“Man as the meaning of the world! What exaltation! This fragile creature that has ‘spirit’ for 5,000 years and then perishes from it! Man is a part, an element of the world, like plants, rocks, clouds. It is understandable that he feels important to himself. Every dog and frog does that and sees its world in relation to itself. That is a primitive prejudice. The mature man sees how accidental, superfluous his kind is in the world.”—Oswald Spengler, Early Days of World History.

  There is a Western form of Zen that will take shape over the next few centuries. It will comprise Eastern Zen but go much further, encompassing all Life and it will be both eminently present in this moment and yet aware of the current of all Life that has brought us to here and of course continues to Flow through here. 

  Oswald Spengler was an early proponent of it, though he would in no way have labelled himself a practitioner of Zen. He saw the primacy of Life everywhere, and that all history was not just a record of events but the expression of Life courses. 

  All the works of humans throughout the past, good or ‘evil,’ are expressions of the Life that was flowing through the people at that specific time. The great artworks through the ages, the ruins of great cities and empires of the past, all no more than sea shells lying on the beach. They are indicators that Life once passed through and altered and shaped its environment. 

  If we moderns fail to grasp that crucial Truth, that we are one with all Life on planet earth, we too will eventually pass on, leaving our uniquely human sea shells lying around for other forms of Life to crawl over and perhaps one day to wonder and marvel at. 

  Life doesn’t care, it is indifferent to our fate. It Flows on unabated. 

  I like Spengler’s last line in the above quote:

  “The mature man sees how accidental, superfluous his kind is in the world.” 

  We as a species need more mature men, more celebrants of Life.