The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

Drifting Cloudsand the Illusion of ScienceThis morning I am washing citrus storage boxes by the river. As Istoop on a flat rock, my hands feel the chill of the autumn river. The redleaves of the sumacs along the river bank stand out against the clear blueautumn sky. I am struck with wonder by the unexpected splendor of thebranches against the sky.Within this casual scene the entire world of experience is present. Inthe flowing water, the flow of time, the left bank and right bank, thesunshine and shadows, the red leaves and blue sky - all appear within thesacred, silent book of nature. And man is a slender, thinking reed.Once he inquires what nature is, he then must inquire what that“what” is, and what that human who inquires what that “what” is is. Heheads, that is to say, into a world of endless questioning.In trying to gain a clear understanding of what it is that fills him withwonder, what it is that astonishes him, he has two possible paths. Thefirst is to look deeply into himself, at him who asks the question, “Whatis nature?”The second is to examine nature apart from man.The first path leads to the realm of philosophy and religion. Gazingvacantly, it is not unnatural to see the water as flowing from above tobelow, but164