Friday, August 07, 2009

How do you use a tool?

You have a pair of cutting pliers. You use it to hold another small object, like you hold a baby in your arms. You use it to strip the insulation off a cable, like you undress yourself, or your 2-year old son before your or his shower. You keep it well-oiled to maintain its strength, and keep it from corroding, just like you exercise your body, eat consciously and take medicine to keep your body from disease and death.

The hand that guides the pair of pliers is not the pair of pliers. The wire that lost its insulation did not feel the palm and fingers that pressed the pliers together. The oil that defrictionizes the pliers is both a prevention and a cure for its disease - jamming and loss of function. Lubricating a tool is a good solution to its corrosion, but its better to lubricate it to prevent corrosion and its best to lubricate it for the sake of lubricating it.

You are not your body. The soul that guides your body is merely the hand that guides a pair of cutting pliers. Your mind is merely the subject that uses your body, like the hands of a potter that makes perfect pots from clay and water.

Conclusion? You are not your body, but you are in your body, just like 'you' is in 'your body'.

2 comments:

  1. This and another post in the same month... both made me feel like knowing what your understanding of mind is! May I, please?

    P.S: Write a mail, and do not respond just here!

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  2. Now I understand what you were asking. Sorry for my lack of immediate clarification.

    My understanding of the mind is that it's the hand that hold a thought, which is a tool.

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