Friday, July 17, 2009

Vylar Kaftan's "Pointing at the Moon" (short story, problem solving, free)

Quote from short story titled Pointing at the Moon by Vylar KaftanKey to problem solving technique in the story is:
"There is a Zen saying – part of a koan. Don't confuse the pointing finger with the Moon."
...
"It's a koan about koans themselves – about enlightenment. A teacher can point at the Moon, but that is not the same as the student seeing the Moon. Many students see the pointing finger and think it is the Moon itself."

Title too, of course, comes from this.

Story summary.

Narrator, David aka Taro-sama, faced with an intractable problem in physics, has gone to visit Jiji-san, his 98 year old grandfather - hoping his once genius grandfather will be able to help him somehow. By the time he returns, he will get an insight, but not the way he had imagined.

Fact sheet.

First published: COSMOS, December 2007/January 2008.
Rating: A.
Download full text from publisher's site. [via QuasarDragon]

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