Scott: So on we go discussing my desire to stop discussing—but only some unobtainable “enlightenment” would seem to be necessary to make that possible.
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Zhuangzi: You can at least take comfort in knowing that all the sages of whom you’ve heard could likewise not shut up.
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Scott: So maybe what I need is something new about which to blabber. It’s been great exploring your philosophy, and I truly have been helped thereby, but I feel like I’ve exhausted the blabber side of it. I think I’m ready to take you to the laundromat.
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Zz: So, let’s go! But I have no idea what that means!
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Scott: It means that I’d like to leave all this “Classical Chinese philosophy” stuff behind, forget all the so-called sages, make no reference to you or your writings, and simply put all I’ve learned into modern terms.
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Zz: Well, it seems to me that you have done a lot of that already, though admittedly you could go much further. I mean, here “I” am. So maybe it’s you who really needs to go to the laundromat. I’ve already been there—through the agency of death.
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Scott: Yes, you’re right—what needs shedding is in me and not in you.
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Zz: But let’s be clear: It’s just another blabber-project that you’re proposing—and really just a new version of the same game.
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Scott: True. But am I wrong to think that playing the game can make a difference? Doesn’t playing chess make one a better strategist? So playing the game of creating a world-view can move one to a change of view.
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Zz: Yes. That’s the whole point. But remember, it’s learning how to play that’s the most important thing of all—and for that most any view will do.
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Shen Dao: So true! I played several games at once—that’s why no one really knows which view I held!
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Zz: Shen! Now you’ve chosen the game of interloper! But now you’re here, please remember the rules of this game—no new “facts” are admissible.
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Shen Dao: No sweat; every game must have its rules—just as every society must have its laws.
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Scott: In any case, you are most welcome. Your philosophy has always intrigued me—at least as it is presented in the Tianxia.
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Shen Dao: Thank you, Scott. And I thank you for the glass I’m about to receive! I regret to have to inform you that the Celestial Realms are dry—who would’ve thought it! And you think Zhuang is here for the blabber! Ha, ha!
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Scott: Here you go—a meaty cab.