From: mhoye@prince.carleton.ca (Michael Hoye) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Subject: Re: [TAN] That other epic fantasy series...you know, the one with the little movie coming out soon... Date: 7 Dec 2001 04:49:21 GMT In article <9up8d8$a222t$3@ID-100778.news.dfncis.de>, John S. Novak, III wrote: >In article <43f3f781.0112061053.c94f62a@posting.google.com>, Kreeg wrote: > >> In other words, he is cool in the >> sense that Buddha is cool. > >Buddha, as the ultimate example of, "This world isn't what I want so I >QUIT!" doesn't strike me as cool, either. I can see it now. Four guys, standing around a barrel. One wears a sour expression, one a bitter expression, one a smile, and the last one with a raised eyebrow and pursed lips. The parable is, after all these years, well known. This is the ancient painting of the vinegar tasters. The first man is Confucious, Kung Fu-Ts'e in his day. To him, life is sour, and only a pale imitation of the well-ordered heavens - life must be brought into order with the heavens, for it to be worthwhile. The second is Buddha. To him, life is bitter. It is only by divesting yourself of the attachments in ones life that you can achieve happiness. The third is Lao Tzu. He is smiling because life is, to him, sweet as honey. By delving into life, and enjoying everything that there is to enjoy, only then can one find true happiness in the world, and not separate from it. The fourth, Novak, has not tasted the vinegar, and appears vaguely disappointed that, once again, life has sent him to a meeting full of people who are going to talk a lot without actually accomplishing anything. -- Mike Hoye