THE PRINCIPLES OF VALID ACTION

The links below are to pages containing several weeks of postings with reflections on each one of the twelve Principles of Valid Action

THE PATH - 15 Parts

October 16, 2020 Daniel Zuckerbrot

The Book of Silo’s Message consists of three parts. The Book (The Inner Look), Experiences, and The Path. The whole thing is pretty short but the shortest part by far is the last, The Path.

What follows are some musings on the less than 20 sentences that make up that, in many ways, final writing. I say final meaning both chronologically, and in the sense of its being the culmination of all that went before. I understand that Silo continued to write, speak hold retreats and meetings, give interviews, etc long after the publication of the Path in 2002. Nonetheless, it seems to me fair to say it was his last writing aimed at the general public. As far as being the culmination, I don’t mean this only of the contents of The Book of the Message, but rather of his teaching from its earliest beginnings in the 60s; through its public proclamation in 1969; and on to all the organizations generated around it directly, and indirectly, up to the present day. These manifestations, forms, or “points of application” cover an astounding range: from the political, social, psychological, cultural, to the deeply spiritual. The breadth and depth of this response to Silo’s teaching demonstrates the potency of his ideas which have inspired so many of us in diverse ways, and varied situation. All this stands as an extraordinary tribute to an extraordinary individual.

Having made it clear the special place the Path hold, as the culmination of that all that enormous energy, I have to add with some embarrassment that years passed before I started to read it with the attention I feel it deserves. Why? What took me so long after all it’s a short text, composed of short pithy paragraphs; what took me so long? I might as well ask why write a commentary on a text that is lucid and clear in itself. My answer to those points will become clear as we proceed, and so I’ll defer my response and  turn instead to giving some order to my thoughts by putting them on “paper” … and they won’t be too ordered in any case. 

I will be placing short extracts from these semi-orderly comments on my blog . If in the end there seems to be “a good meat to fat ratio” I may even put them together in a final, more coherent shape. With that phrase which clashes so sharply with my vegetarian sensibilities let me begin this commentary, which is perhaps really unnecessary for anyone except myself, and which will involve so many words to comment on so few.

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