Status of this Web Site

Luke Abbott

Of course, the heavy and the light produce each other as seen from a Taoist point of view. So, I wondered why this is biased in favor of the root and the heavy, i.e, If light, then the root is lost. ... and I observe that...

Life by its very nature is biased toward the light. Simply put, life is light and death is heavy. So, in life we would naturally tend to be unbalanced in favor of the light and the restless side of reality. No matter how sincerely we 'try', we will always be on 'that' side. Having attention drawn to this, our reality, helps me keep my feet on the ground, and informs me of where to look to come closer to a balanced and peaceful life. I'll best slow down and look deeply for the root instead of going off emotionally half cocked. That brings to mind the western equivalent... "hast makes waste!"

Luke Abbott

I have been working on this site quite a bit this week, so there are some new features that I thought you might want to know about. I also wanted to give our visitors a heads-up on the progress of this site (which is in some respects still under construction). First, a few of the new features:

Chat room. I have installed a very simple chatbox, which you can access by clicking "Live Chat" at the top of the screen. In the future we hope to have moderated meetings at prearranged times in the chat room.
Chapter of the Week. Every week we will focus on one chapter of the Tao Te Ching. Anyone who wishes can comment on the chapter in a special discussion board thread. That will be on the main page under the "Taoism" section, and also in the Taoism board.
Recent topics Another easy way to see what's been going on recently. Note that registered users can also click the "View posts since last visit" link in the "Board Activity" box.
Other things that would probably bore you, but that make CenterTao.org better (in a subtle way).

In case you're interested:

A Brief History of the Site

The Center for Taoist Thought and Fellowship was originally created in 1995 (give or take a year) to provide information on our organization and display commentary on the Tao Te Ching. In 2003 it received a slight upgrade, with the addition of "Letters to Andy," but the basic structure of the site has remained the same . . . that is, until now. In the spring of 2004 I came up with a bold idea for the site: a complete overhaul, with a much better layout, more content, a dedicated domain name (no more geocities!), and most importantly, a public discussion board. Two months and countless hours later, CenterTao.org was officially launched. I hope that the new site is a great improvement over the old site (and if it isn't, well, I don't want to hear it! )

The Future

So what lies ahead? I plan to add a few more features to the site, but the primary focus now shifts to our users -- you. The success of this new venture -- namely, the discussion board -- depends on you for content, so please, if you have something you'd like to say (or respond to), try out our forums. And thanks.

Luke Abbott

P.S. - Got an idea for improving this site? Great! I'd love to hear from you...

Luke Abbott

I want to send a big "thank you" and "welcome" to the new folks who registered in the past few days, and a "sorry" to those who tried to type in something in the big 'biography' box while registering. The "biography" is a "free-for-all" text box where you can type in whatever you want, basically, and it will be shown in your profile: your real name, interests, beliefs, whatever. You can always (and always could) edit it by clicking the "Profile" link at the top of the screen. However, due to a bug in the code, users were unable to save anything in the biography during the initial registration (although after you were registered everything was OK). My apoligies if anyone typed out a long essay and lost it! :oops: If you like, you can click the "profile" link now and fill out your "biography" . . . .

Thanks for your patience while we work out these bugs!

Luke