[Richard Pryor on Fire]

Zen and the Art of Fucking Up.

“…Everything that he does is done before he knows it…” (Herrigel, 38) And now I’m doing it again. And that’s all I’ll ever do. I feel the air leave my body, and brush my lips on the way out. My eyes are unfocused and uncaring as the last of my cum shoots in to the Kleenex. The computer screen stares back equally complacent. I take a bong hit, still unzipped, I could do this forever. It was forever. It wasn’t even an answer it was a dismissal of the rest of the world. “Walk past everything without noticing it, as if there were only one thing in the world that is important and real…”(Herrigel, 34) I had been living in Athens, GA for around a year and half, looking at nothing but how to not care about anything at all. That was the only thing that was important was my apathy. It had to be, because if I ever lost sight of my uncaring I would be consumed by depression, guilt, and an eye opening panic that would make me hate my self. So I became deeply entrenched in my apathy.
Zen is existing in ______. Zen is existing in an automatic state. Zen is letting go of your conscious mind and existing on your intuitive reflexes. I am attempting to explain how the principles of Zen as described in Zen in the Art of Archery can be applied to the art of apathy. By apathy I mean, the art of ignoring all your responsibilities, dismissing your guilt and living in a state of constant hedonism. And by apathy I mean being a fuck-up. The three focal points to maintaining this state of fucking up is maintaining a constant intoxication, sinful state of lethargy, and always turning a blind eye to any of your obligations.
How I came to this: I got out of BariCamp when I was 16. BariCamp was a boarding school for crazybrattichkiddrugfucks. After two years there, everyone was proud of me for just being around, so not much was expected out of me by my mom, she felt so guilty for sending me there for two years that I didn’t have to do much to appease her. In the art of Zen and lethargy, one has to be opportunistic, find one injustice committed against one’s self and manipulate it indefinitely. One must not consider desire or any selfish need. One has to do what is convenient or what seems nearly automatic; the student will find that these two things are often identical.
Constant intake of drugs and alcohol is of the utmost importance to the Zen fuck-up, this is the constant distraction and the great unmotivater. Without this haze it would be impossible to ignore our responsibilities. By living in constant state of intoxication the fuck-up makes it almost impossible to meet any obligations the world demands of him.
The fuck-ups breathing rituals will always involve Marijuana smoke. When I lived in Athens I would maintain a constant high to prohibit my self from doing anything responsible, this most be done with out contemplation. I would leave the bong packed at by my bed. So before I could contemplate the ramifications of getting high, before I had time to really wake, up it was too late. I was already high and already committed to sit around the hose all day doing nothing. “…In the end the pupil no longer knows which of the two –mind or hand was responsible for the work.” (Herrigel 47)
This state not only encourages the lethargy but also allows the Zen Fuck-up to ignore the fact that he is ignoring his responsibilities. Without this shield against our guilt we would crumble under it. Sometimes the guilt may permeate a simply Marijuana high, this is when drastic measures must be taken. On days such of these it is important to drink the water of life.
The alcohol intake is more difficult to mediate than the Marijuana intake. It is an exercise in excess to bring the Zen Fuck-up back to where he needs to be. Consuming the water of life will bring all ideals contrary to the sinful lethargy, and mindless numbing to the fore front. This is necessary. If the Fuck-up pupil finds him self having trouble coping with this sinfully lazy lifestyle he will naturally flow to the water of life. This in it’s self is Zen. Herrigel said you must wait for the moment that the leaf is ready to fall from the tree not shake it loose. So the overwhelmed Fuck-up naturally flows to the bottle when it is appropriate. The pupil must drink heavily and deeply. He must let the liquor in to his soul. He will berate himself, and he will vow change, he will renounce himself and his status as the Zen Fuck-up. He will pass out drunk; he will wake hung-over and shamed. His emotional intensity will be purged and he will return to his state of quite, un-questioning, complacent, depression. This continues the perpetual stagnation machine with only a minor and very necessary detour.
There will be attacks on the lifestyle of the Zen fuck-up, assessments from others, disparaging remarks. It is important for the fuck-up to let them think that it has somehow affected him, that the fuck-up has somehow been moved and motivated. One can do this while still maintaining ones enlightened lethargy. One must simply repeat what the attacker has said, and he the attacker will be content, feeling wise and respected.
And yet I was well content for I had begun to understand why the system of self defense whereby one brings one’s opponent to the ground by unexpectedly giving way, with effortless resilience, to his passionately delivered attack, thus turning his own strength against him, is known as ‘the gentle art’.(Herrigel 25)
This retort also allows the Fuck-up to not have to actually contemplate the advice giving, simply acting as a pleasing parrot to the attacker. Any serious contemplation would leave the Fuck-up to a point where he would be forced to imbibe the water of life. It is good to keep one’s mind vacant, or at least devoid of any matter of importance. This is why the pupil, consumes his time with meaningless tasks such as videogames, masturbation, and Marijuana smoking.
It is inevitable that real obligations will intrude into the fuck-up’s lifestyle. These matters must be treated delicately to be avoided. The obligation is forward momentum it is a duty it is a responsibility, it is something that requires focus and attentiveness. The obligation is the bane of the Fuck-up. For the Fuck-up novice it is easy to just blatantly ignore the obligation and continue with the lethargy.
This will only work for a short time. There must be a back up plan. It doesn’t take long for the family and friends of the Fuck-up to realize that he is a Fuck-up. This can be used to the Fuck-up’s advantage. The Fuck-up will have to plea his case of depression and terrible misery to those who would reprimand him for his irresponsibility. The Fuck-up will have to state how difficult it is for him to do anything because of his crippling depression, in this instance it is imperative to remind the accuser of the one injustice committed against him and how that injustice not his own lethargy is responsible for him missing his obligation. When the accuser turns sympathetic they make suggest help for you, medical or personal. The Fuck-up’s reply will always be same it will flow out naturally and convincingly because this is exactly what the Fuck-up wants “Give me some time to think about it” This indefinite amount of time will stretch forever.
With this blueprint I have set out one could waste their lives forever. One could become a parasite sucking the decency out of the world as long as they lived. I have set forth a path that abuses every inch of kindness in decent people; I have laid the ground work for the never ending lethargy. I personally renounce this application of Zen and Fucking up. I hold no nostalgia for the times I spent living this way and even writing this text is difficult because I find no wit and no ingenuity in my lethargy. I have written a guide on how to do the easiest thing in the world; nothing at all. This guide is for those who wish to be exactly that nothing at all.

[foxforce5]

This is great, where did you come across it?

[pbradley]

tl;dr

[Richard Pryor on Fire]

Originally Posted by foxforce5

This is great, where did you come across it?

It's a paper I wrote, we had to write about Zen and the art of whatever you saw fit...

[atsonicpark]

666.

in other news, IAN MACKAYE AIDS KENT STATE SHOOTINGDS
WHAT

[pbradley]

No no no, he's aiding the investigation.

[atsonicpark]

i know, it was just a tasteful treat of a joke!

[pbradley]

i'm square