25.06.2013 Views

Conversations with Avant-garde Sages - The Wizard LLC

Conversations with Avant-garde Sages - The Wizard LLC

Conversations with Avant-garde Sages - The Wizard LLC

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

<strong>Conversations</strong> <strong>with</strong> <strong>Avant</strong>-<strong>garde</strong> <strong>Sages</strong><br />

WIZARD: Ramana Maharshi said once that acceptance is the<br />

mightiest prayer.<br />

ROBERT WOLFE: Actually, for my own part, I don't think in<br />

terms of acceptance because if there's acceptance on the one hand,<br />

there's rejection on the other hand. And so this reality we're<br />

talking about isn't something that we can accept or reject, it is<br />

what it is, and like it or not it is what it is. So from my standpoint,<br />

I don't really even think in terms of accepting or rejecting. I just<br />

think in terms of being present <strong>with</strong> what's present.<br />

PAUL NAGY: We call that an equilibrium.<br />

ROBERT WOLFE: Yes, absolutely.<br />

PAUL NAGY: Okay. So, I'm walking along and suddenly I see<br />

something that's unjust, I see an adult beating a child. Okay, I can<br />

stay in the equilibrium, but to what degree in this accept things as<br />

you are, do you have a moral vision for what is right? I'm not<br />

saying what to do, what is right to do in that particular situation,<br />

but is there a moral vision? Is there a vision of the good that's<br />

relevant to your accepting things as things as it is? Or should we<br />

just allow dictators to be dictators, and sadists to be sadists, and<br />

the victims to be victims?<br />

ROBERT WOLFE: Well, some things are very difficult to get a<br />

handle on. But part of this matter of, we'll use the word accepting,<br />

part of this matter of accepting things as they are, really comes<br />

home to accepting what the organism is doing as it's doing it. In<br />

other words, we respond to things and we sometimes react to<br />

things, and we can critique that, analyze it, say I should have done<br />

this, I should have done that. Or we can observe what's taking<br />

place <strong>with</strong>out making those kinds of judgments. In other words…<br />

you see what I'm saying?<br />

WIZARD: Yes, it is what it is.<br />

635

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!