What is Real?

I teach Aikido to a homeschool group during the day three times per week. Through the practice, my daughter has expanded her circle of friends to include the other kids, and they have been inviting her to join them in their other activities. Most recently, she's become a member of a fledgling Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) club. It brings back memories from maybe 25-30 years ago when I first explored and enjoyed the game myself.

On the way to the session this morning, my daughter made a humorous statement: "The dungeon master is going to kill me today!"

I asked, "Why is that?"

"Well, last time at Aikido, I was throwing him a lot, so he told me that he would kill me in D&D today," she said, smiling.

And, in fact, he did---and in a manner most worthy of being immortalized in country western music lyrics, which included her losing her horse!

Tomorrow these kids will be together on the mats together again, and I fully expect the young fellow to get at least one sharp-but-playful reminder about the consequences from today's D&D session. Because of what happened in a completely imaginary world today, a physical event will likely manifest tomorrow as a result...

Now, keep in mind that these are young kids who are just having fun---this is not really serious business to any of them. No pride has actually been hurt, and there will be no actual revenge...

... but how often do we find ourselves in such situations, taking them much more seriously, with much more dire consequences?

How often we find ourselves in daily life acting according to an imaginary world that we have constructed in our minds? In this case, I do not mean specifically a world of elves, faeries, orcs and dragons; rather, consider your beliefs, your assumptions, your upbringing, your culture, your sense of morality, your sense of what is and is not appropriate, and so forth. This is your constructed universe; it is in some ways grounded in accumulated experience, but in many other ways it is as fantastical as any D&D campaign!

You see what is in front of you, but do you really? Do you see things precisely as they are, or do you see and interpret this experience from within the imaginary world you have constructed? When you or anyone else speaks or takes action, from where does it come?

How often does something that we experience in our imaginary world manifest itself in this one, affecting all around us?

In a sense, we are actors performing on a stage. The script is underway with very little improvisation. There are roles. There are props. There are plots and subplots. We become caught up in the entirety as any good actor would in his character... but the actor at the end of the day knows that he is not the character, though the character is in some way an expression of him.

Zen is, in one view, simply seeing things as they are. It is remaining conscious that you are the actor, not simply the character. It is recognizing the script, the props, the plots, and so forth, for what they are; then, with this awareness, Zen is taking full command of your self on stage---and possibly helping your peers to do the same.

So, yesterday's real Aikido throws, today's imaginary D&D death, and tomorrow's real sharp pin: are these things the same or different?

If you asked me, I would tell you to roll the die to see if your resurrection is successful.