Zen – Stuff on Celts, Druids, Standing Stones and suchlike.

Entanglement – we are all linked.

If anyone wants proof that we have a long way to go in understanding the way the Universe works, look no further than entanglement. Einstein hated it. He called it “spooky action at a distance”, trying to prove with others that it was a flaw in the theory of quantum physics.

It’s nothing to do with earphones getting tangled, annoying though it can be. Here we are talking about events at a quantum level which defy what we consider as reality.

At some deep level, it appears to be a fundamental component of the Universe. “Entangle” two photons by producing them together, change one, the other changes instantly, no matter how far the distance between them. It has been proved to work time after time. And not only that, it works instantly, over vast distances. Even though as Einstein showed, you cannot travel faster than the speed of light, disruption of entanglement is somehow an instant process.

Physicists can’t explain it. Well, that’s not strictly true. There is one explanation, but it’s such a mind boggling explanation, that most people shy away from it.

The explanation – that everything is already connected! You, me, the stars, every atom in the whole Universe.

And I rather like that!!

It is as it is meant to be

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And it was thus.
A Retreat. The mix of lack of sleep, inner contemplation, the challenge of solving/understanding a Koan. A process anointed by the passage of centuries, a path followed by – perhaps millions? – over the centuries.
Somewhere on my own personal journey on that Retreat I understood something deep, profound, something moved me to tears of joy. An insight, no, deeper than that, an understanding that this IS the way the Universe works.
It is, as it’s meant to be, for better, for worse in our short term view, but it is as it is meant to be.

The archer, the arrow and the target are all One

I based a chapter in my book, the Wisdom of Rhiannon, on the famous book by Eugen Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery. As a Western visitor to 1930’s Japan, and a lecturer in Philosophy, Herrigel found it almost – but not quite – impossible to learn the Way of the Archer.
It involves not using the mind, not taking aim, but instead stilling the mind, holding the bow steady until “it”, as Herrigel’s teacher called it, determined when to let the arrow fly. At that point, and only at that point, did the archer, the arrow, and the target become one. To Herrigel’s frustration, his attempts to hit the target by improving his technique, the strength in his bow arm, and his concentration, all failed, and only resulted in his Master’s increasing ire. Always the guidance was to wait until “it” determined when the arrow should be released.
And then comes this passage toward the end of the book:
“Do you now understand,” the Master asked me one day after a particularly good shot, what I mean by “It shoots”, “It hits”?
“I’m afraid I don’t understand anything more at all,” I answered, “even the simplest things have got into a muddle. Is it “I” who draws the bow, or is it the bow that draws me into the state of highest tension? Do “I” hit the goal, or does the goal hit me? ….. Bow, arrow, goal and the ego , all melt into one another, so that I can no longer separate them. And even the need to separate has gone. For as soon as I take the bow and shoot, everything becomes so clear and straight-forward, and so ridiculously simple ..”
All is One!