Novalis's Fallacy

"Nach innen geht der geheimnisvolle Weg. ("The path of mystery leads inward.")
                                                     --Novalis

Touring the landscape of European civilization, we encounter a number of remarkable sentences worthy of contemplation ("Cogito, ergo sum," "e=mc^2", "Whoa! That was some great war! When's the next one?", etc.) On that list of insightful statements, Novalis's meditation guideline quoted above would surely rank high. The thought, recorded toward the end of the 18th century, is a deft slap in the face of burgeoning science.

At first glance, Novalis's urge to move within seems a continuation of the heretical tradition of European mysticism (the Elysian Mysteries, the Neo-Platonics, Hermes Trismegistus, Meister Eckhardt, Swedenborg, Blake). But further reflection leads one to wonder if Novalis was not trapped in the same old mystico-religious pitfall which causes one to condemn the world (for whatever reason) and withdraw, withdraw, withdraw, either to a monastery, or a desert, a cave, or one's meditation cushion.

It's the pitfall that the Zenists so cleverly avoid from the git-go. There ain't, they say a thousand different ways, nothing to withdraw from and nowhere to withdraw to. The bodhi-tree is everywhere.
                                             --Angus Verspeeten

The Idea Man

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