People who are the most emphatic and violent in protesting that they do not have unexamined, automatic beliefs, are often the strongest and least-questioning and most automatic believers themselves. This state of mind once attained is truly liberating. It entirely takes away the feeling of being dragged on against one's own control by external unexplained forces. Instead, the Zen-enlightened person has truly a feeling of being master of himself. It is remarkable in the ''Zen phenomenon'' that the gain of becoming a significantly more effective person is gained not through adding on things, but instead though taking away, though elimination.
Human culture is unthinkable without ideas.
Zen is emphatically not a plea to do away with thoughts, ideas, philosophy, or science, nor does Zen aim to do away with ''belief systems'' in general. Indeed, every Zen person very well recognizes that belief systems and philosophy can be and is very useful. Also a remarkable effect in the ''Zen phenomenon'' is that becoming ''Zen-aware'' does not produce any feeling or experience of ''loss'' in a person. The elimination of the automatisms instead produces a sense of having gained something very valuable, and adds on to every aspect of the ideas, thoughts, models and belief systems one had before becoming Zen-aware. Not longer automaticallt dragged on by memes.