Wayfaring - Anyone Else

[wudangquan]

Hi,

 

I just wrote this really quick blog post a minute ago about . . . sort of permanent vagrancy or indigence (sp?) and was wondering if anyone else is experiencing this same sort of thing . . . Post is below.

 

-----------------

Why don't you settle down?

 

This is a question I get asked pretty frequently . . . or "Don't you miss your family?"

 

I've been bumming around this planet for a long time. I started when I was 15 or so, within the confines of the United States, since I didn't have a passport.

 

Truth be told - I was a teenage runaway.

 

I moved from coast to coast, and everwhere in between, living on the streets, and surviving by my wits, and for anyone that age who might be reading this - I'm definitely not glorifying it. Looking back, I did lots of very regrettable things, and out of my own blindness and perceived necessity at the time, did alot of things that were stupid, dangerous, and damaged my development.

 

But, on some level it was probably destiny. Or a healthy mix of destiny, stupidity and random chance that led me to the life of vagrancy.

 

And it became a habit.

 

During my "adult" life, I've spent the past 10 years in 5 different countries - The U.S., India, Thailand, South Korea, and China.

 

So, when I get asked about it, as I often do, I usually answer the easiest and quickest way I can to stop the conversation - "Because it's easier to be a foreigner in a foreign country than in the country of your birth".

 

About 25% of the people "get it", I suppose.

 

But the real reason is a bit deeper.

 

It's also not something that I ever planned, but it's more of something that I've come to realize:

 

Keeping yourself inside of human society but outside of the consensus reality speeds up your development, if you're conscious about what you're doing.

What do I mean by "consensus reality"?

 

I think the easiest term that is congruent would be "group think" or "the herd mentality" or something along those lines . . .

 

And let's be honest - there is a pretty significant difference in the way that people in different cultures perceive the reality around them. Not only cultures, but countries, locations, ethnicities, and so on.

 

It could be as obvious as the difference between egalitarian and Confucian social relationships, or as subtle as the difference between saying "it is a wave" and "It is being a wave".

 

Imagine the 19th century British foreign officer in Sub Saharan Africa. . . He walks around, interacting with "the natives", interacting with their consensus reality, and possibly even running around in a loin cloth for the better part of the day.

 

But something interesting happens right around dinner time. He cleans up, puts on his best suit or uniform, and sits down for a very formal and ritualized "British" style dinner.

 

Why? To maintain the connection to his OWN consensus reality, and not totally surrender to the group think around him. . .

 

I first started noticing this stuff during the years I was living in India.

 

For lack of a better term, I started to BECOME Indian. That's not to say that I was physically changing, but I began to start thinking in similar ways, and seeing the world with a distinctly "Indian" perspective, if there is such a thing in such a diverse country. Maybe it would be more appropriate to say I was becoming Rajasthani.

 

When I noticed it, I had a sort of violent, knee jerk reaction to it and retreated to the safety of my own conditioned paradigm. . .

 

Then, as time and other countries passed me by, I began to not only see my host country or cultures consensus reality, but began to see my own for much more of what it really "is". Not that it, or they or good or bad - but they just are what they are.

 

Wayfaring As Spiritual Excercise

 

So, now I've arrived at this point, wherein I've realized that by design or chance, I've stumbled into a very unique situation, wherein I'm not Chinese. Not Korean. Not Thai, Indian, Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, Sihk, Muslim, or whatever.

 

I'm also certain that I'm not "American" any more, either . . .

 

Most people who live for long periods outside of their own country or culture talk about "culture shock".

 

There is, however a very real situation of "Re-entry shock" as well. This occurs when you return to your own country or culture, and realize that you are so utterly and completely out of step with the consensus reality that you are effectively a foreigner in your own home.

 

Zhuang Zi talked about Wayfaring, or "Free and easy wandering" . . . Academically, most people usually understand that as wandering beyond the boundaries of conditioned thought.

 

Practically, it can be taken literally - walking around. Going on walk about.

 

I think that in my case, after the last decade abroad, and 20 years of rootlessness, that it's a bit of both;

 

To be free of conditioned thought, you have to first be able to perceive it.

 

To perceive it, you probably have to perceive it in other people first.

 

Then, you can look inward at yourself, and realize - at least on some small scale the extent to which the consensus reality has influenced your perception of "true" reality.

 

. . . And then you can really get to work . . .

[.broken.]

Wudangquan,

 

Despite having a very different background, I read this and it rang so true with my experience of life that I simply had to reply. I cannot thank you enough for sharing.

 

If you do not mind, I would like to start from the beginning:

 

I was born in Holland to a Dutch father and an English mother. My mother and her family spoke English to me since birth and my father and his family spoke Dutch to me. I have one older brother. My parents divorced when I was 4.

 

I relied heavily on my brother before the divorce as he knew more about this place than I did - someone must've told me that following his lead was a good idea. After the divorce my brother was less sure of the world he was in and, in turn, I picked up on this and carried on in the world pretty much alone (i.e. not following his lead... nor anyone else's).

 

Being brought up with exposure to 2 different cultures helped me realise that nothing was fixed. There is no universal way of doing anything when it comes to culture. The divorce seperated me from this a little further - I had no real attachment to my family's way of doing things either. I then moved to England.

 

Whereas you travelled and were literally alone, I stayed in one place (well, kinda) and with the same people (again, kinda). Yet my mind was in pretty much the same situation you were.

 

Since living in the UK I have never considered myself either English or Dutch. As you so aptly put it, I was a wayfarer. Although if one were to meet me now they might consider me English... this is simply something I had to learn to operate effectively in this society.

 

I took heavily to drink and drugs as a teenager because I knew both the Dutch and the English culture inside out. I was bored. I was frustrated. It took me many years to find out why. I no longer had the intellectual challenge that learning new cultures brings. I discovered this to my surprise when I started studying off my own back. How religion influences culture is a huge part of my personal studies these days.

 

The backgrounds you and I have had, as I mentioned earlier, are quite different. These backgrounds, however, have been very useful to us... they turned us into natural anthropologists.

 

Yours humbly,

James

[Gerard]

Good one. Wandering matures you very quickly and helps you understand that attachment is one of the biggest obstacles towards spiritual enlightenment. Herd mentality, or samsaric gravitation, is something one must continuously observe to avoid being trapped by it.

 

I am sort of wanderer as well but need to work because I have no family support. I have seen any of my family members in the last 10 years. Who cares anyway, we are all alone and in a different journey. I send them my blessings from here, Australia. Hello family Lol!

 

Thanks for sharing this story here in this forum.

 

 

Namaste.

[MASTERforge]

Escaping the matrix!

 

It can be painful and liberating at the same time. Only thing is that you can't get back in. Its a one way trip.

 

The people outside the herd are the innovators, leaders, and creative people that push humanity further. Without them we would still be in the dark ages!

 

Problem is that its quite a lonely existence.

 

We need people on the outside who can look in and independently judge our actions. They are the change makers. The people who break down the barriers to race and religion.

[Desert Eagle]

Escaping the matrix!

 

It can be painful and liberating at the same time. Only thing is that you can't get back in. Its a one way trip.

 

The people outside the herd are the innovators, leaders, and creative people that push humanity further. Without them we would still be in the dark ages!

 

Problem is that its quite a lonely existence.

 

We need people on the outside who can look in and independently judge our actions. They are the change makers. The people who break down the barriers to race and religion.

 

thanks I agree, I had some short spurts of wandering while running away from family to escape assimilation and I cherish those sensations of freedom dearly.

Edited September 10, 2008 by Desert Eagle

[Stigweard]

Salute fellow Shenku acolyte _/\_ !!!!!

 

 

The Art of Shenku

 

I recommend anyone interested in the Wayfaring life to read this book.

[Spectrum]

Thank you for sharing many significant truths.

 

Keeping yourself inside of human society but outside of the consensus reality speeds up your development, if you're conscious about what you're doing.

[wudangquan]

Hi everybody,

 

Thanks for the replies. Kind of cool that experientially (is that another new word? I'm like the jail guy on "In living color" . . . haha), other people are on the same or at least parallel tracks.

 

I've read or looked through that Shen Ku book. I actually haven't thought about it for a long time, but now that I am, it seemed like a very cool book - and the illustrations were great!

 

Here's another thing I would like to talk about, if other people don't mind . . .

 

In China, specifically I've come across alot of Taoists. Lay Taoists, and religious ones.

 

As I mentioned I'm around Wudang now, but when I was living in Kunming I studied on a daily basis at Longquan temple, and also met alot of people who were doing their own "thing".

 

My experience has been, generally - that the people who are REALLY cultivating the Tao usually are not in temples, or publically teaching, but more often than not just work and live in tiny, cramped urban apartments and you would never know what they were doing unless you were specifically looking for certain things . . .

 

For the sake of discussion, I should probably say that when I mean really cultivating - I mean trying to return to the truth, become Zhen Ren, eliminate attachments, and so on.

 

I would categorize "taoists" into three pretty specific groups (and this is a BROAD generalization) . . .

 

The Cultivators, who live normal lives, go to work every day, maybe have families, and so on.

 

The Pro's, who make their living related to Taoism and some of it's sidepaths. This would include Martial Arts, Qigong, Feng Shui, Fortune telling - whatever.

 

And the Down Home Country Goodness Brothers Band in the temples. Most of whom seem to sell incense, do incantations, etc. but (again, very generally and certainly with real exceptions) seem to be on a VERY passive and slow path, but certainly a legitimate one.

 

. . . .

 

Let me back track a minute:

 

I have this idea.

 

The idea says that, India and China for example, have produced many high level spiritual people. The Buddha, Nanak, Da Mo, and many others, even pretty recently.

 

In alot of the translations of Taoists texts done by Thomas Cleary, he uses the term "The Firing Process" to describe something different than what I want to talk about, but reading that probably set me into this line of thought . . .

 

What's the process for making steel from iron ore?

 

Or a better example would be - How does a lump of coal become a diamond?

 

This is a kind of alchemy in itself, I guess . . .

 

Physically, what generally happens is that the lump of coal or carbon has to be exposed to an EXTREME amount of heat and/or pressure for a long period of time, right?

 

Same thing with the alchemical process from iron to steel. You have to heat it past the threshold of iron tolernace, until the impurities are burned off, and it becomes something else all together.

 

Somethign stronger. Something more adamantine, something more pure, and something more enduring. . . .

 

. . . . .

 

So back to the story.

 

Most "westerners" I think have this sort of wrong notion, about places like India or China, as being these very spiritual places.

 

In fact, they have produced some of the hghest level and most spiritually realized people in history.

 

But where I think most people misunderstand, is on this issue of the firing process.

 

Still with me?

 

I think it's not that these are particularly more spiritual places or places where the Qi floats through the bamboo forests, or the pranic energy rises from the Ganges to meet you, but . . .

 

They're probably (amongst the) most complex social environments on the planet, and in many ways the most difficult.

 

The social reality is the heat and the pressure.

 

And so . . . a person makes a decision to cultivate. To return to the truth.

 

Being steadfast in this sort of complicated and difficult environment, they're faced with more challenges, and more opportunities for rapid improvement, if they can maintain in the midst of all of that.

 

And they progress . . . Fast. The heat and pressure burn them up, alchemically changing them, and burning off untruth. (this is not accounting for any high in-born ability, destiny, etc.)

 

So that's the backstory.

 

I would like to know peoples feelings about the following 3 statements:

 

1. Your heart (and your will) are the key issues in cultivation, and not this or that specific tangent ninja practice

 

2. Retreat from human society into mountains, the wilderness, or temple life is probably good for a reboot now and then, but it removes you from the opportunity to directly face the central issues in cultivation, and make rapid improvements.

 

3. Remaining "in the world but not of the world" as Christians say - or remaining in society, but being aware of and eliminating your own attachments, being "true" in the midst of and while surrounded by untruth and the constant temptation to succumb to that, and staying "Engaged but not invested" (tm - haha) is the most direct root in cultivation.

 

I'm not saying it's this way. I'm just saying that's the way I understand things to work at this point, and want to know what you all think.

 

Regards

[xenolith]

I've been wondering of the status of Wayfarer64 for some time...seemed an opportune time to ask if any of the assembled know...?

 

Miss him.

[松永道]

 

I would like to know peoples feelings about the following 3 statements:

 

1. Your heart (and your will) are the key issues in cultivation, and not this or that specific tangent ninja practice

 

2. Retreat from human society into mountains, the wilderness, or temple life is probably good for a reboot now and then, but it removes you from the opportunity to directly face the central issues in cultivation, and make rapid improvements.

 

3. Remaining "in the world but not of the world" as Christians say - or remaining in society, but being aware of and eliminating your own attachments, being "true" in the midst of and while surrounded by untruth and the constant temptation to succumb to that, and staying "Engaged but not invested" (tm - haha) is the most direct root in cultivation.

 

I'm not saying it's this way. I'm just saying that's the way I understand things to work at this point, and want to know what you all think.

 

Regards

 

"The Firing Process" is a great analogy. Looking to physical patterns to describe the intangible. I've always described enlightenment as evaporating water. Man in society like a water molecule, connected to the rest by hydrogen bonds. At room temperature, once in a while, one breaks free and evaporates. But turn up the heat, the pressure, and you will have many many more molecules jumping out into freedom.

 

However, as for your second statement.. I believe time spent in the wilderness means much more than just a reboot. To me, cultivation certainly concerns becoming "fully-liberated" within the contexts of human society. Which basically means that I'm always conscious no matter the situation; that I transform all emotional baggage, sankaras, triggers, stagnancies, reactivities, etc into free flowing consciousness.

 

But to be "in the world but not of the world" seems incomplete. The world of man may root out and reflect my less desirable qualities but lacks a proper role model. "Don't do what Johnny Don't does," is only half the equation. I look to nature for inspiration. The trees, the rivers, the rain, the songs of birds and bugs.. exposed to these fields deepens my ability to connect, perceive, and flow.

 

The notions of purging and supplement found in Chinese medical treatment seem fitting. Society, when approached consciously acts as a purgative. Nature, again approached consciously, acts as a tonic. And so you find mountain hermits with amazing power and tempers to match - too yang; and in the cities aspiring bodhisattvas with good hearts but weak bodies - too yin.

[wudangquan]

Hey Song,

 

I think you're point is a good one, and I like the Chinese medicine analogy.

 

I completely agree that you need tangible examples of what to do or how to be, and not only what not to do or be.

 

Probably the distinction between the wilderness/society is a little bit of a false on some levels, anyway and true on others.

 

From a Y/Y perspective, both are probably necessary to some degree, and neither at the exclusion of the other.

 

Regards

[Spectrum]

The firing process

 

dun huang manuscripts

 

classical passage of oral knowledge

Edited September 11, 2008 by Spectrum

[wudangquan]

The firing process

 

dun huang manuscripts

 

classical passage of oral knowledge

 

Yeah I didn't mean to say that wayfaring was the firing process, sorry.

 

Just that the translation to that by Cleary is probably what caused me to start thinking about things in terms of heat and pressure/alchemical transformation.

[.broken.]

[Unconditioned]

To be free of conditioned thought, you have to first be able to perceive it.

 

To perceive it, you probably have to perceive it in other people first.

 

Then, you can look inward at yourself, and realize - at least on some small scale the extent to which the consensus reality has influenced your perception of "true" reality.

 

. . . And then you can really get to work . . .

 

You are definitely on to something!

 

But first, thank you for sharing your personal story. I fascinates me the many many different ways people come to realize certain things about life.

 

Everything influences us. The cultures you've seen, your environment growing up, the person standing in line next to you, these words that you're reading right now, etc. All those things condition the way we act, think, and feel.

 

Your post is a good reminder, thank you

[Spectrum]

I'm traveling through these extremes as well.

 

Solitude for 4 yrs to clear my head. wrk 3 days then 4 days off. Coastal Range Mountains. Beaches, lots of practice, lots of good places to practice. healing progress. inspiration and wonders.

 

I gave up on my corporate job at that point to follow my dreams.

 

Keeping yourself inside of human society but outside of the consensus reality speeds up your development, if you're conscious about what you're doing.

 

Currently I'm on the other side of the extremes... in the metropolis. Total saturation working in a very active music venue. performers. crowds. dancing. pits. moshes. fights. heroes. large amounts of people experiencing an altered state simultaneously. An ancient rite every night.

Edited September 11, 2008 by Spectrum