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In fact it occurs to me now that it may have been the reason I was moved to the ground floor, first room on the right as one came in the front door. I put up the black board and dictionary holder same as I had it before. It would be the first thing generals and such would see when given tours of the barracks. I had two new room mates, one of which reached under his bunk first thing on waking in the morning, for a bottle of Bacardi. He worked in supply.
It was some little time after I had moved downstairs, I can remember laying on my bunk looking at the blackboard, that I made a major
life-time decision concerning my personal study of philosophy. Previously I had proceeded by the assumption that all the problems inherent in the human condition could and should be solved by the mind, wherein one would arrive at an intellectual epiphany and know all. I had expected the novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse to supply me with just such an epiphany. Needless to say I was disappointed with its conclusion of the flowing river. I think what occurred to me was that my mind could not predict the future. If this speculation were true, then the implication would be that the mind could not make decisions in present, that would necessarily be applicable in future. Thus what to do?
I made a sudden decision at this time, that I would deemphasize the intellectual pursuit and rather practice pure-experience. I don't remember the thinking that led to this decision, but I did put this new concept into practice.
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