NIETZSCHE; DEAD PHILOSOPHERS' INBOX

[explosivecombat]

[TEXT; LOCKED TO doitrockapella]

The offer for conversation is always open, should you desire to take me up on it; I can't guarantee that I'll respond immediately, nor will it necessarily be the response you want, but I'll always respond in some way.

In the name of enlightened discourse.

Comments

[doitrockapella]

He would've called me "student".

[explosivecombat]

And was it a matter of that having never been the case, or did something go sour at some point?

[doitrockapella]

A scholar once said, "There is no education like adversity." From that perspective, you could say he gave me a very thorough education.

[explosivecombat]

I can't say that I'm disinclined to agree with the quote, really; you can take that as you will.

[doitrockapella]

The puzzles I've been telling you were just one of the many forms of adversity he offered me.

You don't have the benefit of context, to appreciate the many layers of implication that came with them. But that's fine, for the moment.

[explosivecombat]

It's likely for the best that way, if I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. At least for the moment.

[doitrockapella]

I'm not about to let you in on all my secrets. Particularly not with how easily you arrived at the gruesome answers to some of those riddles.

Would you like one more?

[explosivecombat]

I would, actually. And I'll try not to tone down my conclusions this time.

[doitrockapella]

A young student was selected to train with a wise and renowned Zen master. He was beside himself with eagerness and anticipation about this, because the master was very selective in taking on students, and for weeks before he met the man, he pondered and fretted over how best to make a good impression and appear bright before him.

On the day they met, the master began by asking if he might pose the student a simple question; eager to please, the student readily agreed.

"Which is greater: that which has no beginning, or that which has no end?" the master asked.

Much dismayed, the student tried valiantly to answer, but all of his best efforts failed. Eventually, the master asked if he might pose a different question instead, and again the student agreed, hoping that this one might be easier.

"When can a pebble hold back the sea?" the master asked. But again, no matter how he racked his brain, the student found he couldn't produce a correct answer.

Finally, frustrated almost to tears after an afternoon's worth of "simple" questions and wrong answers, the student at last dried his eyes and spoke a single sentence that led the Zen master, who had been considering sending the student away, to proclaim him wise enough to continue his studies as the master's student.

What did he say?

[explosivecombat]

"If I truly want to learn, it is I who should be asking questions."

[doitrockapella]

Fitting, don't you think?

[explosivecombat]

Very much so. Though I must admit that I've definitely heard that one before, in contrast to the other two you've given me - not quite in that form, but something similar, at least.

I've told you that I was a scholar, before I became a soldier and a weapon; my particular field of study required that I should be able to answer two questions before I was permitted to formally study anything under any sort of respectable teacher. A variant on that particular problem is one of them.

[doitrockapella]

And naturally, I'd be remiss as a student if I didn't inquire as to the other.

[explosivecombat]

It's good that you're inquiring, as I'm actually interested in hearing your own response to it. I've told you about Equivalent Exchange, which is one of the fundamental laws of the world; there's another, more personal life-concept that alchemists need to come to understand - that being "One is All; All is One."

We're asked to state our personal understanding of that life-concept. It isn't a matter of right or wrong - there is no one correct answer - but rather a matter of personal interpretion. I'd like to hear yours, if you don't mind.

And before you ask, that's literally all we're given; we're given no further hints when it comes to what sort of answer is being sought, and in asking for an interpretation, I'm not permitted to give you any sort of guidance. "All is One; One is All" is all you're receiving.

[doitrockapella]

And if I answer sufficiently, do you intend to put me on a course toward becoming an alchemist myself?

[explosivecombat]

Would you like me to?

[doitrockapella]

I've got the pocketwatch already, don't I?

[explosivecombat]

Let's hear your answer first. And remember, no further guidance from me on that point - it can be any interpretation you want, relating to anything you want, but it has to be your own.

[doitrockapella]

In the world I'm from, there tends to be a certain philosophical divide between the cultures of the East and those of the West. Western culture tends to be focused — some might say fixated — on dichotomies: good and evil, dark and light, one or another. In that model, many aspects of the world are zero-sum games; right is mutually exclusive from wrong, and one prevails over another.

The philosophy of the East is more...encompassing. "Form is Void and Void is Form; the same is true for feelings, perceptions, volitions, and consciousness", goes one teaching. Things the rigid structures of the West could never account for because they defy the nature of dichotomy.

"All is One; One is All" — that's the truth reached at the moment of enlightenment. The simultaneous understanding both of one's own self, and that there is no self. Western thought would call that an irreconcilable contradiction; Eastern thought would indicate otherwise.

[explosivecombat]

And were I any sort of formal teacher, now would be when I ask you for your thoughts, not intellectual discussion; there's a marked difference.

[doitrockapella]

Are you asking me to explain a concept I haven't attained, teacher?

[explosivecombat]

Do you believe it to be attainable at all?

[doitrockapella]

Of course I do.

I think the concept you're asking me to contemplate is the same one that, upon mastering it, grants enlightenment. I think it's what a person understands when they come to terms with their role in the universe. I think it's one I'm bound to struggle with articulating because, like any wise student, I'm not merely conscious of what I know, but also of how much I don't.

The sort of power you've described an alchemist wielding — I think it's one that needs to be tempered with recognition of the forces at play, and that's why you ask for what this statement means. Is it life — that all things belong to it, and every individual life touches the others in some way? Is it the energy you manipulate? That'd fit with your law of equivalent exchange — everything is the same, is one, and so long as the balance is equivalent, any one of those things might become any one of the rest.

You want my thoughts? I think that it's the first lesson — the one that forces a student into precisely these thoughts and inquiries and self-reflections so that they can't help but appreciate the magnitude and possible ramifications of the power their education might put at their disposal.

[explosivecombat]

Had you insisted on standing by your first answer, I would have told you to get out of my sight as a pupil and not return until after at least half a year's reflection on the matter.

I would be willing to teach you for that last one, however.

[doitrockapella]

I'm already out of your sight, and you'd miss me if I avoided you for so long.

And if you truly intend me to learn, teacher, then I hope you'll elaborate on how I managed to meet your approval.