Spacefarers II

Implacability is also inner: "inner space." When we look inside ourselves, we see that we are still the same person that we were yesterday and the day before that. This cannot be changed by an act of will or by a magic rite. A monk interviewed on television made the point that he had not become "Super-monk" immediately on taking his vows.

As a species and as individuals, we were active organisms long before we became reflective subjects. By the time that we begin to reflect on life, our lives already contain both the effects of past actions and a deeply rooted disposition to continue acting in the same way even though this has been problematic. This is the problem of "karma" (action) which need not involve rebirth. Actions matter because they have consequences, the same kinds of consequences for the same kinds of actions. Implacability again.

Poul Anderson's first future history series addresses the issue that the "protean enemy" of mankind is mankind. Practicing zazen means facing this fact twice a day. It does not involve realizing supreme enlightenment, unfortunately. We have to sit with whatever comes up but we don't have to like it. But self-knowledge is better than self-deception.