The Myth of Descartes

So if every belief is based on another belief, this all can be reduced to the belief that you are the one believing in all of this bullshit. "I think, therefore . . . " But the Myth of the Given is like a sword that cuts through all delusion.

Pinch yourself to see if you're awake. You can feel that, right? But isn't the belief that you can feel that based on the belief that what you felt was the pinch? And wasn't that belief based on the belief that you are the one feeling the pinch? and so on.

Descartes, bless his French soul, didn't look deep enough. "I think, therefore I am" is a gross simplification. You only think that you think, and you only believe that you are the thinker. Descartes' maxim was only an expression of a certain mindset - it comes no where close to approaching the real.

"The Diamond Sutra" was so named because it was said that its teaching cut through all delusion like a diamond cuts through all other matter. It so said that upon hearing a single line from the sutra, the uneducated laborer Hui-neng became enlightened, and went on to become the Sixth Patriarch. That single line was "the mind that sticks to nothing . . . "

The sutra is a dialogue between the Buddha and his disciple Subhuti. It ends with the famous stanza:
For what it's worth, I'm back in Pascagoula. Acting according to conditions, I work through my day and return to the hotel. When I find my mind day dreaming or fantasizing or complaining or wandering in any way, I just try to return it to whatever task I'm at, no matter how mundane - driving my rented Corolla, eating at Cracker Barrel, typing my blog, washing. I'm not always successful, but I don't let that daunt me - I just go back to trying to focus my attention again, and smile at myself for my little digressions.