Posted on 04/14/2012 11:40:37 PM PDT by Talisker
It's struck me that JimRob's absolute RomneyZot has created a situation rarely seen in the world, especially on a mass scale: a koan.
A koan is a technique used in Zen Buddhism to stop the endless thoughts of the mind, and thereby enable a genuine spiritual breakthrough when the ego finally shuts the hell up. Traditionally, this is done by giving the acolyte an impossible question, and demanding an answer.
While somewhat inverse tactically, JimRob has created a similiar situation on Free Republic. Freepers are already faced with an impossible situation politically, and JimRob has (at least on FR) removed the easiest answer.
Real koans are not merely trick questions, as most people think (you can even buy books with "answers" to traditional Japanese koan questions, so clueless is what passes for understanding these days). Rather, koans are a method by which a person is forced to examine their most fundamental assumptions, in a desperate attempt to resolve the pressure of the paradox. As result, a more profound understanding is eventually reached that sheds light on what usually is realized to be a self-created cycle of delusion. In politics however, cycles of misery are exactly what the Left was created to maintain, precisely to deny the clarity that would lead to freedom.
So JimRob's making Freepers sweat it out. This is a remarkable thing - and rare. And I predict it will lead to a whole new level of clarity about political dynamics here, because that's what happens when you stand your ground and say: "Enough." You drop the self-indulgence, because you simply can't afford it anymore. And isn't that a perfect paradigm for what needs to happen in America?
Which brings me to my trademark mixed metaphor. Once upon a time, two frogs fell into a cup of milk. They could paddle around, but couldn't reach the rim. As time went on, they grew exhausted, and one of the frogs decided the whole effort was pointless, and despite the entreaties of his friend, he gave up, and drowned. But the other frog kept going, determined never to quit, despite how bad things looked. To that frog, it was the principle of the thing, even if he drowned too. So he paddled on... and just when he was about over, to his amazement, he felt something under his foot. It was a clot of cream he had churned through his incessant paddling. And he was able to brace upon it, and hop out.
So here's another koan: after going though that experience, who did the frog vote for?
Thanks for the kind words and helpful advice.
I have been under doctor care, I just resisted weekend stay....with so many children we kind of have to plan such things baring emergency
Hospital tommorow for some fun drainage and cutterage and packing...needles in...drainage tubes out
i can’t wait....
in all reality I am grateful for our modern care...these sorta wounds were rather ominous up to WWII
May you have a speedy and full recovery.
If your condition should take a turn for the worse between now and tomorrow, please don’t hesitate to go to the ER - time counts with infections. You may also want to talk to your doctor about home nursing care - it’s actually cheaper than inpatient.
Master Drill will now pass the collection plate. Pony up, sucka.
You're quite right, however, that conservative politics has reached a classical impasse. The lesser of two evils is still evil, and if it's evil enough and those are your only choices, the answer is "mu" - no-mind. The system is broken, turn it off.
Unfortunately that technique works quite a bit better in philosophy than in politics, where we end up looking for someone to help guide the country through troubled times and the only alternatives are fools. Turning a political system off has more consequences than a headache or a few sleepless nights. Whatever a system reset will cost us, it won't be cheap.
I haven't actually made up my mind yet. I'm holding out for some sort of convincing amelioration of Romney's absolutely dreadful liberal track record, some indication that he is sincere about governing from the conservative point of view rather than merely running from it. I don't think a conservative vice-presidential candidate is going to be enough; at this point I don't think anything short of an ironclad pact signed in Romney's blood is even going to be close. That puts us in a bit of a spot, doesn't it?
I do think that 0bama's staff of leftwing collectivist academic ideologues is profoundly damaging to the country - convince me that Romney's staff of big-government internationalists is going to do better and maybe we can talk. That's an awfully slender reed to be hanging a vote on, frankly, and I desperately wish that the country could have done better. And it will take more than a vote to turn the system off in preference to a better, and I think most conservatives would agree that the original one would be far better than the media-driven, Marxism-poisoned celebrity circus that promises to take us all down with it sooner or later, and it's starting to look like sooner. There's your koan, and there isn't an answer because it's set up that way.
As for the site, though, FR will abide, I'm guessing. We're not going to win this one but that doesn't mean we stop fighting.
And prayers up for you, Daddy. Best to you.
Exotic bugs these day’s can do mas damage buddy.... Be real careful. Old cures for new crap have a place still in modern medicine. Mention it to your Doc.
I will say a prayer for you an yours my friend.
Stay safe !
The Founders put up railings and even warning signs. These safety measures were ignored and in many cases forgotten about completely.
Poor, stupid frogs...
I find myself in the same place. Barring divine intervention, I see no way out of the inevitable bondage. Of of course that doesn’t mean I’m not going to fight it with all I have.
Apparently, they weren’t the smartest frogs in the pond.
Maybe they weren’t American frogs?
However, our effective choices in the fall will be be between Mitt (evil) and 0bama (EVIL).
Not voting for Mitt, if it allowed 0bama to triumph, would be a sin of omission.
Am I NOT happy with Mitt as the nominee but I will not go gently into that good night and let our national train wreck continue.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Bingo, I will continue to fight and follow anybody with a good idea that gives me hope. Even though I consider the outcome hopeless, I do STRONGLY BELIEVE that by fighting hard, we can delay the inevitable. I would like to delay the onset of hard socialism just as long as possible.
So, fight on I shall!
We’ll go down swinging. Surrender is NOT an option.
To all who thought I was trying to create a crypto-Romney-support thread by fronting a crypto-Buddhist-support philosophy, I say, thanks for the laugh. From now on, when I think I’m getting too paranoid, I’ll use this as a reality check (yes, Toto, there really ARE people more paranoid than I am!).
It just didn’t seem that I could start talking about koans without talking about where they traditionally came from, that’s all. And yes, in the West, paradox’s have long been acknowledged. But koans are personal paradoxes, imposed by a leader upon a volunteer. So it seemed more appropriate to use the concept of a koan for what’s going on here.
As for the “answer” to the koan? Frogs don’t vote. It’s a story. But the clotted cream that enabled the frog to jump out represents the unpredictable change that happens when people refuse to give up despite apparently hopeless odds. Determination itself creates new conditions, new clarity, and new understanding, that are otherwise not visible to those who don’t “draw the line in the sand.” And that, ultimately, is what I think is going to happen in America. On the one hand, the bad girls got us trapped. On the other hand, America ain’t going down. So... something will change.
A tip of the hat, though, to FReepers who decided the one frog murdered the other frog, and then used his body as leverage to get out and the clotted cream as a cover story to hide the crime. I’ve known this story for many years, and have NEVER heard that answer. I love it! Next time I hear it referenced by a meditation-type-person, I’m unleashing it!
Till then, remember God is in every story, whether visible or not.
Not being picky. Just pointing out how ridiculous this ‘lesser of 2 evils’ argument is.
Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
Fact is when he had the Republican Establishment CHEAT so he'd get all the delegates in Virginia with no competition the people just didn't show up to vote. I doubt he got all the Mormon votes in this state either. Even they have their limits when it comes to the church hierarchs!
BTW, the Virginia Republican Establishment might as well give up ever running for higher public office ~ they lost all their support with their Romney trick. Towards the end of the recent state legislative session it was pretty clear McDonnell had been "exposed" for what he really is and they stopped going with him on anything.
Or, worse, they might find themselves drowning in pure cr*p.
Frog (being a natural-hatched citizen of these United States) voted for himself, when he ran for office.
The answer is that rough frogs defend freedom's watch!
In this case, it’s looking like the final ballot will feature a socialist vs. a communist, with no conservative having any chance whatsoever of winning.
Hence the koan: there is no solution. You walk into the voting booth, make the choice you see fit, walk out, and move on with whatever happens from there.
thanks for the answer
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