Ooh la la,

Before I get on to rambling a little bit about the mind, I’d like to talk about a rather queer idiom from the French language.

“Le petite mort. ”

It translates as, “the little death,” and refers to the act of having an orgasm.

I should hope that most of you experience that delightful quivering sensation. Frequently even. If I were to tell you to “go fuck yourself,” you can be sure that it would not be a jeer, but rather a friendly gesture reminding you of the joys of being human.

I hope you are so far not offended, and if you are, I simply and kindly suggest that you go fuck yourself. Seriously.

So anyway, what does this have to do with the mind?

In English, there is another curious expression that philosophers and mystics alike tend to throw around. When a new truth gets past your defenses and causes you to see the world in a new light, it is described as having your mind “blown.”

This isn’t something I often ask people about, but I imagine that most have a strong memory of their first orgasm. I sure do. I also happen to have a strong memory of an early encounter with having my mind blown.

I was watching Star Trek with my mom, and saw the courageous Captain Kirk save himself from the clutches of an evil robot by telling it “This statement is a lie.”

I thought about it for a whole week. I could hardly concentrate in school, my young mind oscillating back and forth between the poles of the true/false dichotomy.

“Its a lie. But if it is a lie, then he’s telling the truth so it can’t be a lie. But if its not a lie and he’s telling the truth, then he can’t be telling the truth and it must be a lie. But… ”

How embarrassing to admit, that William Shatner was the first man to officially blow my young mind.

In later attempts to deliberately take my mind to new depths, I’ve experimented with various forms of spiritual practice. At one point, that included a foray into Zen. I hoped that with enough diligence, I could find the freedom that comes from killing my ego.

As an older and wiser fellow, I’m not suggesting that one busy oneself with the futile process of trying to kill the ego.

“Hey ma, look, I killed my ego, isn’t that cool?” and just as soon as its gone, it comes back bigger than before.

Douglass Hofstadter in his book “I am a strange loop” points out that in some languages, terms of veneration seem to suggest that enlightenment isn’t selfless, but rather involves having a big “self.” For clarity’s sake, one must note that Hofstadter has a somewhat unique conception in which “I” “self” and “soul” are synonymous.

He points out that Mahatma, the title affixed to the peace loving freedom fighter Mohandas Ghandi, translates as “great soul.” Also the word magnanimous, broken down into its etymological roots, comes from magnum (great) and animus (soul.)

What I am suggesting here is that instead of making the “self” go away, you actually try to encourage it to grow. However, in order for it to grow, you may need to let your ego’s guard down to be open and vulnerable.

When your mind gets intimately blown, your ego can experience the joys of “le petit mort.”