a pointless post

One of my favorite lines in the movie “The Guardians of the Galaxy” is when Rocket responds to being told he’s something like a raccoon, to which he says, “Ain’t no thing like me except me.” Then there is the famous quote from Shakespeare – “This above all: to thine own self be true.” Friends in Alcoholics Anonymous have shown me their medallions of sobriety time recognized, with this inscription – “To thine own self be true.” And yet, the Zen master Dogen said this – “To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be joined by the 10,000 things.”

There’s something mysterious and intriguing and captivating and cool about being joined by the 10,000 things. And there’s something special and truly admirable about Rocket’s declaration, “Ain’t no thing like me but me.” This back and forth about “self” is what showed up while sitting, drinking coffee, reading and writing this morning. Of course, here in the dojo, it’s often asked, “Who sits?” “Who writes?” “Who drinks?” And these answers tend to leak in – it’s just ‘Sitting’ and ‘Writing’ and ‘Drinking’. Yet, it’ll be me driving me, myself, and I to the Logan Heights Library in a bit, to help a kid and make a little money and use some of it to buy another bag of coffee. Which I will brew and drink and love.

And which all sounds something like what being joined by the 10,000 things may be. Which also always reminds me of this sweet song from the “Queen of Soul” – “Who’s zoomin’ who?”