The Landscape of a Mind

By Tohon

A torrent's course does not depend on the water; it is latent in the mountain's topography. What controls a man's destiny?' 'There is no virtue without vice; just as there is no gold without impurity. Therefore, when one acquires a virtue, does he not acquire a vice too?' Such are the musings and reflections in 'The Landscape of a Mind'. In this profoundly introspective collection of thoughts, gathered in journal entries and correspondence with friends, Tohon questions the essence of human nature, the obscure workings of the human mind and the heart, and mulls over the meaning of good and evil, the implications of the self and ego, and the concepts of free will and choice, destiny and fate. A considerable amount of ground to cover, but Tohon's personalised and conversational tone, as well as his use of an approach that is very much rooted in the Eastern philosophies, makes this piece an enjoyable exchange of thoughts, ideas and beliefs between humanists and philosophers on a very much global level.

• Language: English
• Publisher: G2 Rights
• Release date: Nov 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781909040694

Book preview

Opening

When Svetaketu was twelve years old, his father, Udalaka, said to him, ‘Svetaketu, you must now go to school and study. None of our family, my child, is ignorant of Brahman.’

Thereupon Svetaketu went to a teacher and studied for twelve years. After committing to memory all the Vedas, he returned home full of pride in his learning.

His father, noticing the young man’s conceit, said to him: ‘Svetaketu, have you asked for that knowledge by which we hear the unhearable, by which we perceive the unperceivable, by which we know the unknowable?’

‘What is that knowledge, sir?’ asked Svetaketu.

‘My child, as by knowing one lump of clay, all things made of clay are known, the difference being only in name and arising from speech, and the truth being that all are clay; as by knowing a nugget of gold, all things made of gold are known, the difference being only in name and arising from speech, and the truth being that all are gold – exactly so is that knowledge, knowing which we know all.’

The Chandogya Upanishad¹

¹ Swami Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester, The Upanishads – Breath of the Eternal, New York, Mentor Book from New American Library, 1948, p.68

No-Man’s-Land

If Protagoras is right, and the truth is that things are as they appear to anyone, how can some of us be wise and some of us foolish? For if what appears to each man is true to him, one man cannot in reality be wiser than another.

Socrates

13 JUNE 1982

Dear Khalamma,

Salaam.

Another year has rolled by. It appears that we are moving forward at an enormous speed. But when we look back we realise that we have moved only a little. Today rests on yesterday, and yet we rarely reflect on the past. We do not see the foundation of a tower, just as we do not see the roots of a tree. The nectar that sustains Life remains invisible.

Though we are lost within the rush of our daily lives, at some solitary moments we return to our past. Ten years ago on this day, when all the singing and laughter had stopped, a few of us received new lives. The foundation for our future was laid on that day.

We could offer him nothing. But there is a way to reach him. It is prayer. And I hold onto it with all my heart.

Yours lovingly,

Mohammad

SOMETIME IN 1982

I am blessed with sight, but I have not been able to overcome my blindness as yet.

SOMETIME IN 1982

Previously, I viewed cow dung as the filthiest of all things; presently, I see its hidden beauty in its function as a fertiliser. Previously, a diamond’s glitter would dazzle my eyes; presently, I fail to distinguish it from a piece of broken glass.

SOMETIME IN 1982

I felt exhilarated as I approached the peak. But on reaching the top I am dismayed by the sight of an even higher peak. I realise that my journey begins where I thought it would end.

OCTOBER 1982

Dear All,

I have written a lot about my days in the USA, but my stories would remain unfinished if I do not tell you about the ‘man’. You must all have guessed by now that I am talking about Dr Burcik.

The last six years of my life revolved around him. If I were a leaf, he was the trunk. If I were a child, he was the father. My fellow students rightly called him ‘Mohammad’s old man’.

During our recent visit to Pennsylvania, Nishat and I were staying with Dwight and Wilma Schwartz, my American host parents. As expected, Dr Burcik invited us for a supper. I had not seen him for three years and things had changed so much since then. The saddest part is that he suffered a stroke last year.

Dr Burcik explained how he had become a child again. He said that Dottie (his wife) had infinite patience as she looked after him, just as a mother does her baby.

We left them that evening with saddened hearts. I managed to control my tears, but Nishat failed.

Always,

Mohammad

OCTOBER 1982

I feel a sense of freedom as I realise that my prestige, pride, worldly possessions and the craving to acquire these are all chains that not only keep me in bondage but also sustain my ignorance, blindness and bitterness in life. (Reflection after a day-long walk in New York City).

NOVEMBER 1982

In prayer I ask for nothing; I utter no verses. All I try is to feel Him. Who knows, my efforts to realise a momentary oneness may some day become a oneness for life. That would be my ultimate fulfilment and everlasting joy.

18 JUNE 1983

Boalsburg, PA

May 25, 1983

My dears,

It is always nice to hear from you all. I do hope you are enjoying your work.

One week ago I brought Emil home after a three-week hospital stay – not much to write; life isn’t too great for him. Emil can’t find any interest so his days are long, but he still enjoys sweets!

Ralph Nielson is due in State College on June 4 and even that event doesn’t stir Emil.

I was most happy in Florida last winter and plan to return there this October, but Emil again did not adjust.

You are very kind and generous to write to Emil. Your letters are bright spots in his dull life. Emil doesn’t write any more, so my note will have to do.

Fondly,

Dottie & Emil

JANUARY 1984

A torrent’s course does not depend on the water; it is latent in the mountain’s topography.

What controls a man’s destiny?²

JANUARY 1984

MARCH 1984

The sharpness of a knife is inherent in the metal. The sharpness is revealed by the workmanship of a blacksmith.

Humanity’s greatness is inherent in its birth and is revealed by its own dedicated effort. There would be no difference between a babe and a nugget of ore if the nugget were able to sharpen itself. Now, is someone who does not make a conscious effort any different from a nugget of ore?

But, then, is a man creator of his own conscience or does he acquire it by birth? He who lacks conscience is the unfortunate one, but who is at fault?

SOMETIME IN 1984

Can nostrils smell the nasal receptors by which they smell? Can eyes see the retinas by which they see? Can ears hear the vibration of the membranes by which they hear? How, then, can the mind comprehend the process by which it understands? How, then, can a heart measure the purity of the spirit by which it is purified?

SOMETIME IN 1984

We shall reap hereafter what we now sow. Whatever we now reap must have been sown in a previous world.

Who sowed the original seed?

SOMETIME IN 1984

I am in search of peace – a peace that does not depend on anything. A conditional peace is not peace, it is a reflection of weakness. A peace under fear is a suppressed war. A peace under force is violence. A peace for the prospect of a reward is greed.

What, then, does an unconditional peace mean?

28 MAY 1984

I am not a Muslim, but the Quran is my path; I am not a Christian, but Jesus is my light; I am not a Buddhist, but the Buddha is my vision; I am not a Hindu, but Gita is my spirit.

2 JUNE 1984

How do I know that the world is not made up of mirrors and, wherever I look, I see nothing but myself?

JUNE 1984

Gravitational forces may not be present at the distant corners of the universe, but it is the gravitational law that encompasses the whole. In a similar manner, one may be able to free himself from the bondage of this world, but one can never escape the bindings of Nature’s Laws.

And if Law is the only thing that there is to it, then how can there be anything called right and wrong, good and evil, joy and sorrow?

JULY 1984

There is no virtue without vice, just as there is no gold without impurity. Therefore, when one acquires a virtue, does one not also acquire a vice?

AUGUST 1984

Q: They say, ‘As you sow, so shall you reap.’

A: Yes, that’s what I have heard.

Q: Do I reap what you sow?

A: The question is flawed.

Q: Why?

A: ‘Paradoxical though it may seem, there is a path to walk on, there is walking being done, but there is no traveller. There are deeds being done, but there is no doer.’³

Q: What does it all mean?

A: No one sows and no one reaps.

² To avoid having to repeatedly qualify ‘woman’, ‘she’, ‘her’, etc. the male gender has been used throughout the book.

³ Sayings of Buddha, New York, The Peter Pauper Press, 1957, p.19

Maple

The oracle at Delphi declared Socrates to be the wisest of all men, and Socrates suggested that if he were superior to other men in wisdom, it was only because he was aware of his ignorance.

Plato

2 DECEMBER 1984

Dear All,

This past July we sold our home in Boalsburg, PA and Fedhaven, FL is my new address. My dear Emil is now in a nursing home in this area. Not the best of times – altho’ he still knows me!

But life must go on, so I keep busy. Right now I am enjoying a course in watercolor painting.

I do hope 1984 was good to you both.

Dottie

DECEMBER 1984

Being under its spell, how can one ever know Truth?

DECEMBER 1984

I am humble; is that not pride?

I am truthful; is that not a lie?

JANUARY 1985

If there is nothing that is not two-sided, then is it not baseless to ask for one side without the other? It is like asking for the head of a coin without its tail.

If an action is made up of both good and evil, then is it not meaningless to pursue ‘good’ only? If karma has two sides then, no matter how one tries to avoid it, will evil not always ride on the back of goodness?

And if this is so, then what is the point in glorifying one and hating the other? Does love for ‘something’ not imply dislike or hate for the ‘opposite’? Does dislike not cause pain? Is hate not evil?

MARCH 1985

Do we ever act? How do we know that an action is not a reaction?

NOVEMBER 1985

How do I know that the imperfections I perceive in others are not due to my own imperfections?

MARCH 1986

I always implicitly assume that whatever I say, do or think is right. Even when I think ‘I am wrong’, I still perceive my thinking as right. When I am dishonest in full knowledge, I cast no doubt on my knowledge. But even when I am in doubt, I still implicitly believe in the validity of my doubt. I may perceive my knowledge and all that I do, think or say as right or wrong, correct or incorrect, truth or a lie, yet in an implicit manner I hold my perception as truth.

And if it is Nature’s Law that makes me hold that ‘I am truth’, then how on earth can I ever know Truth?

APRIL 1986

When am I going to see that the person I love is none but me and the person I hate is none but me, too? For I do not exist; what exists in me is Nature.

JUNE 1986

In an absolute sense, if there exists a freedom of will, then can one destroy it by will?

Is free will a creation of a ‘free will’?

If it is only up to the Creator to create or destroy it, then how can free will be free will?

JUNE 1986

In her last letter Mrs Burcik did not give her new address. I have written a couple of letters since then to her old address, hoping that they would find their way to the new home, but I have not heard from her as yet.

OCTOBER 1986

I felt sad – not so much for the recent incident that took place in New York City, but for the modern society it represents.

But then who is to be blamed . . . kids, parents, individuals, society? Blamed for what? Is modern society more evil than the past ones? Are not actions, starting from the beginning of Creation, linked by an unbroken chain of ‘cause and effect’? One may say, ‘In the past, we have not seen such disorder’ – yes, nobody sees a fire when it is a spark, but everybody sees it when it burns down a house. And the fact is that the big fire came from a small one.

The question, then, is, do we have the freedom to change circumstances at will? We do, provided that ‘will’ itself is not a product of circumstances. If we say, ‘I have earned freedom’ or ‘I have given freedom’, we can be gravely wrong. For freedom that does not come from freedom is not freedom.⁴

OCTOBER 1986

I have received a letter from Mom Schwartz. She writes that Dr Burcik has left this temporary abode for good. Tears roll down my cheeks, uncontrolled.

⁴ Reflection after reading ‘The Freedom of the Damned’, a Time essay, October 6, 1986.

Rushing Torrent

Men think themselves free because they are conscious of their volitions and desires, but are ignorant of the causes by which they are led to wish and desire.

Spinoza

FEBRUARY 1987

What are the definitions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’?

What are the definitions of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’?

When I perceive others as good or evil, am I not a victim of my own perception?

MARCH 1987

I always seem to be wrong. The only time I am right is when I say ‘I am wrong’. If it is better to be right than wrong, then isn’t it wise to say ‘I am wrong’?

JUNE 1987

Q: Who is the greatest?

A: Paradoxically, the one who believes in equality.

6 AUGUST 1987

Time represents change: change in the position of the smallest particles as well as the giant stars; change in intensity, like colour, sound or light; change in shape, form and size; change in thoughts and manners – or change in anything. Therefore, time is relative – relative to change. But the Law that governs ‘change’ has to be changeless. Therefore time, too, in an absolute sense, is frozen. It has neither a beginning nor an end. Time manifests timelessness just as change manifests changelessness. All so-called ‘moments’ are identical, because each moment is a product of an unchanging Law.

How do we then distinguish between ‘absolute’ and ‘relative’? Things that we know by our senses are ‘relative’. On the other hand, ‘absolute’ can only be intuitive. No matter how intelligent we claim to be, humans can never grasp ‘absolute’ or ‘Truth’ because a man, including his curiosity and knowledge, is a product of ‘Truth’.

But then ‘Truth is unknowable’ is self-contradictory because the statement, by its own argument, cannot be true. Is it not then equally possible that Truth is knowable?

JULY 1988

My greatest ignorance is my perception that I am right. My greatest failure is my inability to see Truth in opposing views.

AUGUST 1988

Q: What is wrong with you?

A: The fact that nothing is right with me.

Q: Then how can you reach an acceptance?

A: Others too, being imperfect, perceive me imperfectly.

OCTOBER 1988

Q: What concerns you most?

A: That I expect others to be like me.

OCTOBER 1988

Q: What bothers you most?

A: That I cannot be what I want to be.

Q: What is it that you want to be?

A: I want to make myself free from concern about what I want to be.

OCTOBER 1988

When I dislike someone, I should know that I am, in return, disliked by them. I must not, therefore, expect others to change to suit me before I change myself to suit them.

OCTOBER 1988

Q: Are you jealous?

A: Yes.

Q: How come?

A: Because I fail to see the mirror.

OCTOBER 1988

Q: What is your greatest finding?

A: The finding that I have not found it as yet.

Q: What is your greatest failure?

A: My inability to know that I have never succeeded.

DECEMBER 1988

Q: What do you dislike most?

A: To discuss my dislikes.

Q: Should you not be candid and normal like others?

A: Is it not normal that some ought to be different from most others?

JANUARY 1989

Q: If you were to be reborn, what changes would you make in the course of your new life?

A: Life would follow the same course. In fact, how do we know that this life is not a rebirth and is not following the course of previous births? It is like a tram or train