My own roots in Zen continue to assert themselves in my daily life and practice, Zen itself being an “effective eject button,” in my experience and understanding, although of course it too has been institutionalized and has its own form of fundamentalists seeking certainty and validation of what is “true.” And why not? Constant uncertainty wears on the nerves of most people; here in Oakland we had a brief but dramatic 4.0 earthquake the other day, followed by a series of aftershocks. The ground of being is not solid or unchanging, and neither is the ground beneath our streets and buildings.

Robert Aitken Roshi considered himself to be a “marginal person,” and categorized me as a continually marginal person in a memorable moment. See “Kamaaina Roshi: Elegy for a Local Guy” if you scroll down http://www.turningwheelmedia.org/797/ for the rest of the “marginal” story.