Zen Koan: The cycling Zen Master

Yes, that's right. Life is for the living, Cycling is for the cycling. Eating is for the eating. If we kept our minds awarely on what we are doing, we wouldn't have so many mishaps then, and we would probably notice large birds flying across our path more then too. I liked the picture too.

@innertalks Many will miss little things in life as they are busy doing other silly things, most unfortunate.

@CarolDM Yes, in this case though, almost nobody would miss such a large bird flying across their path...lol...

I have heard it said that to keep moving through our lives, we do need to keep pedalling too. If we stop pedalling, we can rest and enjoy the view, but at some stage, we need to get our bike moving again, so that our lives do not just stand still. I liked the photo too, although, the guy looks to be an unlikely Zen master, but then again, there are unlikely looking Zen masters around too, I guess.

Yes, I sort of agree, as Darwin's law would agree that what is not useful, disappears, but it must have had some use, while it was still around too, or did it. And useful to who, to us, to God, to the Universe too? Has this Covid got a useful use then too? Are some things more upsetting of the apple cart, than usefully trying to keep it uprightly balanced? Does everything work for the whole, or do some things work against the whole? In this dual world, there is a pull from opposite directions, and we need to try to keep a balance somewhere in the middle of the pulling, not to become off-balanced, by either the negative, or the positive pull.

@Shiva49 Yes, everything plays its part in it all, and we can be clever enough to make use of the part usefully if we learn and acknowledge its part in it all. If we lose one of the parts, by bringing something to extinction, we have lost something real, and the loss could be felt for many years afterwards, unless, this too was part of God's plan, and its time was up too. Can we interfere in God's plan? Would a nuclear war be such interference, or might not that be a part of his plan too, like the flood was? I hope not!

@innertalks I think the duality in creation is to keep us engaged, even test our mettle. Lots of thought should have gone into it. When we made the grand entrance, our creator had got this place well worth living. It is for us too to finetune the process while the big things will be taken care of by the big boss! We can make use of anything, even duds have a use. For example, I read that research is well on its way to make use of discarded electric vehicle batteries and how to salvage whatever we can from them than allow them to pile up. Then again we had found usefulness to all the fossil fuels - "a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms. All the energy in oil, gas, and coal originally came from the sun, captured through photosynthesis. In the same way that we burn wood to release energy that trees capture from the sun, we burn fossil fuels to release the energy that ancient plants captured from the sun." And now we are putting to use our sun to do more through solar energy. If God had not given us a stomach, then we will be lying around all day long! This virus could be a way to cut us down to size, to its size even, goading us to join hands, keeping created differences at bay for a while. It has made many stay home, spend time with family. Some who had love to give found bonding while for a few it was testing time too! Some cannot wait to break free again!

Yes, I had a copy of that book once, and when I had my bookshop, it was still a popular book too. So, there is more to life than just being in the moment; when we learn to connect moments together, we can see the patterns sitting behind them, the moments, then too. We can connect the dots, or the moments, and understand better how our life works.

The next question then is, does an object have useful use, without it being useful? I would say, yes too, as everything has a useful use, even if we are not aware of its usefulness of use, as yet. Everything is an extension of who we are, and by extension then, of where we are too, as all is connected, always.

@innertalks of course, for it occupies space and that is a value.

@DocAndersen Well, things can be useful without seemingly occupying space too. Einstein's theory of relativity is useful, but we would not call that an object, I guess. Do things other than objects also occupy space in the grand schema of things then, though? Do thoughts occupy space, given they are an energy of sorts too? But theories, and formulas, they only become energised, when somebody thinks them into life, I suppose too.

Some people take us for a ride. We can waste time doing stuff, for them, or waiting for them to meet us somewhere, or other, and they then leave us high and dry.