What is The Zen of Goth?

Dismantle the phrase.


Pared down from the OED definition, Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that emphasizes meditation and personal awareness. It is a way of exploring your own path of life and enlightenment. It is important to understand that Zen can be treated as a methodology separate from Buddhism or indeed any religion. It is more a way of movement rather than a specific direction. Think of it as the difference between a fox walk versus a heel to toe walk versus a power walk. Both get you to your destination, it is a matter of what you are comfortable doing. 


The Gothic movement, as I mean it here, is the subculture that explores extremes. Often, the exploration of these extremes is lost in the modern subculture, where the ideas have become more about fashion and shocking mundanes than about the true exploration of this idea. Intellectualism and the romantic movement roots of these ideas has been removed and the movement has become stale, homogenized and pasteurized. 


The idea of this blog is not to give lessons, but exercises. In the vein of Zen, these will be be something for anyone who wants to do them, in their own way and at their own pace and to take from them what they wish. What you discover and learn from them is unique to you, and not dictated beforehand. In the vein of Goth, these lessons will explore extremes. These may be extremes of emotion, sensation or ideas. You will work out your own limits and push them as far as you wish to. the idea is expanding your horizons, and to use these extremes for contrast. Light becomes brighter when set beside dark, which in turn becomes all the more stark. 


We will explore the heights of happiness and pleasure as well as the depths of depression and discomfort, because it is only in knowing these extremes that you can appreciate the gradient spectra between them. And in that appreciation, you will find stability and peace. You will come to know yourself better than anyone else and better than you ever have, and your life will be more full. You will feel emotions more keenly and more fully than those around you, and gain an understanding of them that will help you in your day to day life. And you will not be alone. 


We will be going on this journey together, you and I. Those that read this blog will journey with us. It is improper to think of this as a journey with a final destination, but rather you should think of it as a journey to explore. A walk through a forest to see the trees, or a hike through mountains to witness them. You can walk the same paths and experience them differently each time. Do each exercise as often as you like and modify as you wish. Exploration is the key theme of this.


The exercises begin January 1st, 2010 and I will try and post a minimum of one per week. I hope I will see you there.