23 July 2022
Whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Wittgenstein's quote is one of the great enigmas of modern Western philosophical tradition. No-one is really sure what he meant. Rather wonderfully, nor did Wittgenstein. Then he decided he was wrong about it.
(Generally it's felt he means the metaphysical can not be described by logic and facts, so we should just shut up about it. Thus negating much of Western philosophy.) Nice one Wittgy! 1
There. That's this week's Wittgenstein out the way. Welcome to week number four's attempt at silence. Even after all that pilfering the West has done, stealing from Eastern thought, we still view silence as not doing something. Proverbs, yes. It's golden, especially when viewing children. But not something in itself.
I haven't finished Zen and the Art of Archery. But I did finish the Tao of Pooh. I'm going to combine the two. Be the pooh stick.
OK. Here is what I noticed, as my friend Rob pointed out in a comment to last week's post, it's all just opinion. You wouldn't know that reading the books though. There are Masters. With a capital M, Zen Masters, who have perfected doing very little, mastered being unaffected by life. And shooting arrows. I began to wonder, what is the point of us all becoming Zen Masters? What is a world of Zen Masters going to achieve? Apart from a lack of war admittedly. But in practical terms, given a nasty wound from an arrow accident, I think I'd probably want a doctor, not someone who can sit perfectly still in a forest, unaffected by human desire.
The Way. Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Taoism are all prescribed as all encompassing systems, with final enlightenment, becoming guru-like as its ultimate goal. The Tao of Pooh almost eschews anything that isn't ommmm as fuck. Belief systems to replace current life.
It's time to talk about The Whey.
In my guru-ship it's about using the whey, the stuff we throw away after making yummy cheesecake from the curds. No one is going to end up a Master.
I’ve actually made curds, in 2009, practising for nomadic living. After voluntary liquidation of the company post global financial crash 2, I ran off to hang out with the aforementioned Rob on the edge of the Hungarian Puszta Plain. About as off-grid as you can get while still having electricity. And spa baths. There, a passing goat shepherd — ok, his neighbour Imre — gave me a jug of warm, freshly squeezed goat’s milk.
I am still mocked by Anne to this day, for ringing up and having her search the internet for how-to-curd, whilst ‘off-grid’. But we simmered and strained, and voilá… homemade curds (and a plastic washing-up bowl of whey).
How to Make Curds and Whey
5 cups of milk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Slowly bring the milk to the boil, stirring constantly to avoid it burning, then leave to cool. (If you’ve got genuine unpasteurised milk you may want to simmer for thirty minutes at 63°C/150°F). Pour in lemon juice and whey hey… curds form.
Pour the whole lot into a muslin cloth and leave to strain somewhere cool.
Chef Darin (www.chefdarin.com) says save the whey and use in curries instead of water. We say whey, you say woah, Indians say paneer. 3
The resulting curd I made, I must report, was somewhat tasteless. So unless you are going to make it into cheesecake, you may wonder about the level of effort involved. But, if you’re off grid, it’s as near to television as it gets.
Progress versus improvement.
Western philosophy deals a lot with notions of progress. Paradoxically I want to consider the idea of improvement without progress. We are not advancing. We are not reaching a better place. A higher place. Instead we're going to better deal with the place we’re already at.
This is what I've been able to take from Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, and Daoism. Think of them as rhythm and blues, jazz and reggae. Reggae is Zen Buddhism in our metaphor. You can argue amongst yourselves over whether Taoism is jazz.
To help, here's Calypso "Walk And Talk" by Bedasse with Calypso Quintet, which along with rhythm and blues and jazz, merged to give us ska, which evolved into reggae.
Buddhism spread out of India, through Tibet and Sri Lanka. A pincer movement saw Confucianism and Taoism emerge out of China, meeting up in Japan and having Zen Buddhism babies. Before anyone gets hot under the collar about accuracy, remember I just compared Taoism to jazz. That's the level of detail we're operating under here. High level shit, ok?
Buddhists want to remove suffering by removing desire. In The Whey this would mean no cheesecake. Taoists want to go with the flow. They want cheesecake if it's being offered. But realise sometimes it isn't being offered and you have to deal with the disappointment.
Here's an about-as-funny-as-it-gets joke comparing the trinity. A Buddhist, a Zen Buddhist, and a Taoist are walking to get somewhere (to market, the cinema, a brothel, ok, not a brothel) and they cross a bridge. Oh no! The bridge collapses, plunging them into the strong current of a river. The Buddhist transcends the cold and muscle ache to swim ashore, continuing her journey. The Zen Buddhist realises that eventually the current will bring her to shore, where she too can continue her journey. The Taoist thinks, I was a road Taoist, now I am a river Taoist, and follows the river's current on her new path. 4
"Be like water" said Bruce Lee — ignoring for now, the notion of becoming the teapot. Here's my handle, here's my spout, tip me up and pour me out — Bruce got lots of nods, and back slaps for kung-fu cleverness. Perfectly demonstrating how the egotism of the West blithely ignored wisdom in Eastern thought for centuries. Bruce was merely quoting Confucius, born in 551 BCE.
As the water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it, so a wise man adapts himself to circumstances.
and Lao Tzu’s “Tao Te Ching” (6th century BCE) 5
Nothing is weaker than water,
But when it attacks something hard
Or resistant, then nothing withstands it,
And nothing will alter its way.
More succinctly, a Taoist will sit down to meditate with a Zen Buddhist, but will get up and quit when their legs start to cramp.
The Tao of Pooh does a terrific job of explaining how to be water, before falling foul of thinking it is The Way. Something my friend Vorn refers to as doing a "Bart Kosko". Bart Kosko wrote a popular science book called "Fuzzy Thinking", which delivers an easy introduction to fuzzy logic used in AI, and incorporates a fair degree of Zen philosophy. At one point the author informs us that he reached a higher level of Zen awareness than we could have, while sitting in his hot tub looking at the forest. Somewhat diluting his message in his own jacuzzi?
The Tao of Pooh makes the mistake of assuming everything in its system is better. Anne has an illustrative story. While working in Canada, she hung with with a vegan couple who wanted to be Tai Chi teachers. Who, at a BBQ, presented baby ferns to be browned on the grill. Months later they were proffering steak.
"What happened?" she asked?
"Our Tai Chi master told us we could not be teachers. As we are not in harmony with our environment. Now we eat red meat and drink beer like our fellow Canadians. We are now at one with our surroundings." they replied.
In The Tao of Pooh, the author tells us how much better a Chinese Tea House is compared to the hollow horrors of fast food. But we do not live in Qing dynasty Zhengzhou. Besides, last time I checked Dan Dan noodles — my favourite dish — were street food.
Here is the belief that "the system" can replace everything, and total supplication is the ultimate goal. But there is no target. Only being an arrow better adapting to your quiver.
Benjamin Hoff gives excellent interpretations of two essential Taoist concepts, and tea house incident aside, his book is well worth buying. The Tao of Pooh literally helped me face death. A bit dramatic perhaps, but true, of more I can not say for a few weeks.
It's all gone way woah, an utterance when everything's gone Pete Tong, tit's up, bit wavy. Also a handy mnemonic for 'wu wei' or effortless action. Nothing drives Anne more insane than my adherence to effortless action, doing by not doing, being by not being, cleaning by not cleaning, you get the idea. By not getting the idea. 6
To become still.
The aimless aim without aiming of wu wei is to become pu. An uncarved block. A thing in its most natural state. 7
Get yourself a copy. Remember, Hegel reminds us that useful ideas may be within ideologies we don't regard as useful as a whole. Even if you have no intention of being a Daoist, there are helpful concepts that can be applied to your life.
In terms of silence, of progress, not improvement, instead of thinking about what you don't possess that you want, the frustration of unmatched desire, "progress" — think about what you don't have, the things you don't have to do, what you don't have to put up with, that you’re free of.
If you want Taoist sensibility in a take-away hummable form
"Something's Gotta Give" by Ella Fitzgerald
When an irresistible force such as you
Meets and old immovable object like me
You can bet as sure as you live
Something's gotta give, something's gotta give,
Something's gotta give.
Nothingness, emptiness, the void. May I recommend a Keep Cup. It seems only fitting.
I am beyond delighted that Keep Cup have started doing replacement parts. This month I ordered a new glass for Anne's Keep Cup after 'an incident'.
More specifically may I recommend a Keep Cup complete with lid and heat band. Please. Really. I'm not going to guilt trip you, because you know it's the right thing to do. I've had mine for over three years. OK, two. I broke one. But now there's replacement parts.
I have the cork one. Anne, because she is a pirate artist protestor, has the Sea Shepherd edition.
keepcup.com/shop/sea-shepherd-cups
If you don't know who Sea Shepherd are, they are the people Marvel should be making films about.
www.seashepherdglobal.org/who-we-are
This week's book is "The Outlaw Ocean'' by Ian Urbina.
Buy here | www.theoutlawocean.com | Substack newsletter
It's non-fiction but contains more adventure, crime, pirates and adventure than your week's Netflix. You can throw in the ship from Children Of Men too. Plus, no surprise, a recounting of a cat and mouse chase through Antarctic ice fields, culminating in a standoff in Nigerian waters as the Sea Shepherd battles illegal fishing ships.
Author Ian Urbina spent five years researching the book as part of a series of New York Times articles, three of those at sea. Crime and survival in the last untamed frontier.
Once you have your Keep Cup it's a perfect vehicle for a favourite breakfast. Chia seed spawn. Like frog spawn. But chia seeds. This is worth sampling. I tried the acid test. I served it to a confirmed health-food hating fully-fledged carnivore. They requested it again for the next day's breakfast.
2 Keep Cups
4 tablespoons chia seeds
1 cup almond milk
1 packet frozen berries
1/2 tub yoghurt 8
Before bed, mix together the chia seeds and almond milk with a fork, whisking well to avoid clumps of seed. Nobody wants clumps of seed, right? Pour equally into the two Keep Cups and stick in the fridge. Leave the frozen fruit out to defrost.
In the morning, divide the fruit into the two glasses, pour over the yoghurt. If you're fancy-shmancy sprinkle with crushed pistachios, or toasted almond flakes, or goji berries. If you're not, stick on the lids and jump on the bus. Read The Outlaw Ocean until you arrive at work with your envious breakfast. Maple syrup optional. Anne has corrected me. Maple syrup essential.
Substitutions
Almond milk: any nut milk, real milk, vodka. Mileage at work may vary if you choose vodka.
Frozen berries: any frozen fruit. Actual real fruit you chop up. I'm assuming you're always late for work. Hence frozen. Hence taking breakfast in a Keep Cup with you.
Yoghurt: I use vegan coconut yoghurt because I like it. Go mad, make custard. Double cream. Ice cream. Whatever.
Keep Cups: regular glasses, but don't put them in your handbag or briefcase. They won't have spill proof snap lids like Keep Cups.
Further viewing
“The Tao of Pooh” by Benjamin Hoff
Buy here | harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-tao-of-pooh-the-te-of-piglet-benjamin-hoff
“Fuzzy Thinking” by Bart Kosko
Buy here | harpercollins.co.uk/products/fuzzy-thinking-bart-kosko
“Children of Men” directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Illustration by Timothy Hunt
©2016 Timothy Hunt
A shoutout to Timothy Hunt, my favourite illustrator, who very kindly allowed use of his work to enliven this post. Please do him a solid by following him on Instagram and liking all his posts. Even better would be visiting his shop and purchasing a print, gold star goes to commissioning him to design or illustrate your next project.
https://www.instagram.com/timothyjphunt
https://www.timothyjphunt.co.uk/shop
A small ask
I’m currently interviewing a few more authors , who have kindly relented agreed to humour my inquisitiveness. I feel rather sheepish in the number of subscribers, and would love their words and work to reach a wider audience.
If there’s anyone you know who you think would enjoy these posts, please forward this edition on to them, or a different one you think better suited to wooing. Better still, ring them up, harangue, shout, threaten and coerce them into subscribing. Nicely, of course.
References
You trying to take the rise. I'm not Zen - neither have I met them.
BTW - doesn't Caodaism have a better claim on the all encompassing idea of reconciling everything.
Beautifully written as ever Darling.
If I can just say, my opinion is that silence is a loud noise inside your head somewhere that you enjoy so much that you don't allow anyone else to hear it. Just an opinion. P.s. I asked Imre today (strangely enough his birthday) if he remembered you. He said There is no whey he curd heffer forgot ewe. Strange language Hungarian.