I am a practical person. You might not think that from the sorts of things I write about. Esoteric topics like ego and mysticism, spirituality and attachment, illusion and centeredness…. These sorts of things present themselves as issues I confront, not out of idle interest or philosophic leisure play, but as real world inhibitors to real world progress. I want to move forward. Mostly this means with respects to actualization. …of some sensed latent potential. ….of some expectation?
What ever it is, it drives me to seek more understanding of my condition. More understanding of why I can do, or can not do, in life, what I attempt. As a carpenter, I find that most of what I do is attempt to solve problems. How do you make a tree that grows in fractal geometry, conform to my angular notion of a cupboard? In life the process is similar. I find myself confronting problems. Often it is my ego. Which I have come to see in many different ways, but which often presents itself as a problem. A limitation. A stumbling stone. As in: why I might not try something new, or why I might put up with something unpleasant and unnecessary. And I often discover that my ego, being afraid to try something new, or having some ulterior motive to control, or protect some ground, is behind my self-squelching. Sometimes to my benefit, and sometimes to my detriment. It particularly puzzles me when find my ego is operating in ways that produce disastrous consequences. My point is simply that I go into such topics, not to while away the morning, but because I am working. I am engaged. Even if the engagement is directed toward learning how to disengage.