unreservedly to the problem the master presents). And the answer for
　　　　  us to the "mirror koan" of Ohio Impromptu is the same as Joshu's
　　　　  answer to the question put to him, and L's and R's answer to theirs:
　　　　  Mu, or no-thing. In order to understand the answer (or answers) to a
　　　　  koan, one must cease thinking in the old yes-or-no way.
　　　　  In form and content, then, Ohio Impromptu destabilizes any logical,
　　　　  meaningful (as opposed to informational) cohesion. "Generated out of
　　　　  a friction among texts, genres, and writing processes, the work has
　　　　  no center at all and no rational entrance or exit."(45) As audience
　　　　  members, then, we must join the characters in the state of Great
　　　　  Doubt, iterating the play over and over again in a silent "expanse
　　　　  of ice"(46) as our need for, and ability to hold on to, a
　　　　  categorical consciousness drops away. To solve the dilemma of
　　　　  understanding, which the play causes, we must participate in the
　　　　  shock of the Great Death, changing the paradigm from which we view
　　　　  Ohio Impromptu, and all Beckett's plays: we must see the play
　　　　  relationally instead of "meaningfully": we must become the koan
　　　　  which is Beckett's drama, apprehending the mingling layers in a
　　　　  state which comes before logic and distinction. Thus Ohio Impromptu
　　　　  is its own riddle and its own answer:(47) in order to fully
　　　　  understand it, we must cease looking into the play, trying to
　　　　  "break" its code; we must look within ourselves and try to see the
　　　　  play, and therefore the world, differently.
　　　　  Why, then, we might ask, is the play even necessary? If we are to
　　　　  look within ourselves to find the play's meaning, then why do we
　　　　  need Ohio Impromptu at all? The answer is that the play, like a
　　　　  koan, is "a piece of brick to knock at a gate,"(48) and just as when
　　　　  L and R attain their "true nature" they no longer need the text from
　　　　  which they are reading, once the audience achieves this state of
　　　　  Satori, once "the gate is opened[d the brick is useless and is
　　　　  thrown away."(49) The play, like the elements within it, is yet
　　　　  another indicator, a signpost showing us the path (the Tao, or way)
　　　　  to escape Beckett's vision of the terrifying world of ourselves.
　　　　  Thus,
　　　　  If we do not take perceptions as signs of named things, the most
　　　　  fundamental and problematic dualism of all -- that between my
　　　　  fragile sense of being and the nothingness that threatens it -- is
　　　　  conflated; if we do not need to fixate ourselves, if we can "let go"
　　　　  of ourselves, we unfind ourselves "in" the dreamlike world... , and