09-16-2006, 02:17 PM
would it be a not doing to actually throw the nail.. ? .. instead of doing what one would normally do.. ?
What do you normally do when you're asked to throw the nail? If you always refuse and this time you agree, it won't be not-doing of throwing the nail (coz you didn't break any habitual pattern of throwing it). It could be not-doing of saying no, but that makes no sense. You don't say no to all requests in the world.
Let's say that if you usually walk very quickly, a not-doing would be to walk slowly. If you usually sit with your legs crossed, a not-doing would be not crossing them. If you usually hold the receiver with your left hand, use the right one. Things like that.
but why would don juan get carlos to arrange fire-wood in funny ways? .. over and over.. its a new doing aswell..
It is, but it's for another purpose. Let me quote from the fourth book:
..."a teacher must teach his apprentice another possibility, which is even more subtle: the possibility of acting without believing, without expecting rewards ââ?¬â? acting just for the hell of it.
...He then reminded me of all the nonsensical joking tasks that he used to give me every time I had been at his house. Absurd chores such as arranging firewood in patterns, encircling his house with an unbroken chain of concentric circles drawn in the dirt with my finger, sweeping debris from one place to another, and so forth. The tasks also included acts that I had to perform by myself at home, such as wearing a black cap, or tying my left shoe first, or fastening my belt from right to left.
...I realized that by making me perform senseless routines he had indeed implanted in me the idea of acting without really expecting anything in return.
What do you normally do when you're asked to throw the nail? If you always refuse and this time you agree, it won't be not-doing of throwing the nail (coz you didn't break any habitual pattern of throwing it). It could be not-doing of saying no, but that makes no sense. You don't say no to all requests in the world.
Let's say that if you usually walk very quickly, a not-doing would be to walk slowly. If you usually sit with your legs crossed, a not-doing would be not crossing them. If you usually hold the receiver with your left hand, use the right one. Things like that.
but why would don juan get carlos to arrange fire-wood in funny ways? .. over and over.. its a new doing aswell..
It is, but it's for another purpose. Let me quote from the fourth book:
..."a teacher must teach his apprentice another possibility, which is even more subtle: the possibility of acting without believing, without expecting rewards ââ?¬â? acting just for the hell of it.
...He then reminded me of all the nonsensical joking tasks that he used to give me every time I had been at his house. Absurd chores such as arranging firewood in patterns, encircling his house with an unbroken chain of concentric circles drawn in the dirt with my finger, sweeping debris from one place to another, and so forth. The tasks also included acts that I had to perform by myself at home, such as wearing a black cap, or tying my left shoe first, or fastening my belt from right to left.
...I realized that by making me perform senseless routines he had indeed implanted in me the idea of acting without really expecting anything in return.