You know? I’m kicking back by the fire having a few thoughts about folk literature that I suspect might be worth sharing with CVN readers. A confession: I am listening to Bob Dylan perform “Like a Rolling Stone,” the electric version. Just to set the scene. (I sincerely hope that didn’t troll anybody. That was a Zen joke, not a description of who I think my enemies should be.) So here is what I am thinking:
There is this one Zen Master I like. His name is Yun Men. When asked: “What is talk that goes beyond the Buddhas and Patriarchs?” He responded: “Cake.” How true that is we are about to learn!
In our terms—for the Zen Masters were challenging entrenched ideological thought at the time—it could be expressed: “What is talk that goes beyond the ideologies and the oligarchs?” The answer remains the same: “Cake.” See? I’ve already lost both sides of the acoustic versus electrified debate, without even really trying.
Because people like that just don’t get cake, do they? Acoustic? Electric? What’s the difference, really, when you are holding an Apple iPhone? Sometimes evolution has two wagons that aren’t choices: if you fall off one, you fall off both the others.
Which is why I think the CVN could use a local folk section. Those of us who really live here—which is all of us—could speak right through the hubbub. I promise I won’t even contribute: I’ll just read.
Chris Palmisano