tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7958681.post-1099015418214641952004-10-28T19:03:00.000-07:002004-10-28T19:03:00.000-07:00Very interesting observations. I don't think we are far off. I think what you're saying is that the discipline and mastery that the samurai had--and what the yoga practicioner strives for as well--are the means for letting go and thus being able to get through the violence of the battlefield or just everyday life. Bhuto (or is it bushido?) and yoga are disciplines or means that can lead to tolerance, spiritual enlightenment or learning to deal with violence on the battlefield or in life.<br /> <br />But I would suggest a few things. One of the points of my essay is that Fight Club shows how violence itself can be a means for tolerance, enlightenment, etc. We often write off violence as bad, overlooking how it might be an opportunity. Hell, even being mean (to use a bad pun) is considered bad, and I thought so until I hung out with Ray! Meanness can enable the receiver of the meanness to work on their faults, right a wrong, etc. Maybe the person being mean is not even being mean--it's just the receiver's perception. Maybe the mean person is just being funny, but one considers it mean and tries to avoid it--and so losing the opportunity to learn from it.<br /> <br />When you say "letting go to get discipline," I think the opposite: discipline as a way to let go. Just as yoga can be loosely translated as "bridge," a way of getting from here to there, discipline and concentration are not the end, things to "get to." This may be a question of semantics, but we might recognize that means can very easily become the end. I remember how Watts talks about how the Buddha observed, "One suffers because one desires," and how his disciples went away and put themselves through all kinds of disciplines, trying to stamp out desire. When they came back, the Buddha observed, "you are desiring not to desire." They were still desiring! Discipline as an end won't necessarily help. But as you point out, Norton's character no longer needs the violence, nor Tyler for that matter, because they were a means (Tyler as guru) for his enlightenment. I think you come around to seeing this, that by letting go of guilt and judgmental feelings (even of mean people), one can get past them.<br /> <br />For another perspective, here's an article that may be of interest: http://www.killingthebuddha.com/oral/sp_exercises.htm. May warrant a scan. Thoughts? dzDzintars Dzilnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645287358394759680noreply@blogger.com