Early in Genpo Roshi’s new book, The Fool Who Thought He Was God, the unnamed narrator is stunned to learn that his long-lost twin brother Sebastian is not only living near him in a town in Maine at the other end of the country from where they grew up, but has committed himself to a mental institution there, and believes he is God. From the moment they are reunited it becomes questionable which is the more sane of the two brothers. The narrator, who is now seriously confused by the whole situation, asks Sebastian how to cope with this confusion. Sebastian replies:
Confusion is only a problem because you don’t like confusion. If you didn’t hate confusion it wouldn’t be a problem for you.
But I don’t like being confused. Who does?
That is your problem. You need not try to get rid of confusion nor seek after clarity.
What are you talking about? I prefer clarity to confusion, who wouldn’t?
It is your preference for clarity over confusion that keeps you bound or tied up without so much as a rope.
So what should I do?
13.03.2014 09:52