Zis

"Zare, Zare, Zen." "Where, what, when?" "Zare, Zen, holding pen." "So that is Zen... I call him Ken" "Zen not zare, him everyzare." "I thought you said... oh, I don't care." "Za iz Zen but iz not Ken. zare iz no now but only zen... until ze mirror cracks and zen... Zen iz gone and zo iz Ken." :O) Zis, I mean, this, is just a silly joke really but nevertheless I thought I ought to clarify that many Buddhists believe that what we generaly refer to as "now" is in fact the past... a reflection in the mirror of the mind of that which has already occured - a bit like watching a "live" TV broadcast.

Memories, in the corner of your mind, just memories of the way things were... :O)

I have been known to argue that the purpose of Zen is to stop you watching your inner TV for a while, or at least pause it so that the picture doesn't change, in the hope that you might escape from Plato’s cave and experience reality rather than merely observing second-hand reflections. The eyes are a cul-de-sac on the journey up.

Sunny side up :O) I feel I should point out that I don't mean cul-de-sac in an allegorical sense. Most people live in their eyes (concentrate their awareness in the visual cave at the front of the head). The shadows on the wall (or flickers on the TV screen) holds your attention but you can leave the cave. The point is that we are so used to watching the screen that we see movement on the screen and believe we are moving. If you draw back so that the screen does not fill your entire 'vision' then you can percieve that it is just a screen and travel away backwards into the darkness (watching the screen diminish) until you escape the cul-de-sac and can continue upward. There is a story of a man who loses his key and is stood under a street lamp searching with no success. Eventually someone happens along and offers to help. The loser explains he's lost his key... "Whereabouts do you think you lost your key?" asks the helper. "Somewhere over there." replies the loser, pointing off into the darkness. "Then why are you looking here?" asks the helper. "Well, there's no light over there!" replies the loser. So it is we remain trapped in the cave because we can't see the way out and we fear the dark!