Pile of Provisional Positions (PPP), Part 1, The PPP

Greetings, Friendlies!

I harbor some baseless supposition (BS?) that classical dhamma education unfolds via a structure honed over, perhaps, several thousand years? Theories and practices presented in an order and at a pace curated and refined for generations. Practical. Reproducible. Safe.

I have not been the beneficiary (or victim) of such a system; coming up in North America in the age of the internet, I owe just as much to Alan Watts as to any Ajahn.

(The Ajahns clear their throats…)

The advantage of this erratic upbringing has been the collection and exploration of a surfeit of ideas and practices. Mahayana dhammas, Theravada dhammas, orthodox dhammas, irreverent dhammas… so many bright-shiny dhammas!

The disadvantage is that my understanding, as a whole, resembles an overstuffed playroom. So many bright-shiny dhammas one cannot fit in the door to get at them. A chaotic jumble of priceless wisdom, most of which I don’t remember is in there.

Something in Michael Gazzaniga’s Interpreter Module (Who’s In Charge?) enticed with a glimmer of an ordering principle. What about a series that tries linking simple knowing, fabrication (saṅkhāra-ing), the goal of the practice, MBSR pedagogy, internal narrative, the interpreter module, hemisphere specialization, implicit bias, skillfulness, reactivity, the classical view of humanity, avijjā?

Ambitious, and likely to wind up a jumbled pile of provisional positions one atop the other… in any case very much Learning in Public. Your thoughts, good cheer, and compass headings most welcome. :)