The Stoics taught us to construct an inner fortress to withstand life’s blows. Zen teaches the opposite... to drop the walls entirely.
There’s something honest here about exhaustion from self-control dressed as virtue.
I don’t fully buy the Stoic vs Zen framing, real people move between armor and openness depending on the wound.
Dropping the wall takes courage, not softness, because then you feel everything without the fantasy of mastery.
The danger is turning openness into another technique to feel safe.
Thanks for this excellent reminder of what two invaluable streams of ancient wisdom have to teach us - very helpful for a distracted amateur like me. The palm tree example is memorable.
But the wall is not a mental structure?
You’re right, the "wall,” as a metaphor, is purely mental
The question is whether we train control, or train release
Probably both suits best the Middle Way approach.
There’s something honest here about exhaustion from self-control dressed as virtue.
I don’t fully buy the Stoic vs Zen framing, real people move between armor and openness depending on the wound.
Dropping the wall takes courage, not softness, because then you feel everything without the fantasy of mastery.
The danger is turning openness into another technique to feel safe.
Thanks for this excellent reminder of what two invaluable streams of ancient wisdom have to teach us - very helpful for a distracted amateur like me. The palm tree example is memorable.
But the wall is not a mental structure?
You’re right, the "wall,” as a metaphor, is purely mental
The question is whether we train control, or train release
Probably both suits best the Middle Way approach.