to summarize, I was taken aback by both of them. In the first blog post about AA, if you've read the Stinkin' Thinkin blog, well, enough said, I hope. But in case it isn't enough, let me point out that Zen practice requires about as much faith, I'd say, as getting in the pool to swim when one is completely out of practice, or for that matter, taking up 書道 when one's writing has been decried as chicken scratch*. Twelve step groups do not function that way. Zen wasn't predicated or founded on quack science. Zen Buddhist tradition and practice does not have what can in any way be called an undercurrent of narcissism. And the founder of AA's "root heritage" predecessor teacher wasn't any better.
In the second case, I'm taken aback because Warner can't bring himself to say simple words here: if you are deeply troubled by depression, get help. In fact, if you have a substance abuse issue get help. Just like with anything else caveat emptor.
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* Note that one might be out of practice to the point where one has forgotten they can do basic swimming activity, as was my case. Furthermore, those with bad writing have been said - I forgot where - to have more talent at 書道 than those who have very very neat penmanship. That says something. I think what it says is that one should not be nailed to the mast of one's preconceptions. So do your own homework about everything, including what's written in this post.
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