When The Norm Becomes Abnormal, Normal Becomes Abnormal

[cite] nameless:[/cite]… There does NOT exist "pure yin" or "pure yang", and there is no "good" and there is no "evil"..
When I look out at nature I never see “good” or “evil”. Nor do I see any “yin” or “yang”. Nature, as it appears to me, has a ‘mind’ of its own. I borrow it whenever I can let go of my own.

Comments

  • edited December 1969
    This morning I heard something which immediately evoked this thought, "when the norm becomes abnormal, normal becomes abnormal". That just sums it up so neatly, I could end here. But, later 'ZiggySunshinedust' asked about sexuality…
    [cite] ZiggySunshinedust:[/cite]...some old-school Taoists do condemn homosexuals... But this just seems opposite of what I think Taoism seems to say…It's all kind of confusing. And this could be one of those there-is-no-right-or-wrong type of things...
    Well I wouldn't doubt it a bit. School is school after all; a place to channel 'open' minds into a school's paradigm. How could a school which actually achieved [chref=65]complete conformity[/chref] vis-a-vis a Taoist point of view exist? Just like oil and water, [chref=16]impartiality[/chref] and school don't mix. Let's look a little deeper though.

    Being a profoundly social species along with our big brain's mind makes 'right' and 'wrong' inevitable. Beliefs are a groups way of feeling mutually in sync with each other. It is never a question of 'right' or 'wrong', 'true' or 'false' from any impartial point of view. 'Right and true' are what ever the group consensus believes is 'right and true'. That obviously makes the opposite, whatever it is, 'wrong and false'. Holding firmly to 'right and true' is simply a cognitive glue that a group uses to unite itself - solidarity. This also invariably gives the group a common enemy which further help pulls the group together - united against 'them'.

    From the group's point of view, 'right is the norm', and 'wrong is abnormal' even if it is naturally normal, e.g., breast feeding, going barefoot, and being naked are two examples in our culture. For examples of 'right is the norm', I don't know where to begin. For a little more on this in general, see Belief: Are We Just Fooling Ourselves?
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