Thursday, April 08, 2010


KOAN

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines a koan as follows:

koan |ˈkōˌän|
noun
a paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment.

A famous koan is, "What's the sound of one hand clapping?"

Raising special needs children is a koan, too, applying logical reasoning to any aspect of them is an exercise in futility. I have often said Rojo is consistently inconsistent and predictably unpredictable. A koan.

And although I'm nowhere near enlightened, I am also nowhere near where I was nearly fourteen years ago - back when I had all the answers. Nowhere near.

So, I'm somewhere along the circuitous, arduous, exhausting, thrilling, worth-every-minute, soul-changing path.

And for me, that's the sound of one hand clapping.




* Photo from www.lofa.org

12 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Oh, I love what you did. You are wonderful --

5 Kids With Disabilities said...

GREAT post! Love the analogies!
Lindsey Petersen

fullsoulahead.com said...

"applying logical reasoning to any aspect of them is an exercise in futility,"

I hear that.

fullsoulahead.com said...

at least "our logic."

Wanda said...

Love.

Anonymous said...

It's amazing what a child with special needs can teach those of us without special needs, although to be honest, I think we all have special needs.

They are a hard gift, our children.

Jerri said...

Both my hands are clapping for this post.

You are my human.

Deb Shucka said...

Perfect and profound. The less you know and the more you know you don't know, the wiser you are.

Amber said...

I love this.

:)

Tanya @ TeenAutism said...

I love this post. The koans make perfect sense now!

kario said...

Sometimes I long for those days when I thought I knew everything. I was so sure of it and the self-doubt was nonexistent.

Love.

Ask Me Anything said...

That was a perfectly circular and lyrical piece!