Such a wonderful point. Thank you for making it. When you speak of the fallacy of pursuing our unexamined ambitions, I can't help thinking of it in terms of the ubiquitous and supposedly empowering encouragement to "follow your dreams." As if the false, outward-directed dreams implanted in our minds and hearts by the world around us aren't the problem! Like you point out, the real wisdom is to reach/realize our place of already-existing sufficiency and fulfillment within the present moment, and then let our life's path bloom from there (or rather, from here).
The story of the little restaurant and its owners in Hokkaido is lovely. While reading it, I couldn't help thinking of the widely shared "parable of the Mexican fisherman and the American investment banker." Though its original form didn't involve either of those figures -- it first appeared in a 1960s story by the German writer Heinrich Böll that involved a European fisherman and a tourist -- it first came to me in the altered version, so that's the one that comes to mind:
An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a little boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside it were several large and lovely fish. The American complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The fisherman replied, “Only a little while." The American then asked why he didn't stay out longer and catch more fish, The fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife. Each evening I stroll into the village to sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed, “I have an MBA from Harvard and can help you. You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the money from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats. Eventually you'd have a fleet. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, and then Los Angeles, and eventually New York City, where you would run your expanding enterprise.”
The fisherman asked, “But how long will this all take?”
The banker replied, “Fifteen to twenty years.”
“But what then?”
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right, you can announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You'll make millions!”
“Millions? And then what?”
"And then?" the American exclaimed. “Then you can retire! Move to a small coastal fishing village, where you can sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings to sip wine and play guitar with your amigos..."
Gosh, I love this and your expression of it. It's the key to the kingdom, so to speak.
"Who are the winners and who are the losers in this story? I would argue we were all losers."
All losers, or ... all winners. How else do we learn that the path we are on is ultimately unsatisfactory? I tend to look back at all my tail chasing as preparatory. Had enlightenment hit me over the head when I wasn't yet readied, I would not have been able to recognize it. It is always right here in plain sight. We just need to chase it for a while in all the many ways -- bank accounts, relationships, travel -- before we can see what's right here, as here, all along.
Yes, winners in the grand scheme, but losers within the context of achieving the things we thought would bring fulfilment never directly bringing that fulfilment
Lovely affirming read… remember teaching Bible school at 12 (my twin sister convinced my visions were like grandma Sadie’s holy roller church & got us Baptized at 10) and then the preacher freaking out as seems I was teaching “Buddhism” (our mom’s closet religion)… that what was important was the PATH to “heaven” rather than the destination - got moved to an adult Bible class & then kicked out of the Church at 13 for disavowing their John 3:16 — the crux of their missionary work… Had a similar problem when I turned to our Granma Lewis’ rejected Judaism … yup, and even islam on my first sojourn in west Africa… really is about the journey I can comfortably say now at 75 years w/ 5 grandkids in keeping with our multicultural natal family… an Ambition to be PRESENT is “it” as you have found & so beautifully shared - 🩷♥️
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..." Ecclesiastes 3
I noticed all the time limits on the ambitions you listed.
"When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready. The teacher will disappear." Lao Tau
You know you're stuck in ego fantasy whenever arbitrary time limits are imposed disregarding the "seasons" of our lives both individually and collectively. Often a lot of preparation and coordination with the forces of Nature have to be included in fulfillment of our ambitions. Not only is an ego centric view of life "pornographic" but the underlying narcissism makes it nothing more than empty mental "masturbation" to use your metaphor.
In psychology, Erik Ericson developed a map of "psychosocial" development stages of societal challenges or tasks broadly linked to our chronology. "According to psychosocial theory, we
experience eight stages of development over our lifespan, from infancy through late
adulthood. At each stage there is a crisis or task that we need to resolve. Successful
completion of each developmental task results in a sense of competence and a
healthy personality. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy."
The ground must be tilled before the harvest can happen. There is no "fake it until you make it" or "visualize it and it will come" shortcuts exist. Each challenge prepares us to handle the complexity of the next stage. You have to get your hands dirty and your boots muddy for "enlightenment(s)" to occur. Realistically, what generally happens is we get stuck at a certain stage and attempt to relieve our subconcious anxiety and despair through addiction and obsessions - masturbating our lives away.
I have several relatives who have addiction problems and nothing changes until their self-medicating stops and they can have choice to channel their eros - life energies - into acquiring the skills and self-confidence to accept the stage of their "stickiness" and cultivate the ground for new life and ways of experiencing the awesome forces and chaos of being fully alive and aware. As Jon Kabat-Zinn wisely states: "Wherever you go, there you are..."
Such a wonderful point. Thank you for making it. When you speak of the fallacy of pursuing our unexamined ambitions, I can't help thinking of it in terms of the ubiquitous and supposedly empowering encouragement to "follow your dreams." As if the false, outward-directed dreams implanted in our minds and hearts by the world around us aren't the problem! Like you point out, the real wisdom is to reach/realize our place of already-existing sufficiency and fulfillment within the present moment, and then let our life's path bloom from there (or rather, from here).
The story of the little restaurant and its owners in Hokkaido is lovely. While reading it, I couldn't help thinking of the widely shared "parable of the Mexican fisherman and the American investment banker." Though its original form didn't involve either of those figures -- it first appeared in a 1960s story by the German writer Heinrich Böll that involved a European fisherman and a tourist -- it first came to me in the altered version, so that's the one that comes to mind:
An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a little boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside it were several large and lovely fish. The American complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The fisherman replied, “Only a little while." The American then asked why he didn't stay out longer and catch more fish, The fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife. Each evening I stroll into the village to sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed, “I have an MBA from Harvard and can help you. You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the money from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats. Eventually you'd have a fleet. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, and then Los Angeles, and eventually New York City, where you would run your expanding enterprise.”
The fisherman asked, “But how long will this all take?”
The banker replied, “Fifteen to twenty years.”
“But what then?”
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right, you can announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You'll make millions!”
“Millions? And then what?”
"And then?" the American exclaimed. “Then you can retire! Move to a small coastal fishing village, where you can sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings to sip wine and play guitar with your amigos..."
Thanks Matt. Great story!
Gosh, I love this and your expression of it. It's the key to the kingdom, so to speak.
"Who are the winners and who are the losers in this story? I would argue we were all losers."
All losers, or ... all winners. How else do we learn that the path we are on is ultimately unsatisfactory? I tend to look back at all my tail chasing as preparatory. Had enlightenment hit me over the head when I wasn't yet readied, I would not have been able to recognize it. It is always right here in plain sight. We just need to chase it for a while in all the many ways -- bank accounts, relationships, travel -- before we can see what's right here, as here, all along.
Yes, winners in the grand scheme, but losers within the context of achieving the things we thought would bring fulfilment never directly bringing that fulfilment
Love life's paradox!
Lovely affirming read… remember teaching Bible school at 12 (my twin sister convinced my visions were like grandma Sadie’s holy roller church & got us Baptized at 10) and then the preacher freaking out as seems I was teaching “Buddhism” (our mom’s closet religion)… that what was important was the PATH to “heaven” rather than the destination - got moved to an adult Bible class & then kicked out of the Church at 13 for disavowing their John 3:16 — the crux of their missionary work… Had a similar problem when I turned to our Granma Lewis’ rejected Judaism … yup, and even islam on my first sojourn in west Africa… really is about the journey I can comfortably say now at 75 years w/ 5 grandkids in keeping with our multicultural natal family… an Ambition to be PRESENT is “it” as you have found & so beautifully shared - 🩷♥️
Great
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..." Ecclesiastes 3
I noticed all the time limits on the ambitions you listed.
"When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready. The teacher will disappear." Lao Tau
You know you're stuck in ego fantasy whenever arbitrary time limits are imposed disregarding the "seasons" of our lives both individually and collectively. Often a lot of preparation and coordination with the forces of Nature have to be included in fulfillment of our ambitions. Not only is an ego centric view of life "pornographic" but the underlying narcissism makes it nothing more than empty mental "masturbation" to use your metaphor.
In psychology, Erik Ericson developed a map of "psychosocial" development stages of societal challenges or tasks broadly linked to our chronology. "According to psychosocial theory, we
experience eight stages of development over our lifespan, from infancy through late
adulthood. At each stage there is a crisis or task that we need to resolve. Successful
completion of each developmental task results in a sense of competence and a
healthy personality. Failure to master these tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy."
https://gcwgandhinagar.com/econtent/document/1587961371UNIT-2.pdf
The ground must be tilled before the harvest can happen. There is no "fake it until you make it" or "visualize it and it will come" shortcuts exist. Each challenge prepares us to handle the complexity of the next stage. You have to get your hands dirty and your boots muddy for "enlightenment(s)" to occur. Realistically, what generally happens is we get stuck at a certain stage and attempt to relieve our subconcious anxiety and despair through addiction and obsessions - masturbating our lives away.
I have several relatives who have addiction problems and nothing changes until their self-medicating stops and they can have choice to channel their eros - life energies - into acquiring the skills and self-confidence to accept the stage of their "stickiness" and cultivate the ground for new life and ways of experiencing the awesome forces and chaos of being fully alive and aware. As Jon Kabat-Zinn wisely states: "Wherever you go, there you are..."
“Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
Cat: That depends on where you are going.
Alice: I don’t know.
Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Well said, John
Wise words.