Don't Foolish Yourself: Impermanence as the Key to Wisdom

By Robert Colacurcio

The subtitle of this book is “Impermanence as the Key to Wisdom.” Actually the word “wisdom” occurs only infrequently as in the expression “the arc of evolution leads to the goal of wisdom-compassion non dual” for every sentient being. In days gone by, Catholic universities especially used to feature wisdom as one of the primary goals of their curriculum. Wisdom as a feature of higher education seems to have fallen out of favor. I’m not clear on why that is, except that once upon a time, philosophy & theology used to be enthroned as the Queen of the Sciences. Not beheaded quite, but certainly dethroned, she now serves more like the scullery maid in the Castle of Technology.

Whatever the case may be, I’m not talking about “wisdom” as the West has typically understood it. My explication of impermanence is about one of the many folds the universe takes to crease the fabric of its infinitely varied manifestations. I have adopted the spiritual technology of the Buddha to do this. Therefore, my approach is the rather eastern, specifically Tibetan, viewpoint of what “wisdom” means. Nevertheless, I try my best to explain the methodology from the Buddha’s toolkit in terms a contemporary western reader will not find foreign.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9798369420263

Robert Colacurcio

Robert Colacurcio has been practicing the methodology of the Buddha’s spiritual technology for over thirty five years under the guidance of some of the most accomplished meditation masters in the Vajrayana lineage of Buddhism. Earlier in his life he studied to become a Jesuit priest, and earned his PhD from Fordham University in philosophy. His spiritual background includes two years at the New York Zendo, extensive study in the Human Potential Movement under the direction of Claudio Naranjo and Oscar Ichazo. His journey then took him to a Sufi commune learning the disciplines of the Russian savant, G.I. Gurdjieff. He is also deeply indebted to the works of Carlos Castaneda, Robert Pirsig and Jane Roberts. He currently lives with his wife, Carol, in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia, and delights with pride in the growth and constant source of revelation that are his children and grandchildren

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Copyright © 2024 by Robert Colacurcio.

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Rev. date: 04/23/2024

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Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One: What Shouldn’t Be There?

Chapter Two: Our Universal Teacher

Chapter Three: The Foolishness of Inordinate Attachments

Chapter Four: Should It Be There Or Not?

Chapter Five: Impermanence As a Magical Illusion

Chapter Six: The Illusory Shoe Lace

Chapter Seven: Vision vs. Methodology

Chapter Eight: Methodology 101

Chapter Nine: Mortality as Key to Immortality

Chapter Ten: Slowly, Slowly

Epilogue

This book is dedicated to

The Ven Gyaltrul Rinpoche

My Root Guru and Esteemed Teacher

Preface

The subtitle of this book is Impermanence as the Key to Wisdom. Actually the word wisdom occurs only infrequently as in the expression the arc of evolution leads to the goal of wisdom-compassion non dual for every sentient being. In days gone by, Catholic universities especially used to feature wisdom as one of the primary goals of their curriculum. Wisdom as a feature of higher education seems to have fallen out of favor. I’m not clear on why that is, except that once upon a time, philosophy & theology used to be enthroned as the Queen of the Sciences. Not beheaded quite, but certainly dethroned, she now serves more like the scullery maid in the Castle of Technology.

Whatever the case may be, I’m not talking about wisdom as the West has typically understood it. My explication of impermanence is about one of the many folds the universe takes to crease the fabric of its infinitely varied manifestations. I have adopted the spiritual technology of the Buddha to do this. Therefore, my approach is the rather eastern, specifically Tibetan, viewpoint of what wisdom means. Nevertheless, I try my best to explain the methodology from the Buddha’s toolkit in terms a contemporary western reader will not find foreign.

The inspiration and motivation for this book comes from one of my Tibetan meditation teachers, the late Ven. Gyaltrul Rinpoche (Rinpoche is correctly pronounced Rin-po-shay and means precious teacher). He always emphasized how important it was to meditate on the all pervasiveness of impermanence as the key to wisdom. The word for wisdom is the Sanskrit shunyata (accent on the last syllable). Shunyata is translated wisdom, but its meaning is far different from that of western academic or religious traditions. SHUNYATA IS THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE PRACTICAL DIFFERENCE IN ONE’S SPIRITUAL LIFE BETWEEN APPEARANCE AND REALITY. Rinpoche sometimes suggested that impermanence could be used as the back door into the wisdom house of shunyata. Rinpoche was also fond of reminding his students, Don’t foolish yourself when he saw they overlooked, minimized or forgot the meaning of impermanence as the key to the deeper penetration of wisdom.

So I’d like the reader to know that this book is inspired, I feel, by the life and teaching of the late Ven. Gyaltrul Rinpoche, and I offer it as tribute and homage to him.

Introduction

In the movie The Glass Castle that is based on author Jeanette Walls’ memoir of her hardscrabble life, Woody Harrelson plays her father Rex Walls. Although he is extremely intelligent, he is unable to really nurture his three girls and one son except with fantasies about the glass castle they’ll build from his plans one day. His drunken excesses frighten the kids, frequently leaving them hungry and on the run with mom in dad’s overloaded station wagon to escape some confrontation with the law.

Many important themes could be discussed that weave the fabric of this poignant and heart rending drama: family dynamics as affected by poverty, sexual abuse, alcoholism and psychological dysfunction to name a few. My focus is on foolishness. Foolishness as I unweave the fabric of its themes goes way beyond the ignorant or erratic mistaken overstep. FOOLISHNESS IN MY VIEW OF IT IS THE METAPHYSICAL UNDERLAYMENT OF BEHAVIOR THAT IS TYPICAL AND COMMON PLACE. Rex Walls’ fantasy of building an idyllic glass castle to stylishly house his bedraggled family simply gives us an iconic target. His calamitous excesses are only momentary cloud cover for our own.

Forgetfulness is another name for failure to be mindful. It’s a very sad problem that our society is faced with more and more people suffering from dementia and Alzheimers’ form of forgetfulness. However, this facet of forgetfulness is not my focus. Everyone consciously or otherwise creates a pyramid of values. The keystone value at the top caps a descending gradation of values that we either live by, aspire to or to which we at least offer our lip service homage. For example, in the long running TV series Blue Bloods, Frank Reagan, Police Commissioner and head of the Reagan clan, inculcates his children and grandchildren with Family as the capstone value at the top of the value pyramid. Even when faced with a choice between obligation by oath to a police code of conduct and protection of the family, everyone is taught to favor the family first and most of all. One of the hallmarks of this show is that the producers, as well the Reagans, don’t want the TV audience to ever forget it.

The title of this book comes from the late Tibetan high lama and one of my root teachers in the Tibetan tradition of Vajrayana Buddhist practice, the Ven. Gyaltrul Rinpoche. He frequently had a concerned albeit whimsical look on his face when he’d remind me, Robert, don’t foolish yourself. Rex Walls in The Glass Castle makes a fool of himself. Making all due allowances for the dysfunctional and abusive family he grew up in, he nevertheless had many chances to remember to remember to remember how chaotic he allowed the components of his value pyramid to become. He fed his kids on fantasies even as they reminded him of their hunger and begged for food.

Ironically, Rex Walls bathed himself and his family in rivers of impermanence while being totally clueless about it. Like asking a fish to explain the nature of water, Rex created