Check One Off the Bucket List
This is chapter 81, the last chapter of the Tao Te Ching. My journey on this Taoist path began almost 50 years ago in Vietnam, as did my learning to read and write Chinese. Over the years, I have translated parts of chapters that puzzled me. This revealed a subtle problem I found in all translations: The process of translating the Chinese phrasing into another language looses some of the straightforward meaning. Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #81′
Dreaming the Way
Last night I dreamt I was explaining the ‘way’ to a group of people. I was talking to someone and other people overhearing us actively started listening and asking questions. My smooth and coherent delivery felt unusually satisfying. That’s no wonder, given the way that can be spoken of is not the constant way. Of course, it was my dream so I surely knew the questions they were going to ask ahead of time… Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #80′
The Utility of Knowing What You Don’t Know
What an odd thing to say. Yet, I don’t know how else to say it, so here is an example: For about ten years now, son Luke and I have been fleshing out a fundamentally simpler, easier way to learn to play music by ear (especially the string instruments: guitar, fiddle, banjo and the like). The curious thing is, he has great innate music talent, while I have virtual none. So, you would think our collaboration would be mostly a one way street—he would teach me… Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #79′
Success Thru Failure
Most of us eventually realize that all success must inevitably pass through a failure stage. From our first years of stumbling before walking, of mumbling before talking, and on through life we gradually learn (perhaps intuitive and subconscious) that if we would take from a thing, we must first give to it. However, I will take this even further: success IS failure. Is this an example of chapter 78’s straightforward words seem paradoxical? It all depends on which phase of the life cycle you consider and how you define success. Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #78′
Ethics as an Emergent Property
Ethics is a curious cultural creature. What is ethical for one group may well be immoral for another. Certainly there are some ethical rules which span most groups, at least on the surface. ‘Thou shall not kill’ is almost universal, except for the many exceptions, e.g., it’s all right to kill those who kill, but not embryos, or visa versa… Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #77′
Is Pain the Constant?
Pleasure and pain (like life and death) are a fascinating duo. In this relationship, I imagine that pain is the head of the household. That’s not to say pain is ‘the constant‘; that would be going too far, of course. Nevertheless pain, like water, may come close to describing the way. That puts pain at the same primeval level as fear. They are the leaders in the evolution of life, with supporting roles in life’s drama going to pleasure and need (and in us humans, desire). Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #76′
Pleasure Isn’t Well Being
Both pleasure and pain can pull us off balance and dim our sense of well being. This parallels chapter 13’s Favor and disgrace are things that startle. Of course, it is easy to see how pain and disgrace do this, but favor and pleasure? That’s more subtle… Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #75′
Keep ‘em guessing?
The Tao Te Ching is often terse and vague—especially in the original Chinese. I expect one reason is that it offers a word view often at odds with the story we want to hear. Revealing this point of view less obscurely would feel unsettling, even subversive, for many… Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #74′
Priorities
Prioritizing needs (and fears too) is an important step in managing the demands of living, at least a civilized life. In the wild I suppose circumstance pretty much handle what and when animals do what they do. Freeing ourselves from the drudgery of hunting and gathering whenever we got hungry has left us with abundant free time to ‘choose’ what to do and not do… Continue reading ‘Chapter of the Week: #73′
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Who You Are Determines Who I Am, & Vise Versa
This is an interesting perceptual phenomenon. Is it true and real? Hmm, that’s hard to say, which makes it all the more fascinating to ponder. Looking at life through this lens can be helpful, regardless of how true it is. At the very least, it gives insight to why others may be the way they seem to be. Blurring the lines of judgment like this lets them off the hook for being who they are. This blurring lines of distinction also allows you to relax more.
And don’t forget the “visa versa” part of this. You’ll get insight on why you seem to be the way you are. The blurred lines of distinction let you off the hook for being who you are.
By the way, this way of looking at “you and them” parallels the Hindu, That Thou Art
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