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July 2008 
Where are you growing right now?
Posted on Jul 30th, 2007
by 
Zipperupus
Zipperupus
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for July 30, 2007:
I am growing in the sod laid by my religious studies professor 12 years ago. The final assignment for the class was a Zen riddle:
"An elderly gentlemen, a successful farmer in his village, is celebrating his birthday in his usual busy manner. He is too busy for a party, and is so successful that he doesn't feel the need for pomp or gifts. The villagers gather together and lay a gift on his doorstep: a baby goose in a glass bottle. The villagers thought that the gentleman farmer would take the goose from the bottle once he found it and appreciate the beauty of the presentation. Instead, although grateful for the gift, he was much too busy to care for the goose and left it ine bottle until one day he discovered that the goose had gotten so large that its beak filled the bottle neck and poked out from the tip. The riddle is: without harming the goose or the bottle, how do you remove the goose from the bottle?"
I fought hard with the riddle and in the fight i discovered that I was stricken with the illness known as the Philosopher's Disease. I thought of oil, a diamond cutter, and many other possibilities for extricating the poor gose. Each time, my professor shook his head and told me that if we were in Japan, he would beat me soundly with a stick.
I ended up solving the riddle. I won't publish the solution. I discovered that I was the riddle, and the more I thought upon it the more I became the gentlemen, the villagers, the goose, and the bottle. I had an ego investment not only in the solution, but in the question.
The lesson that my professor taught me follows me like a fool's knapsack. So when I think about my growth, I have to remind myself that no matter how I flower, I remain a seed in a field surrounded by other seeds in various stages of sprout, bloom, and wither.
Take care.
"An elderly gentlemen, a successful farmer in his village, is celebrating his birthday in his usual busy manner. He is too busy for a party, and is so successful that he doesn't feel the need for pomp or gifts. The villagers gather together and lay a gift on his doorstep: a baby goose in a glass bottle. The villagers thought that the gentleman farmer would take the goose from the bottle once he found it and appreciate the beauty of the presentation. Instead, although grateful for the gift, he was much too busy to care for the goose and left it ine bottle until one day he discovered that the goose had gotten so large that its beak filled the bottle neck and poked out from the tip. The riddle is: without harming the goose or the bottle, how do you remove the goose from the bottle?"
I fought hard with the riddle and in the fight i discovered that I was stricken with the illness known as the Philosopher's Disease. I thought of oil, a diamond cutter, and many other possibilities for extricating the poor gose. Each time, my professor shook his head and told me that if we were in Japan, he would beat me soundly with a stick.
I ended up solving the riddle. I won't publish the solution. I discovered that I was the riddle, and the more I thought upon it the more I became the gentlemen, the villagers, the goose, and the bottle. I had an ego investment not only in the solution, but in the question.
The lesson that my professor taught me follows me like a fool's knapsack. So when I think about my growth, I have to remind myself that no matter how I flower, I remain a seed in a field surrounded by other seeds in various stages of sprout, bloom, and wither.
Take care.
Access: Public
this was very interesting. the first thing I thought of was to just break the bottle. I think I would have to if I saw the goose suffering even though it might hurt him in the process. just pick it up and crash it.. I am sure I am wrong and I would be hit with a stick and that I am in some stage in that field.