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The Great Battle
    Like a great general prepared for battle I set out, a college essay the victory that needed to be won. Marching against time my eyes were set towards the object of my desire, a prompt that with luck would be conquered leaving me with an essay truly worth letting me in to a college for. But like any good tactician I chose my battle wisely, and decided to write on one of the strangest but most solid prompts available to me from the Uncommon Application of the apparently differently minded University of Chicago. The prompt reads:

"Mind that Does Not Stick."
- Zen Master Shoitsu (1202-80)

    Sadly, despite this prompts down to earth nature (you should've seen the other prompts) I really didn't know what it meant. Thanks to Google I discovered that the mind that does not stick has to do with Zen meditation, the idea that in meditation you can't try and get in to a meditation state of mind because its just as limited as any other state. Instead, one should try and develop a mind frame that moves freely between different states of being, in other words a mind that doesn't stick. For a week I tried to begin the essay, each time focusing and even meditating on the goal of getting an essay to poor forth on to the page. Nothing good ever really came though, and I soon began to despair.
    It was at this point my father suggested that I go and take a walk, the exercise and fresh air would bring ideas to my mind like never before, he assured me. So off I went, ready to become inspired by the muses of light physical exertion. While I can't attest to any direct stokes of genius, ideas did come, and after twenty minutes I began to rework my introduction. After an hour I had a light draft going, and all was going quite well until,after finding myself on the campus of USF, I triped, rolled, and sprained my ankle.
    Thankfully the sprain was only light, so I was able to take the seven blocks home at a painfully slow dragging limp, but by the time I got there all inspiration had left me and I went and took a nap. My first completed draft wouldn't be finished until a week later.
    My sixth draft was completed last night, and stands as my penultimate. I invite you now to enjoy it, as its truly been an experience for me. Tonight marks the beginning of a weekend of competing the three early applications due Nov. 1st, and I felt sharing my essay with all of you would be a good way to start. Any feedback you have is appreciated. You can ready my essay here.


Creation date: Dec 12, 2006 10:58pm     Last modified date: Dec 12, 2006 11:02pm   Last visit date: Apr 19, 2024 5:20pm
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