Psych Training

"The Green Thumb."

Pete imagines his uncle's and aunt's feelings when they see a note that he has left:

"Then he remembered that, in psych training, you were warned against such thoughts..." (p. 35)

We want to know more about psychodynamic training and techniques but are not told much. Would psychodynamicists warn young people against certain thoughts? How can we prevent ourselves from thinking any particular thoughts?

In zazen training, I have heard:

"Can you sit with whatever comes up?"

"Thoughts don't matter. They are just brain excretions. It is our attitude to them that counts."

"There will always be natural thoughts in zazen but don't add to them!"

"Neither trying to think nor trying not to think. Just sitting with no deliberate thought..."

Zen is not a science. It can be taught only to those who are motivated to learn it. It can take a long time to show any results. The results are not of the kind that are imagined in advance! The main requirements are patience and perseverance. I think that practitioners of other spiritual paths will recognize much of this.

(Apart from all that, it is all plain sailing.)

These and other crucial issues are implicit in Poul Anderson's texts. Obviously, I view them from my (hopefully developing) perspective. Other readers do the same.