- Non-Erotic Poetry
- Washing Dishes with the Dali Lama
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Work the soap into a lather
with steaming water from the faucet.
Nothing else should really matter,
like your temper and the chatter
in your mind of how at work you lost it.
Work but soap into a lather.
Then practice working slower, better.
Every bite you once tasted
savor once again. Every bit of matter
scrape it from the silverware. Wonder
if you must, how the monkey mind is wasted.
Don't work yourself into a lather
because you're human. There is no cloister
where a monk is perfect. Don't posit
theories that you can not answer.
Washing dishes you can master
and be thankful there's a faucet,
but if not, there still is water.
Nothing else should really matter.
- COMMENTS
Tsothaover 10 years agoI like this part: "Wonder if you must, how the monkey mind is wasted.", I think it is central to explain what I think is the meaning of your poem. That is, that one should keep one's mind on what is at hand, rather than letting it wander wildly.
However, as a sentence it feels a bit strange; one could almost have read: "wonder, if you must, (about) how the monkey mind is wasted", which isn't really your intention with it (I think).
greenmountaineerover 10 years agoAuthorWe're going to have to agree to disagree on this, friday. I stand by "don't posit theories you can not answer" as an effective way to suggest there are unknowns in the universe. Was I suggesting through his voice not to question anything? I don't think so. The message, if any, of the poem was finding meaning in mindfulness. Other readers, of course, if interested, will judge for themselves.
fridayamover 10 years agothe Dalai Lama might just be talking out of his ass if he thinks one shouldn't question things one doesn't know: is the whole history of scientific and philosophic enquiry (the asking of questions about what was not understood) to be thrown away? I agree with Wittgenstein (up to a point) on the subject of metaphysics "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent", but not of any other sphere of human enquiry. Forgive me for persisting, but it strikes me as pertinant.
greenmountaineerover 10 years agoAuthorIf I understand your comment correctly, friday, that's precisely the point the Dalai Lama is making: there are some things one doesn't know the answer to. Why then be concerned about the question? Be mindful of the moment, whether work or play.
fridayamover 10 years agobut a couple of lines jumped out, particularly "Don't posit/ theories that you can not answer." Surely, theories are a certain kind of question: if such-and-such is true, might not such-and-such be possible? If one knew the answer, why would one need to posit a theory?
