Zen, part 1

Howdy!

My personal introduction to philosophy came when I was 19. Not surprisingly, it happened at a Denny's.

After many nights wasted there drinking coffee, I met Arent. He was an old* hippie turned misanthropic military contractor. You know, that ol' tale.

Arent had grown up a military brat, and was well traveled. Whilest his father was stationed in Japan, young Arent became acquainted with Zen. He had stuck with it for many years, and it had become a major ingredient in his personality.

It should be mentioned that at this particular point in my history I was a waste of carbon. I believed in nothing, and thought that life was a bad joke. And, of course, there was no point in doing anything with my life.

Arent set about convincing me that life was, in fact, a very good joke. Not wanting to trigger my religion allergies, Arent started to slowly introduce me to Zen. Like a good fisherman, he would let me make fun of the little bits of Zen he would offer up. Eventually, I grew bold and took the bait. He set the hook by giving me my own copy of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. We spent many Denny's evenings discussing its parables and koans.

This was my beginnings in philosophy. As life danced on, I became more interested in mostly Western philosophy.  Zen remained in my heart, but not in my practice.

As I've been attempting to develop a Virtue ethic, I thought that Zen meditation might be an excellent habit. So, I decided to visit a Zen group in Alexandria...

Crap! I have to get to my class. I'll have to come back and finish later.

I hope that you have a good day.

* This is relative to my age. I believe that he was in his late thirties. Holy hell! I'm older now than he was then. How'd that happen?