How To Fathom The Unfathomable

How do you fathom the unfathomable? You don't! You contemplate the unfathomable. The whole point in seeking the unfathomable is to shock the rational mind into stunned silence. You don't want a metaphysical explanation for the unfathomable because that is just more thought. The intellect can be tiresome, relentless, a real nag. Training the mind to nag you about thoughts that show ego or thoughts that may be delusional just causes the intellect to become more tediously self-reflective.

For a certain type of mind, philosophy can be like speed. The challenge puts the ego in desperate straights as thoughts race to meet the imperative to understand. In the attempt to figure out the secret of existence, the intellect is forced into a manic state of hyper-rational thinking. Thoughts are immediately challenged and contradicted as they arise until the mind is in a state of tense confusion. It can be a real problem to get the mind to stop when it is on a tear. How do you stop the thinking when there is no inscrutable Zen master around to stop it in its tracks with a cryptic remark? And how do you stop the thinking when there is the thought that the Zen master is deliberately trying to mystify you with nonsense? The best way to stop it, or at least the most fun way, is to shock the rational mind into a stunned silence. You do this by unexpectedly presenting it with the unfathomable. The rational mind can't do anything with the unfathomable.

Art museums are good places for me to contemplate the unfathomable. I allow myself to be mystified by art. The extent of my intellectual understanding of art is to understand that it is meant to be mystifying. When I stand before a painting the only comment my inner dialogue may venture is, "I'm seeing a lot of red here." That is good because that is a mere observation and not a thought at all. If my intellect was inclined to analyze art and see the red as a symbol of hell then art would quickly lose its mystique or essential spirit.

It is the brilliant mind, the clever intellectual, who has the furthest to go in the quest for the marvelous.

posted by Robert Robbins @ 9:01 PM