"Just words" Just ideas. Just opinions.

Pissing Off the Buddhists:

"Guys like this always want to give you their teachings. No matter what you say to them, it's an opportunity for them to point out where you're wrong and how your life would be so much better if you could only learn to be just like them. 'I've got this hangnail,' you say. And they come right back at you with, 'The body is but an immaterial object, remain in the now and do not be bothered by its sensations.' Hey, just lend me some nail clippers and shut the fuck up, OK?

The thing that makes it real fun to piss phony Buddhists off is the fact that when they get pissed off, it's not enough for them to just be pissed off. They're also pissed off because they're pissed off. And they're pissed off that they're pissed off that they're pissed off. And... well, you get it, it just goes on like that forever.

...Nishijima once said to me, "It's important to face hated information." I'd been talking to him about some stuff which I found very disturbing to read about. His advice was to read as much of that stuff as I could get my hands on. And y'know, when I did that, I started to see right through that stuff, to see that what I thought was powerful and even dangerous to my psyche was really nothing at all. Just words typed by some human being who saw the world in a certain way. Big, fat, hairy deal.

If my "Buddhist" friends out there in computer land were able to see things in a realistic way, they'd see that that's all my writing was too. Just words. What's far more important than reacting to words is to see just how that process of reacting to words works. You've got to say to yourself, "Who am I? And why is it that I'm getting this kind of a reaction to what I'm reading?" Why is it so important for you to establish that these words are WRONG. Why do you feel the need to try and silence those who say the things you don't like? Or on the other side what is it that makes you think certain words are right, that they're beautiful and stilling. What is it that drives you to seek out stilling, calming words while doing your utmost to avoid anything that disturbs you? "