Zen

As those of you subscribed to my Youtube channel already know, I’ve quit High Tech and have landed a job as a butcher at a local small butcher shop with a really fantastic reputation for high quality food at regular supermarket prices. In some ways this is one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made, while at the same time as you’ll see by reading on, it is one of the most difficult. After 5 years of university and 15 years working as a programmer and a Network Administrator, I hope this means I’m done. My wife and I certainly are resolved to make it work as difficult as it will be financially, because I really have not liked High Tech for some time now.

I’ll never forget the day I lost my job at Nortel, after just over 12 years working there. But let’s first back up a few months to when they declared bankruptcy. I’ll never forget that day either - hardly anyone actually worked on that day - most of us stood around in the hallways in small groups huddled together chatting and speculating. I recall this day so clearly because I was casually bouncing around from group to group, to hear what people were talking about. And in doing so I was being extremely flippant about it all, making a lot of jokes and taking it all pretty lightly. It was not until one woman broke down into tears (not because of anything I’d said, fortunately) that I finally realised that most folks were pretty worried about it all. It was then that I started to hold my tongue. In hindsight it was foreshadowing the day I’d get cut, because on that day I drove to work knowing I was getting cut, and as I approached the building I felt an overwhelming sense of freedom take hold of me. Not just a superficial sense of freedom, but a deep-seated, become-one-with-the-universe sense of freedom as though nothing could ever possibly touch me or harm me. When the building finally came into sight I was actually cheering alone in my car, and screaming with delight. Even though I knew I would not get a red cent from them because of their bankruptcy protection. (Aside - my friend with 12 years experience who had gotten cut just before the bankruptcy got about $60,000 - nice!)

I know that some people will look at this title and think that I am overstating things - and perhaps maybe I am but only to a small degree. Cellphones may not be the root of all evil, but they sure are the root of a considerable amount of it. Or at least an extreme enabler to those evils. I've actually had this conversation with dozens of people over the last few years, and I've gotten most of them to agree to most of the points I make below. But nonetheless, I have not really had any success in getting people to kick the habit and throw off their shackles.

For the record, I used to have a cell phone but it has been about 8 years now that I have been a free man. My wife and I originally bought them when we moved out to the country, and in all honesty if we were still living in the country I'd probably have one for the sole purpose of being able to call for help on a back country road if the car breaks down. That is perhaps one of the very few legitimate uses I can find for a cellphone, but even still, I suspect most people's needs would be met here with a no-plan phone since all phones can call 911 even if you are not paying for a plan with a provider. Though I guess calling 911 for a broken down car may not be a legitimate use of the service.

The biggest issue with cellphones is the environmental cost of them - based on just my own anecdotal observations of friends who have the things, it appears to me as though most people change phones on average about once a year. A quick google turns up this 2002 article from Wired Magazine which says that by 2005, Americans will be discarding 130 million cell phones a year. I do not have any statistics for today, but I think it is probably safe to assume we've hit that mark and have most likely surpassed it. This article from 2010 says that 100 million a year are discarded in Europe. That is an incredible amount of waste, even if the things are given up for recycling instead of tossed in the garbage. To me, this is just a very disgusting example of our consumer society gone wrong. Even if they are recycled.

Mushin (無心; Chinese wúxīn; English translation "no-mindedness") is a mental state into which very highly-trained martial artists are said to enter during combat. They also practice this mental state during everyday activities. The term is shortened from mushin no shin (無心の心), a Zen expression meaning mind of no mind and is also referred to as the state of "no-mindness". That is, a mind not fixed or occupied by thought or emotion and thus open to everything. For the origin of the mushin concept, see Muga-mushin.

Mushin is achieved when a person's mind is free from thoughts of anger, fear, or ego during combat or everyday life. There is an absence of discursive thought and judgment, so the person is totally free to act and react towards an opponent without hesitation and without disturbance from such thoughts. At this point, a person relies not on what they think should be the next move, but what is their trained natural reaction or what is felt intuitively. It is not a state of relaxed, near-sleepfulness, however. The mind could be said to be working at a very high speed, but with no intentions, plans or direction. In analogy a clear mind is compared to a still pond, which is able to clearly reflect the moon and trees. But just as waves in the pond will distort the picture of reality, so will the thoughts we hold onto disrupt the true perception of reality.