Zen to Go

Yesterday, today and tomorrow our city library is having its annual book sale. You can fill a plastic grocery bag for $9 or buy books individually. For those who like to do collage, this is a great way to get material. I picked up on old dictionary, maps, books written in Japanese and maybe German, too. Some day I will tear out the pages to use in collages. I found a few reading books, too. One I picked up is called Zen to Go, compiled by Jon Winokur. Basically, it is a book of quotes. I collect quotes and have several books, including Barlett's.

This one is a collection of quotes that Mr. Winokur feels relates to or describes Zen essence. They are by all sorts of people. Here is one for today:

The foolish reject what they see, not what they think;
the wise reject what they think, not what they see.
-Huang Po

This quote is very interesting as I have just recently re-read Drawing on the Artist Within by Betty Edwards. She talks much about how the brain is functioning while someone is trying to draw. In very oversimplified terms, she says the left side of the brain says "I know what flowers in a vase are, can name it and generalize it". But what the eyes see is that each flower is very different in the way it looks, each petal different with different shapes and shadows and that one will not look the same as another. To draw it, you must turn off or trick the brain so that the eyes can see without the (left side) brain butting in.

Her philosophy is that everyone can draw. It is not a matter of teaching someone how to draw, but how to see. I believe everyone can draw, too and it bugs me when people say they can't draw. They draw their name all the time. I think the quote above is quite relevant to what Ms. Edwards talks about and in any problem solving realm.