Dirk the Daring

I like the way you think, and you are clearly a serious observer of the human condition. But this post is a half truth, the same half truth that has given rise to the whole panoply of human religious belief.

The half truth is this: Form is emptiness. You are absolutely, 100% correct in so observing. But [/b]the other half of the truth is that emptiness is form[/b]. To acknowledge only the first half leads a person inexorably to see all beings as flawed, incomplete, fundamentally lacking. It gives a clear-eyed appreciation for the perfect uselessness of worldly striving, but offers nothing to take its place. Most men, even the wisest, encountering this dilemma finally throw in the towel and put their faith in one or another formal conception of God. It would be incorrect to call this failure evil, but it is definitely unfortunate, since it is the cause of a vast amount of suffering.

Worldly success is an illusion -- and it is not. The illusion does not spring from the fact of the success, but from a misinterpretation of that success; from the delusion that the success makes one immune to the only constancy in the universe, which is change.

If you follow this line of reasoning to its utmost conclusion, you will realize that you are not a complete failure as a being but rather a complete success. What do you lack? If you answer with any word, you have placed yourself in the domain of ideas and you fall instantly into error.

Since you are an intellectually inclined person I strongly recommend you read Hubert Benoit's "Zen and the Psychology of Transformation" (French title: "La Doctrine Supreme"). Or if you want the same ideas expressed from a Christian perspective, read Meister Eckhart. I don't have a good translation to recommend at the moment but there are quite a few out there.

Cheers,
--Dirk