T39 - Paradox - C 10

Paradox: a statement that seems contrary to common sense and yet is perhaps true.

Etymologically: Paradox - 1540 from Latin, 'paradoxum,' paradox, statement seeming absurd yet really true; from Greek, 'paradoxon,' from neut. of adjective 'paradoxos,' contrary to expectation, incredible, from 'para-,' contrary to + 'doxa,' opinion.

So, absurd yet true, contrary to expectation, incredible.

So, then, a paradox might be a series of statements that seem contrary to common sense and yet are true (perhaps)

.................................................... OR

a series of linked or related statements which are absurd together and yet are perhaps true.

'...I believe in all... the river, love', etc...

AND '....another word for faith is delusion.'

Gableplunk - belief-delusion is a contradiction, a series of linked statements which are absurd together and yet are perhaps true.

Zen isn't the only endeavor to focus on a statement which is contrary to common sense but which may be true. In Zen the Koan, an unsolvable riddle, is used as both a generator of impossible-to-bear mental and emotional tension and a metaphor for a state of mind which generates a form of enlightenment through the bursting free from that state of impossible-to-bear tension which is created while trying to solve that riddle. We all deal with Koans every day but they are usually not presented to us in poetic form unless you are one of the people who see life as poetry. They are called quandaries, and cause us states of perplexity, mental disturbance and uncertainty. They're usually just complications but sometimes can be problems which are overwhelming or impossible to solve or resolve. You've run across this experience many times in your life. There's a difference between us and Zen adepts, though, and the difference is that we can almost always choose to ignore the problem until it disappears (think of the average person's understanding of serious political problems), or put it off for another day when we're feeling better and for one reason or another it may have a better chance of being dissipated or resolved. A Zen adept can not do this. He is assigned a Koan and must stay with it night and day until he solves the unsolvable riddle. You can imagine the incredible tension that this endeavor produces and that is exactly its purpose.

Philosophy and spiritual seeking present Koans of sorts because they deal with ultimate questions which really can not be answered. Any Philosopher who tells you that she/he has developed a philosophy which answers ultimate questions is either a con artist or completely deluded..... and there are no shortage of these as we all know. So philosophers and seekers (of wisdom, knowledge, mysticism, whatever...) are always involved in the paradoxes of their efforts, their confrontations with their own senses of the absurdities of asking questions that no one has ever been able to answer, their conclusions that they are absurd themselves and their truths that they need to do it.

Politics also presents us, the public (as well as the practitioners themselves) (have you ever wondered why certain people call themselves 'practitioners' rather than professionals?), with impossible to solve situations. Sometimes they go away by themselves, sometimes not and it's the ones that won't go away that flare up into national and sometimes global conflicts. No one is able to solve them. Politicians are presented with their Koans, local or international situations, and are unable to solve them. The tensions build and build until explosions occur and I don't mean merely explosions of the mind or emotions although these happen also, but literal explosions, ones that cause death and destruction. Unsolvable. Ridiculous and true.

Here's small quandary which I experienced recently which is a good example of an every day paradox ...... ...... ...... hmmmmm ....... I can't seem to think of one. Maybe paradoxes, as a friend of mine said, are a matter of scale. Small matters, every day matters, are filled with dozens if not hundreds of subtleties, gray areas which are open to multiple interpretations. This is not the fodder for black & white concepts which are paradoxical. Paradoxes seem to be simplifications in this sense. So, right now, I can't come up with a paradox from my daily mundane existence. Also, paradoxes seem to be dramatic in nature, quite a contrast with the mundane, in a different league. Oh, well. If I think of one I'll come back.

Okay. I thought about it. Here are some everyday paradoxes that we all run across:

Some priests are pedophiles, and

People watch TV to dull their minds (people think
they’re watching TV for excitement, drama or
entertainment and don’t realize that it’s turning
them into rabbit heads),

and

Babies who revel in poop are being creative,

and

For traveling, people iron clothes BEFORE putting them
in their suitcases,

and

here’s one from the eighteen seventies when the idea of
germs was just being invented: germs cause illness,

and

it’s paradoxical that some politicians who use the
rationalization(s) of nationalism to ‘defend’ our way of
life also work against it by implementing
internationalism (or globalism) through their ideas and
votes for globalist political and economic structures. It’s
contrary to common sense to support both nationalism
and internationalism. Our CEOs are not paradoxical
because they’re primarily in the game for money (and
a good show for stock holders): greed. A digression,
not a paradox: capitalism is the world’s best system for
productivity ~ as long as you’re not one of the cogs.

There are paradoxes all around us all the time. We see
them taking many different forms and operating in
many different areas of our lives. Can you add to this
list of statements which seem contrary to common
sense and yet are perhaps true?