• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Taoism Thoughts

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Taoism Thoughts

Plutarck said:

....By the time you can do that you pretty much know the answers anyway. ...


I'll be darned. Are you willing to share the knowledge you "pretty much know" of the "answers"?

Perhaps you can better the poem?
 
(This is intended as humor, not an attack and certainly not a serious discussion)
Whodini said:
Great knowledge sees all in one.
Small knowledge breaks down into the many
Does that make these lines small knowledge?

When the body sleeps, the soul is enfolded in One.
When the body wakes, the openings begin to function.
Yeah, I generally need to take a leak when I get up.

They resound with every encounter
With all the varied business of life, the strivings of the heart;
We aren't back to that heart=center of emotion stuff again, are we? Doesn't anyone else find that silly? Or maybe it's just a comment on high blood pressure...

Men are blocked, perplexed, lost in doubt.
And they won't stop and ask for directions, either!
Little fears eat away their peace of heart.
sounds like worms
Great fears swallow them whole,
Sounds like a REALLY BIG worm.
Arrows shot at a target: hit and miss, right and wrong.
That is what men call judgment, decision.
Um, ◊◊◊◊ happens?

Their pronouncements are as final
As treaties between emperors.
I seem to recall a lot of treaties that have been reneged upon...
Oh, they make their point!
Yet their arguments fall faster and feebler
Than dead leaves in autumn and winter.
You ever had to rake those leaves? Feeble my ass!
Their talk flows out like urine,
they musta just gotten up.
Never to be recovered.
Well, you could try that Waterworld trick...

They stand at last, blocked, bound, and gagged,
mmm... bondage...
Choked up like old drain pipes.
old drain pipes get emotional, do they?
The mind fails. It shall not see light again.
If your mind is seeing light perhaps you should put your skull back on.

Pleasure and rage
Sadness and joy
Hopes and regrets
Change and stability
Weakness and decision
Impatience and sloth:
singing these are a few of my favorite things
All are sounds from the same flute,
All mushrooms from the same wet mold.
Day and night follow one another and come upon us
Without our seeing how they sprout!
Flutes sprout? Day and night sprout? Methinks the metaphors are sufficiently mixed, chef.

Enough! Enough!
Early and late we meet the "that"
From which "these" all grow!
Is this about morning wood?

If there were no "that"
There would be no "this."
If there were no "this"
DOWN WITH THE REPRESSIVE PRONOUNS!
There would be nothing for all these winds to play on.
That flutist would be out of work. (flautist?)
So far can we go.
But there you are
But how shall we understand
What brings it about?
Can we read entrails? Tea leaves?

One may suppose the True Governor to be behind it all.
That's the thing that keeps me from driving over 133, right?
That such a power works I can believe.
Well, my Focus doesn't have that much power, but I believe it.
I cannot see his form.
AHH! Invisible IRS Auditors!

He acts, but has no form.
Tom Cruise?
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Taoism Thoughts

hammegk said:


I'll be darned. Are you willing to share the knowledge you "pretty much know" of the "answers"?

Since all are every so nicely unfalsifiable and yet contradictory, which interpretations would you like? The answers are all inside, they are all outside; the tao is everything, the tao is nothing, or the tao is everything, or the tao is some things but not others; the sage does not discriminate, the sage does discriminate; you have the tao, you don't have the tao, the trying is not the tao, doing is the tao; I'm sure there are lots more, and going verse by verse can give you all kinds of possible answers to a myriad of questions.


*ahem* But now that I look at it, I answered a bit of a different question than asked, so considering the rest of what I said:

While there often is something really meaningful there...how can you tell which is crap and which isn't? By the time you can do that you pretty much know the answers anyway.

That is to say, the things spoken of are so complicated and contradictory that by the time you can sort them out there is little point remaining in sorting them out at all.

And as in the above, what they are supposed to mean is contradictory, with no apparent way to reconcile them or make them into anything more than amorphous cloud. Could be one thing, could be another...could be something else entirely.

Perhaps you can better the poem?

And keep it a poem? Hell no, I think its fine art. It is when it is considered something other than fine art and poetry that is the problem ;)
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Taoism Thoughts

Plutarck,

If something is useful in life, then keep it.

Just because something can be interpreted in many ways isn't a weakness, it is a strength. Also, contradictions are a good way to learn.

(Uh oh, Valmorian alert! Aaaoooooggaaaa!)


----
you have the tao, you don't have the tao,
----


You have many tao's, but not the Tao.


----
It is when it is considered something other than fine art and poetry that is the problem ;)
----


So what is the problem exactly?
 
Keep sharpening your knife and it becomes blunt.

What will happen to your skepticism?
 
Whodini said:
Keep sharpening your knife and it becomes blunt.

What will happen to your skepticism?
Er... if you keep sharpening a knife it can become too thin and brittle, but I don't think it'll get dull, exactly.

And I had 3 tacos for lunch. :)
 
Well, if I keep licking at an ice cream cone it disappears too. If I burn a stick enough it vanishes. If I fart in a whirlwind, it also vanishes.

What any of this has to do with sharpening a knife making it dull is beyond me. As a stretch you could argue it would make it nonexistant, but since it would break before you got that far it's kind of irrelevant.

I mean, really. Haven't you ever seen an old knife that was sharpened a lot over time? They get thinner and thinner but they don't get dull, really. Eventually they'll break, but I wouldn't refer to a broken knife as "dull."

Why am I arguing this? It's even more pointless than most stuff in this forum! :D
 
----
What any of this has to do with sharpening a knife making it dull is beyond me.
----


Don't be SO literal for Pete's sake.
(why is Pete drinking anyway?) :)

Basically, if you keep doing something 'yang', 'yin' will manifest.
 
Whodini said:
----
What any of this has to do with sharpening a knife making it dull is beyond me.
----
Don't be SO literal for Pete's sake.
(why is Pete drinking anyway?) :)

Basically, if you keep doing something 'yang', 'yin' will manifest.

So, maybe dullness isn't the "yin" to knife sharpening's "yang"?

Forgive my utter ignorance of Eastern philosophy, but are these like Zen Koans? My impression was that Koans didn't necessarily reflect a particular wisdom, only that they were to be contemplated.
 
Hi specious_reasons,


----
So, maybe dullness isn't the "yin" to knife sharpening's "yang"?
----


Could be.

The idea is that something has two main aspects. At the extreme of one aspect, you are suddenly made aware of the other aspect.

The specifics aren't important, just the main idea.


----
Forgive my utter ignorance of Eastern philosophy, but are these like Zen Koans? My impression was that Koans didn't necessarily reflect a particular wisdom, only that they were to be contemplated.
----


Koan's are a little different. What I offered above was just an example of a specific situation. A koan is more of a riddle to be comtemplated, like you said. The contemplation only works by non-rational methods due to the phrasing of the questions.

A fascinating resource is:

http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPages/KoanStudy.html
 
Whodini said:
Hi specious_reasons,
----
So, maybe dullness isn't the "yin" to knife sharpening's "yang"?
----
Could be.

The idea is that something has two main aspects. At the extreme of one aspect, you are suddenly made aware of the other aspect.

The specifics aren't important, just the main idea.

Interesting, how do you know you've gone too far Yin or Yang if you're not entirely sure what they are?

...Or do you just suck it up when the consequences hit? :)

I had a limited exposure to Zen and Koans from the book Gödel, Escher, Bach, and thought that they were interesting, but put it on the "maybe I'll get to it someday" list.
 
specious_reasons,


----
Interesting, how do you know you've gone too far Yin or Yang if you're not entirely sure what they are?
----


They are just concepts; an artist's organizing vision.


----
I had a limited exposure to Zen and Koans from the book Gödel, Escher, Bach, and thought that they were interesting, but put it on the "maybe I'll get to it someday" list.
----


The author of that book, Doug H., is a real cool guy. I hope to be 1/50th as intelligent as he is when I grow up.
 
Whodini said:
Don't be SO literal for Pete's sake.
I just like my metaphors symmetrical. (and it's very entertaining to actually take what people say literally... people rarely think about commonly used phrases and what they're really saying) ;)

(why is Pete drinking anyway?) :)
Well, Pete and Repete were walking down the street... ;)
 

Back
Top Bottom