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experienced totally as-it-is at the instant of perception. In its immediacy, it was necessarily complete and
self-contained, without connection, continuity, or meaning beyond the moment of its sensed existence. It
was in, of, and for itself alone.
In Satori, the world could no longer be viewed as 'equipment', for the Thing-in-itself, being utterly in
itself, could not be perceived in terms of any relationship with the 'I' Even opposites disappeared from the
universe, since opposition implied connectedness.
Without 'equipment' or opposition, there was nothing for the 'I' to define itself against. It dissolved.
And consciousness, source and servant of the 'I', vanished along with it.
The pure perception of Satori failed utterly to discover anything, including the sensing Self, that
transcended the moment and was enduring. The 'equipment' of ordinary perception was reduced to the
Thing-in-itself of direct sensing. Consciousness, and the 'I' that had developed in response to the needs of
Being-in-the-world, disappeared as the universe of opposition it had created melted away in
disconnectedness. All that remained was the perception and the perceived, joined and inseparable.
But the disintegration of everyday reality did not stop there. The deeper Jerome went into Satori, the
more profound it became. The pure perception of Satori was a momentary, fleeting thing, existing only at
the Here-Now instant of sensing. It implied nothing beyond itself. The same disconnectedness it
discovered between the Thing-in-itself and the rest of the world, applied equally to the moment by
moment perception of the Thing-in-itself. For example, the fact that a thing was sensed as red, round,
and firm at this instant in no way necessitated or even implied that it would be red, round, and firm at the
next instant. Such a conclusion simply went beyond the competency of pure perception. And if the
sensed object was somehow removed for the moment, so that it was no longer perceived, it no longer
existed in any manner that could be determined by the senses alone.
Furthermore, the senses were, by their very nature, fragmentary, partial, and limited. They were
incapable of perceiving a thing in its entirety. Ordinarily, consciousness, functioning as
Being-in-the-world, organized the disjointed pieces into a picture of the whole. Over time, with repeated
sensings, this picture could be corrected, added to, and improved upon until a workable semblance of
the actual object had been constructed. But there was no consciousness, nor any "over time," in Satori.
So the fragments remained isolated and no whole could be discerned.
The result was that without consciousness to construct a coherent, enduring perceptual framework,
reality utterly collapsed. Even the Thing-in-itself fell apart into what could only be called No-thing. And
the universe was transformed into a place of flowing and motion, of restless becoming and ceaseless
change, where permanence was a mere deception, a trick played by a prankster who no longer existed.
In the face of this experience, the absurdity and futility of clinging to the things of the world was
clearly revealed. Jerome realized that he had found the place of freedom hinted at in Nakamura's Koan.
The "place where he dwelt before he was born" simply meant that a man had to put his mind back in its
original condition. Before he was born, before his mind experienced Being-in-the-world, before his
consciousness created the 'I', there were no preconceived perceptual frameworks. No world of
opposition existed and there were no entanglements with equipment.' A mind in this condition was
No-mind. It left no opening for the Mushin since it clung to nothing and never experienced frustration.
Here, at last, men could find refuge from their enemies and the Madness they brought.
Yet Jerome recognized that there was great danger here as well. The very message which freed men
from the Mushin could, if carried to its logical conclusion, set them adrift in a meaningless void of despair.
For if the world view derived from the experience of Being-in-the-world was nothing but a delusion, if
there was no true persistence in everyday reality, if even the Self was merely a trick played by
consciousness where then was Purpose in the Universe? How could one act in such a world? And
why? What possible value could there be in struggle, even against the Mushin, if everything was ultimately
No-thing, if Entropy and Meaning were one?
When the answer came, it brought Jerome full circle back to his starting point in the everyday world.
He noticed that the transient, differentiated sense data he experienced in Satori appeared to be
embedded in some sort of background. They rose from, and fell back into, an undifferentiated continuum
which couldn't be seen by the eye, heard by the ear, felt by the hand, tasted by the tongue, or smelled by
the nose.
This continuum was un-sensed and un-sensible. It could never be defined or described in terms of
what-it-is, because it could only be approached in terms of what-it-isn't. Empty, it was full of creative
potential, brimming with an endless variety of possibilities that were realized, sustained, and then
reabsorbed. It was (he undifferentiated source of all differentiations, the Unity that gave birth to all
opposites and finally resolved them once more in Unity. Through it, all things were related to all things,
each having the same source as the other, and all being determined by their mutual relationship and
involvement. In it, everything was reduced to the same level, no one thing more fundamental than the
next, since all had the identical origin. Even the continuum itself was not fundamental. It was simply all
possible things, simultaneously existing in both their differentiated and undifferentiated states. Jerome
called it the Ultimate Void.
Yet this Ultimate Void was not mere random fecundity. No matter how chaotic it might appear at
first knowing, certain forms undoubtedly repeated themselves with relative frequency. Otherwise, the
mind would simply be unable to create a useful perceptual framework and it would be literally impossible
to put one foot down in front of the other with any certainty of being able to walk. But the fact was that
Being-in-the-world was possible; consciousness could construct a livable, relatively coherent world to
live in.
Even acknowledging the limitations of the senses through which the mind received the information it
used to create its world view didn't make any real difference. It only meant that the patterns discerned
were limited and subject to change, a qualification which was completely understandable given the infinite
character of the Void.
Nor was there any suggestion here that the world was merely Mind-stuff or illusion. However fallible,
limited, subject to delusion and downright inaccuracy the objects created by the perceptual structures of
consciousness might be, they were nonetheless real. The sword cut, and that was that. In no way total, in
no sense determinate of any "truth," the word-view of Being-in-the-world could only be judged on the
ground of whether its approximations were adequate or inadequate as a basis for successful action. The
final, acid test always lay in experience.
When Jerome had begun his journey to understanding, mountains had been mountains, trees had
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