Zumwalt Prairie

This photo was taken at the Zumwalt Prairie in Wallow County, Northeast Oregon. We were shown this wonderful place by our good friends Bill and Dianne French. Their interest in native prairies is infectious.

During zazen this morning, I saw my arrogance. I’m learning about myself and that is exciting. Sometimes we see things in ourselves that we are surprised by. I don’t know why I’m surprised by my arrogance. Maybe even that is a little arrogant. Funny how I now see it everywhere. How arrogant of me to deny my arrogance! A vicious cycle from which there seems no escape but there is and it is so easy. What do I mean by arrogance.

an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions
Merriam-Webster Online.

I can act this way. I can feel superior although I usually call it confident but there is a subtle difference. Confidence doesn’t have to mean “I’m right” or “I’m better”. It can be more restful. It can be more like the wind. The wind is not superior or inferior to anything else. It is confident in its windness without any sense of right or wrong.

Overbearing is a qualifier here and provides a bit of an out. Does the superiority have to be overbearing to be considered arrogance? Maybe in the classical sense but in my world I don’t fell like I can use any excuse for my arrogance. Overbearing or not arrogance is just arrogance.

I find it interesting that in the definition above there is the antidote to arrogance. Presumptuous assumptions are at or near the root of our arrogance. Presumptuous assumption means that we take mental constructs that are based on other mental constructs and say that that is reality.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 5th, 2008 at 8:24 am and is filed under Personal, Zen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.