A Leap of Faith: ‘The place to leap from, the horizon to leap into, and the emptiness that lies between’

A Leap of Faith:

‘The place to leap from, the horizon to leap into, and the emptiness that lies between’ 

In his book Poetic Leaps in Zen’s Journey of Enlightenment, Yong Zhi discusses the term ‘leap’ as a metaphor for a breakthrough in Zen practice: 

The term leap is both a philosophical notion and a vivid metaphor for the experiences of enlightenment, the breakthrough in Zen practice. The term implies both the interruption from the disclosed (the leaped-from) and the coming to the horizon (the leaped-into), which parallels the two dimensions of the Zen’s enlightenment: emancipation and illumination. 

Yong Zhi stresses that poetry can express the leap:

We say that enlightenment is a poetic leap not only because poetry can capture or express the leap but also because poetry constitutes the cultural, spiritual, and linguistic conditions that foster enlightenment.

He argues that the leap consists of three things, ‘the place to leap from, the horizon to leap into, and the emptiness that lies between’ 

He goes on to say that:

The poetic disclosure gives rise to a sense of defamiliarisation because it takes the mind away from where one used to dwell—the place where one will leap from.

Joan Reilly had been preparing to make a leap of faith and she had been encouraged by Yong Zhi’s book on poetic leaps. She worked in administration in a local health board and she had been in this job for eighteen years. Basically she felt that she was capable of more than routine clerical work. However, the job gave her financial security and she would receive a pension when she retired. Some of her friends told her she was stuck in a rut and that she was in a strait jacket. One of them said, ‘this will always be a job, but you want a career’. Joan felt encouraged by her friends and she began to look into a few career options. Basically she harboured a desire to teach, but felt that she did not have the confidence to handle a class. Yong Zhi was correct when he spoke of the ‘emptiness that lies between’. She knew she could do her job, and she knew she would not be made redundant and at 5pm, she could go home and not have to worry about anything. Teaching was a profession, and you could not switch off at the end of the day. 

Time passed and Joan made a few inquiries about doing a teaching degree but it seemed rather complicated. She had been out of education for a number of years and it all seemed so daunting. She decided to join a book club and maybe that would get her reading and analysing literature again. The first book they were reading was Dicken’s A Mutual Friend. She was inspired by one of the character, Charley Hexam who wanted to become a schoolteacher. He asks his sister Lizzie to predict his future, which she does by looking into the flames in the fire:

There are you, Charley, working your way, in secret from father, at the school; and you get prizes; and you go on better and better; and you come to be a---what was it you called it when you told me about that?

Charley replies, a ‘Pupil-teacher’ and his sister assures him that will he ‘rise to be a master full of learning and respect’. But there is a price to pay, for she predicts that when their father finds out, it will cause a family rift as his father does not approve of book learning. 

Charley had to pay the price for rising above his station. Lizzie tells her brother for that:

I can’t so much as read a book, because, if I had learned, father would have thought I was deserting him, and I should have lost my influence.  

Joan knew she would have to pay a price for her decision to quit her permanent job and begin a new career. She would have to leave her security, her friends, and her routine. She would have to make a leap of faith and she felt a little daunted by the prospect. Although her job in administration was dull and monotonous, there was a part of her liked her little routines and rituals. Somebody was always getting engaged or married, or having a baby, or getting promoted, or buying a new house or going on holiday. She had worked with these people for many years and they were basically decent people. But they had sort of given up on their dreams, or maybe they never had any dreams in the first place. They seemed to feel fulfilled in their lives, which focused on their children and their homes, their new cars, their re-decorating and their shopping. They would go out at lunchtime to buy something for their children or their house and so forth. 

In the end Joan decided to find another job, rather than plunge straight into a teaching career. Not having a fortune-telling sister like Charley in Our Mutual Friend, she had to make her own decisions and ultimately there would a stage when she would have to take the leap into the unknown, and savour what Yong Zhi described as ‘the emptiness that lies between’.

Her new job was in advocacy for mental health in the voluntary sector and it was like a breath of fresh to be out working in the community instead of doing a boring desk job. She was given lots of training and she was beginning to fulfil her potential. Then she took on a Master’s Degree in English and after that she was able to obtain some lecturing work in a local college. She somehow managed to become a qualified teacher and although it was not all plain sailing, eventually she got a permanent post in this college and at last she found a profession that she loved and she looked forward to going into work each morning.  

Joan had made a leap of faith and had left her familiar world and she was glad she made this life-changing decision. 

Heidegger said: it is due to art’s poetic nature that, in the midst of what is, art breaks open an open place in whose openness everything is other than usual...