Beyond the Logical Mind

A man went fishing, and a bystander observed him measuring every fish he caught. If it was longer than eight inches, he would throw it away. When asked what he was doing, the fisherman replied, "My frying pan is only eight inches wide."

~ from Do Nothing: Peace for Everyday Living: Reflections on Chuang Tzu's Philosophy by Siroj Sorajjakool ~

I think this brief story well captures the limitations that humankind places on understanding and knowledge. Like the frying pan, our rational minds have parameters that are defined by our finiteness and, when we try to speculate on the infinite, we try to confine it within the borders of logic -- what our minds can fathom.

But, as Sorajjakool and many other Taoist authors have asserted, the nature of existence is beyond rational conceptualization. Each and every time we attempt to frame it in word and thought, we commit an injustice. We create a caricature of an essence beyond definition and come to treat this caricature as reality itself.

For me, this is one of the reasons why I find the Zhuangzi so much more difficult to write about than the Tao Te Ching. While the latter speaks in metaphors -- which can more easily be teased out with congruent metaphors -- the main vehicle for the former is the paradox. The logical mind can get a partial grip on the words of Lao Tzu, but rationality is more a hindrance when trying to tackle Chuang Tzu.