Lynn, to me the point here is that everyone thinks they understand, that they are understanding, etc.... but the sage realizes he just doesn't get it. It's the whole balance thing .... when you try you fail ....you only gain by letting go.
If th…
This chapter to me seems to be a big lesson in "... it just doesn't matter ..." My buddy the lion does not carry around the baggage of clarity or muddledness .....he just gets up, kills a gazelle, eats it, rolls in the mud, and goes back to sleep.…
Carl, do we really need to attach ourselves to an attitude? It seems to me that the 'must' here refers to a societal byproduct, rather than instruction. In other words, there is no inherent value in attaching ourselves to things or ideas ...... th…
Okay. So, referring to your numbered replies in your response below;
2. So hungry, happy, horny and horrified (sorry, I'm in an alliterative sort of mood ) are all the same thing. This life force pushes us to act in certain ways ....randomly…
Hi Carl
So, I have pondered all of this for some time now .....both your original replies and your restatement above (yes, folks, I am the Mike referenced above). I think a light bulb went off about the 50th time I read this ....
So, we as hu…
.....thank you, Lynn. I went over the edge there :oops: ....I was thinking too hard .... I needed to just let that stew before I could appreciate it (...effort thru effortlessness ....)
I appreciate the help as well as the greetings. Have pa…
...okay, I see your point about the wording of my reply. So applying the concept of contentment to the original chapter language, the teaching is that when we seek discernment we gain contentment only through the balancing principle of emptiness ..…
Does this mean that we should not try to discern anything? I rather think that the message here is that knowledge is worthwile (I believe there is another chapter that speaks directly to this, but I cannot quote it at the moment) but the more we le…
Carl, thanks again. Please do not keep your trap shut ..... I value your thoughts. I will research the links that you provide and I'm sure I'll respond again.
Luke, my apologies ...I didn't know there was a more appropriate place to engage in a…
So ...... just to test this concept, the following premise: saving a life or the act of murder are both behaviors that carry no value judgement in taoist thought. I am not a better person by saving a life than I am a worse person by taking one. If…
Thanks Carl. I guess I'll do nothing with it ....that would be the Taoist Way ....
I'll tell you what I have done -- historically --- with it. I no longer judge people as much as I used to. Instead of seeing someone who has decieved me as "a…
As I learn more about Taoism, particularly the perspectives on balance and and the nonjudgemental themes, I wonder: is there any "good and bad" in Taoist thought? If all the resources I've read on this sight are correct, it would seem that morality…