taoism, taoist thought, buddha, yoga, tai chi, shakuhachi,
I regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Trying to understand how any situation came to be is confusing and misleading. Much of one’s own biases can easily shape your rational. I find chapter 38 of the Tao Te Ching very useful in considering the ‘why’, and still avoid much of the bias trap.
The evolution of society and beliefs over time offers an example of this dynamic. First, the relevant excerpt…
Hence, virtue follows loss of the way.
Benevolence follows loss of virtue.
Justice follow loss of benevolence.
Ritual follows loss of justice.
Ways of chaos follow loss of loyalty and a thinning faith in ritual. Continue reading ‘What Follows Loss of the Way?’
This Sixty Minutes segment, Treating Depression: Is there a placebo effect?, is interesting on several levels. Digging around, I find all sorts of tangential connections. If I was a skilled writer, perhaps I could adequately express them all. On the other hand, being a skilled writer might very well limit my ability to see all those connections.
Yep, each advantage we inherit is paid for by some shortcoming. The singular advantage that sets humans apart from animals is how we are able to imagine all the positives we would like to have, and imagine all the negatives we would like to be rid off. We excel at imagining better ways of living. Continue reading ‘Placebo Effect’
I regularly review Word for Word chapters here. Contribute comments, corrections, questions, rephrasing ideas, etc., in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word to preview Word for Word.
Now join in! Refer to the your copy of Word for Word, online Word for Word and/or to D.C. Lau’s translation as needed.
Our imagination is more like our Achilles’ heel, as I see it anyway. The special irony in this, is that this promising source of our salvation causes the need for salvation. Oddly, this ironic dynamic reminds me of a Möbius like geometry of Escher’s Waterfall, although for once, I’m at a loss to reason why.
We can imagine ‘better’ so we expect better. Animals feel the same emotions that drives imagination in us, but only momentarily, and mostly just connected to current external stimulus. In addition to external stimuli, we fabricate self-stimuli from remembered past and imagined future images tied ultimately to deep-seated needs and fears. Continue reading ‘Imagining a Better Way’
I am regularly posting commentary on Word for Word chapters here. I encourage you to contribute—corrections, questions, comments, or even reword the chapter if you like. Simply post anything that comes to mind in the Leave a Reply box below. With your help, a much-improved edition would certainly be possible.
Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word for information about a print-on-demand ‘final’ draft copy of my translation.
We are often pulled between trusting either the advocates or the critics of something. By ‘we’, perhaps I mean the small ‘t’ ‘taoist in us all. The partisan ‘we’ seldom bats and eye before favoring one side or the other.
Advocacy and praise is mostly a projection of one’s own beliefs. Either that or just a cynical attempt to sell us something. That aside, sincere belief is really, and quite naturally, blind. (Nature needs to have it just that way.)
I am regularly posting commentary on Word for Word chapters here. I encourage you to contribute—corrections, questions, comments, or even reword the chapter if you like. Simply post anything that comes to mind in the Leave a Reply box below. With your help, a much-improved edition would certainly be possible.
Click Tao Te Ching, Word for Word for information about a print-on-demand ‘final’ draft copy of my translation.
Can you set aside two minutes a day for #1—your body? After all, he who values his body more than dominion over the empire can be entrusted with the empire.
It’s been 50 years now since I began yoga. This, along with my daily reflection of Buddha’s Noble Truths, has been far and away the best thing I’ve ever done in my life, for my life.
Of course, a lot of life had to pass by before I truly knew this. For decades it was just faith that carried me, I guess. Continue reading ‘Giving Your Life a Gift’
The only way I’ve found to escape life without unintended consequences is to give myself to life. I suppose that is a good example of where straightforward words seem paradoxical. I can essentially lose myself in the moment by utter devotion to that moment and the action (or non-action) therein. I reckon this approach to life is the one experienced by all not-thinking animals, i.e., Do without doing, (wei wu wei). Be involved (responsibility) without being involved (responsibility). (shi wu shi)
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