{"id":361,"date":"2010-11-18T07:47:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-18T07:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/11\/briefest-on-koans-and-conundrums\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:03:29","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:03:29","slug":"briefest-on-koans-and-conundrums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/11\/briefest-on-koans-and-conundrums.html","title":{"rendered":"Briefest on Koans and Conundrums"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/a><\/div>\n

On more than one occasion I\u2019ve read or heard people say the question \u201cIf a tree falls in the woods, but no one hears it, is there a sound?\u201d is a koan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is not. A koan is a direct pointing to reality together with an invitation to respond, box and its lid.<\/p>\n

The tree question is a conundrum.<\/p>\n

I find in my life I encounter both types of question, koan and conundrum.<\/p>\n

The one is about our deepest aspirations, and our grandest possibilities.<\/p>\n

The other is an interesting question that may on closer inspection turn out to be a non sequitur.<\/p>\n

The art is knowing which is which in a universe where everything is shifting and there is no certain ground on which to stand\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On more than one occasion I\u2019ve read or heard people say the question \u201cIf a tree falls in the woods, but no one hears it, is there a sound?\u201d is a koan. It is not. A koan is a direct pointing to reality together with an invitation to respond, box and its lid. The tree […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBriefest on Koans and Conundrums<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On more than one occasion I've read or heard people say the question "If a tree falls in the woods, but no one hears it, is there a sound?" is a koan.It\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/11\/briefest-on-koans-and-conundrums.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Briefest on Koans and Conundrums\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On more than one occasion I've read or heard people say the question "If a tree falls in the woods, but no one hears it, is there a sound?" is a koan.It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/11\/briefest-on-koans-and-conundrums.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-18T07:47:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-01T19:03:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/TOUgNAagXlI\/AAAAAAAADlA\/LbeKge4Twc4\/s400\/blog+question.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/11\/briefest-on-koans-and-conundrums.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/11\/briefest-on-koans-and-conundrums.html\",\"name\":\"Briefest on Koans and Conundrums\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-18T07:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-01T19:03:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\"On more than one occasion I've read or heard people say the question \\\"If a tree falls in the woods, but no one hears it, is there a sound?\\\" is a koan.It\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/11\/briefest-on-koans-and-conundrums.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/11\/briefest-on-koans-and-conundrums.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2010\/11\/briefest-on-koans-and-conundrums.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Briefest on Koans and Conundrums\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/\",\"name\":\"Monkey Mind\",\"description\":\"Easily distracted...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\",\"name\":\"James Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Ford\"},\"description\":\"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. 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