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Chapter of the Week: #54
I'm glad you found the interview interesting. I recognized a lot of what he was talking about when I saw it originally in the nineties, and have always remembered it. Then, a few months ago I found that someone had posted it on YouTube.
Now, about this "jumping" business.
I say that we cannot make ourselves "jump". Because we have no "Free Will" as you would put it.
The "jump", to me, is a metaphor for one's ego letting itself expire. The intellectual thought processes which keep us locked out of a broader sense of reality would have to decide, that it was rational to stop thinking rationally.
This cannot happen. This is the very nub of the problem. We cannot jump.
I say that we either have to trick ourselves into climbing down, getting our feet wet, wading out, and finally without realizing how we got there, find ourselves in the flow. Or we knock ourselves senseless such that we FALL.
And, to my way of thinking, this "climbing down" is what Taoist recommendations help us to do - by avoiding and not feeding the intellect, maybe by putting more emphasis on what the body gets up to as opposed to the mind. Meditation.
Divert our energies away from the intellect and it might slowly weaken until eventually it gets in tune with reality, the Tao.
This is not being "pushed" though.
I think that a another way to get the intellect to stop going around in its circles is to exhaust it past the point of collapse. This can happen due to a life crisis - like impending death (a very hard push) - which the intellect will try to come to terms with but fail. But I don't think that contemplating one's eventual death somtime down the road would lend the necessary impetus to "break" the intellect - it will not find the problem compelling enough to drive itself to distraction. It will break off to go and make the mortgage payment.
Along these lines the Zen kaon approach is taking this approach - get rid of the intellect by driving it to self-destruction. I understand that in this program, one is tricked by the teacher's encouragement to funnel all one's intellectual energy into banging one's head against the metaphoric brick wall of what some abstract word puzzle "means' intellectually.
I would be very interested and appreciative to hear your views on my take on this problem.
Now, about this "jumping" business.
I say that we cannot make ourselves "jump". Because we have no "Free Will" as you would put it.
The "jump", to me, is a metaphor for one's ego letting itself expire. The intellectual thought processes which keep us locked out of a broader sense of reality would have to decide, that it was rational to stop thinking rationally.
This cannot happen. This is the very nub of the problem. We cannot jump.
I say that we either have to trick ourselves into climbing down, getting our feet wet, wading out, and finally without realizing how we got there, find ourselves in the flow. Or we knock ourselves senseless such that we FALL.
And, to my way of thinking, this "climbing down" is what Taoist recommendations help us to do - by avoiding and not feeding the intellect, maybe by putting more emphasis on what the body gets up to as opposed to the mind. Meditation.
Divert our energies away from the intellect and it might slowly weaken until eventually it gets in tune with reality, the Tao.
This is not being "pushed" though.
I think that a another way to get the intellect to stop going around in its circles is to exhaust it past the point of collapse. This can happen due to a life crisis - like impending death (a very hard push) - which the intellect will try to come to terms with but fail. But I don't think that contemplating one's eventual death somtime down the road would lend the necessary impetus to "break" the intellect - it will not find the problem compelling enough to drive itself to distraction. It will break off to go and make the mortgage payment.
Along these lines the Zen kaon approach is taking this approach - get rid of the intellect by driving it to self-destruction. I understand that in this program, one is tricked by the teacher's encouragement to funnel all one's intellectual energy into banging one's head against the metaphoric brick wall of what some abstract word puzzle "means' intellectually.
I would be very interested and appreciative to hear your views on my take on this problem.
Comments
Chapter 54
What is firmly rooted cannot be pulled out;
What is tightly held in the arms will not slip loose;
Through this the offering of sacrifice by descendants will never come to an end.
Cultivate it in your person
And its virtue will be genuine;
Cultivate it in the family
And its virtue will be more than sufficient;
Cultivate it in the hamlet
And its virtue will endure;
Cultivate it in the state
And its virtue will abound;
Cultivate it in the empire
And its virtue will be pervasive.
Hence look at the person through the person; look at the family through the
family; look at the hamlet through the hamlet; look at the state through the
state; look at the empire through the empire.
How do I know that the empire is like that? By means of this.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Read notes on translations
Now, do it too at Wengu!
I prefer the more literal, ‘What is perfectly embraced cannot be neglected’ over D.C.Lau’s ‘What is tightly held in the arms will not slip loose’. Neglecting to remember (and/or do) can be frustrating. This lays bare the simple cause: that which I truly want, I will embrace perfectly without question or thought. [chref=17]It happens to me naturally[/chref]. All the rest is hot air and the wanderings of a discontent mind. Furthermore, what is more perfectly established than the biology my being rests upon, instinctive drives and all? Oh what a humiliating view until I see that this can be [chref=16]what is meant by returning to one's destiny[/chref]. Just be what I am rather than struggling to be what I think I am (or should be)… what could be [chref=64]easier[/chref]? Life is too short for anything other than that which is [chref=70]very easy to put into practice[/chref]?
My word, in reading this over I can imagine how utterly hedonistic some of it sounds, especially sans its Taoist context. (e.g., [chref=19]Have little thought of self and as few desires as possible[/chref].) The question is, how does one have as few desires as possible and little thought of self without thinking one should? The great irony is that the more one tries to make 'it' so, the further away 'it' gets. This is just fighting fire with fire. So far I've found that only [chref=66]taking the lower position[/chref] in total surrender works. Giving up is not a matter of trying, it is a matter of not trying. But, not out of laziness; it's more a matter of being [chref=73]fearless in being timid[/chref].
Alright, so how does one reach that fearlessness? Through treading the [chref=53]by-path[/chref] of hedonism to some degree and for some time. To go right, one must first go left, which certainly makes life difficult for one seeking [chref=45]perfection[/chref]. As my old favorite puts it, [chref=36]If you would have a thing weakened, you must first strengthen it…[/chref]
The nearly literal:
What is perfectly established cannot be pulled out.
What is perfectly embraced cannot be neglected.
So too descendants offering sacrifice to ancestors never ceases.
Restore in the body and its virtue is true.
Restore in the family and its virtue is abundant.
Restore in the village and its virtue is long.
Restore in the nation and its virtue is abundant.
Restore in all under heaven and its virtue is universal.
Hence,
Use the body to observe the body,
Use the family to observe the family,
Use the village to observe the village,
Use the nation to observe the nation,
Use all under heaven to observe all under heaven.
How can we know all under heaven is like that?
By using this.
The even more nearly literal:
good (be adept in, perfect) build (establish) not pull out.
good (be adept in, perfect) hold (embrace) not shed (cast off, neglect).
children and grandchildren (descendants) use (take, according to, so as to, as well as) offer sacrifices to ancestors not cease
of repair (mend, cultivate, trim) in ( at, to, from, by) body its virtue be true.
of repair (mend, cultivate, trim) in ( at, to, from, by) family its virtue be abundant.
of repair (mend, cultivate, trim) in ( at, to, from, by) village its virtue be long.
of repair (mend, cultivate, trim) in ( at, to, from, by) nation its virtue be abundant.
of repair (mend, cultivate, trim) in ( at, to, from, by) all under heaven its virtue be universal.
hence (reason cause)
use (take, according to, so as to, as well as) body observe body,
use (take, according to, so as to, as well as) family observe family,
use (take, according to, so as to, as well as) village observe village,
use (take, according to, so as to, as well as) nation observe nation,
use (take, according to, so as to, as well as) all under heaven observe all under heaven.
we why can know all under heaven like that?
use (take, according to, so as to, as well as) this.