Joe
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I see Lau's use of wide learning as simply having a wealth of information/facts. As opposed to having a broad perspective, with some wisdom to use the info. that has come to one's attention. If I'm focused on my perspective only, the info. I poss…
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Thanks for the clarification, Carl, of "small" or "big" attachment. I tend to use the word attachment for desiring, clinging, grasping. "Big" attachment to me is connecting, being mindful. Big attachment seems so simple, yet we all prefer bypaths. …
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I think that our being "social primates" is a great disclaimer for anything anybody ever says, no matter how "enlightened" it might appear. I really appreciate how much spiritual discussion there is available, in books, or on websites like this. …
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Reminds me of "you can pay me now, or you can pay me later". We all like to have our pleasures now, but want to put off whatever suffering/difficulties are associated with that pleasure. As if procrastinating might magically make the difficulties go…
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Seems like you're talking, Carl, about the difference between thinking about reality, and experiencing reality. Juggling comes to mind. Thinking about moving your arms to catch juggling balls, isn't juggling. Actually moving my arms, catching the ba…
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I'm having the same experience with my guitar playing as mr.minor. I've been "learning" some new blues stuff, which I'm practicing regularly. I guess you have to build some kind of foundation for whatever we pursue. Anyway, my best playing is when I…
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The challenge for me is doing my daily tasks, to accomplish without having to act. When I just do them, things flow smoothly. When "I" think they should be a certain way, or basically when "I" am constantly thinking about how "I" can have it my way,…
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I've always thought of the Tao as all encompassing - including thoughts. When MDahlen says we can detect the Tao, I think of that as being our perspective/thoughts about the experience. I have had my moments of "feeling" the Tao, or being "one with …
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I'm thinking neither is true. In the sense that vacation is an illusion. We hope to escape from whatever difficulties we experience (at work, in relationships, whatever) by going somewhere else on vacation. But, we always carry our difficulties with…
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This chapter is so pertinent in just everything that goes on in ordinary, day-to-day-life. (Along with the other 80 chapters, of course!) One of the key things I often overlook when reviewing this chapter, is the question of choice. Stretching, s…
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What I notice in my life about things eventually coming to me, is that usually what comes back is not the desire I was pursuing. But rather getting what helps remind me of the "mystery". That song is true; you don't get what you want, but you may ge…
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Hey Lynn, I actually understood too. The "I"s have it.
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These days I think of the folly of fun, as "we want to have our cake, and eat it too" (illusion). But what we get is, "you can pay me now or you can pay me later" (reality). Being a parent, I'd like my daughter to grow up paying attention to reality…
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The part about the sage excels in saving things, and so abandons nothing, relates for me to being 100% present. When I'm totally present in a situation with someone, the judgments tend to drop away. My thinking, my biases often come into play, and t…
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Yeah, I don't talk politics with people. Among other reasons, I'm 51 and have never voted. I too have never felt a strong pull to one side or the other. To me, taking sides, or a stand on an issue, is too much like "hammering things to a point". Alo…
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I connect the receding, far away, turning back, with the chapter about hammering things to a point. The more I pursue a particular desire, the more it has me by the throat, the more it's hammered to a point. It's pursued to the point of being way ou…
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For me, what you said Topher is part of the Buddhist thinking about suffering. Suffering is a part of life. My stress increases the more I try to get out of the suffering. Which just doesn't work. However, as you pointed out, if I can embrace the wh…
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I wonder about relying on "intuition" to make decisions. It seems like it would be easy to have whatever emotion's the strongest, trick us into pursuing what we want because it feels "right", it feels intuitive. On the other hand, I like what is …
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I don't know how well it fits this discussion, but I've been thinking about my bicycle riding. Kind of in the context of learning and motivation. I've been riding a bike for more than forty years. I've been riding more regularly the last few months.…
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I'm looking at this more with my daughter. How can I get her to ______ (fill in the blank.) What I'm more and more reminded of is that I can't get her to do anything. I think the best I can do as a parent is be as self-honest as I can. Paying att…
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Remembering the past, and planning for the future, seem to be part of our process in life. It's when we're focused (thinking) on the future, and not paying attention to the present moment, that we have problems. I'm driving down the street, not payi…
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One of the things I think more and more about these days is how everything, including time, is an illusion. Mainly from the basic point of each of us having our thoughts about whatever experience happens in life. We all have myriad thoughts about li…
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I really like contemplating what the difference, in day-to-day life, is between yea and nay. What comes to mind these days, is how there really is no difference between satisfying a desire I might have, or doing without. For example, if I really wan…
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I find it very curious how things work out when I'm totally mindful, when I'm paying attention to each moment. (Doesn't last long, comes in spurts, which makes mindfulness even more special, while being so ordinary.) Anyway, it amazes me how thin…
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I think of this chapter in relation to my desires, as Carl pointed out. If I'm strong and hard in my desire for what I want, then it's as if I'm dead to reality. I find when I'm so focused on what I want, my viewpoint is too hard to allow considerin…
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I think I tend to follow more along what Lynn's suggesting. The solutions you speak of relate more to a human perspective. The mountains, even the air, don't need a "solution". They just are. Whether a damn that changes the immediate environment is …
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I always these days can make use of when the Tao Te Ching talks about turning back is the method the way uses. (I can't remember the exact wording.) Anyway, when my desires are going strong in terms of thinking other people should be doing whatever …
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I find too that when I 'm rushing ahead to find the "answer" for what's right, trying to nail it down, I usually go right out of awareness of the moment and into all my thoughts and analysis. Backing off of the desire to "figure out what's right", h…
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Thanks Carl. I hardly ever read any poetry. But I enjoy yours; puts a fresh spin on the Tao Te Ching.
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Having just lost my wife to breast cancer, I definitely concur about people needing to grieve, at their own pace, however it proceeds for them. My daughter and I cry with our loss, and we also laugh as we think back to special times. For me it's …