Not being tense, but ready. Not thinking, not dreaming. Not being set, but flexible; adaptable. Being wholly and quietly alive, aware and alert, not anxious, but relaxed and prepared for whatever may come.
This is Zen.
Zen is achieved by digging through the ditches and burning through the witches. Thank you Rob Zombie. There are many theories about what Zombie means by this lyrical phrase in his song, Dragula; “Dig through the ditches and burn through the witches”, but I don’t know if anyone really knows.
I’ve used it many times, because for me, it’s a heuristic approach to life: Interactive, experiential, and hands-on. As I always say, The knowing of Zen is not Zen. We must do to be.
Knowing is academic: we need to learn, read, train, research, practice, and prepare to ready ourselves.
We need to dig through the ditches.
Doing is putting the academics to work in reality, testing our theories, making adjustments to what we think we know to be true, interacting with others in real time, experiencing setbacks, getting back up, figuring things out, readjusting our approach, philosophy, and way.
Now we’re burning through the witches.
But then … being. Now this is mastery. This is Zen.
As Snoop Dogg says, “Stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready.” Hey, a Zombie/Dogg collaboration would be kind of cool.
Anyways, the more diligently we dig through the ditches and burn through the witches ongoingly, the easier being becomes. We’re chill and ready.
Everything happens at exactly the same time. Now!
When something happens; when an opportunity presents itself, when the sh*t hits the fan, and/or reality occurs with it’s infinite variables, circumstances, and contextual situations, all of which can morph or completely change in an instant, we can just be, because we’re relaxedly ready to act accordingly.
We dig, burn, and be to avoid crashing our Dragula.
Picture from The Munsters, Universal Studios
I Am No Yogi 