Tao: road, way, path, principle, speak, think, suppose.
I know, I know, the Tao that can be spoken of is not the constant Tao. The Chinese literally translates to ‘way can speak, not constant way’ (道可道, 非常道). Thus, anything I say beyond that is not the constant, but rather tentative. Even saying that is not the constant. Our mind is capable of perceptions more profound than our thoughts or speech can articulate. So our thoughts and speech always end up beating around the bush. (Although, beating around the bush does flush revelation out of the bush at times.) Continue reading ‘What is ‘the Tao’ actually?’
I had a discussion recently with a Christian friend of belief. Personally of course, pondering the process of believing is more curious than the content of any belief. So you won’t find me debating the existence of God, for instance; my question would be rather: How and Why does one believe in a God, or gods? Even more basic questions lurk deeper about the belief-in-words process our mind uses to formulate its belief in God (or any thing else) in the first place. Continue reading ‘Think what you believe? Believe what you think?’
Life evolved to perceive its surroundings in a way that promotes survival in a competitive environment. In animals with a nervous system, neurons fire, on and off. It is little wonder that we therefore see reality in an on-off light. This simple on-off process underpins our perception of what we call good-evil, yin-yang, life-death, active-passive, go-stop, hot-cold, up-down, before-after, hard-soft, heaven-hell, male-female, and what have you. Continue reading ‘Yin Yang, Nature’s Hoodwink’
Like a looking glass (mirror), correlations are a tool for seeing yourself, or more precisely, your own mind. As such, they should appeal to anyone determined to get to the bottom of things. Of course the bottom in this case is one which is without substance. In other words, the correlation’s process may only attract those for whom ‘the looking for’ is more satisfying than ‘the finding’. Like looking through, rather than at, a mirror’s reflection, the closer you look, the fuzzier the view.
Continue reading ‘Looking Through the Looking Glass’
Cuc made a good attempt at correlations despite the inconsistencies. For correlations, the ‘prime directive’ is to use antonyms, aligning similar (i.e., pseudo synonyms I guess you’d call them) meaning word down on column with their antonyms down the other. Compare these two sets; first is Cuc’s and then mine below that.
Continue reading ‘Correlation’s ‘Prime Directive’’
Indian grinder found at my parent's farm in Tucson
After I’d finished grinding out correlations to my satisfaction I stood back and judged the process by the results, not by the process itself. In other words, I judged the book by its cover. In this delusion, I naively thought this process would rip away other people’s preconceptions just as it had done for most of mine. The correlation process would forever change the world. Looking back, it is difficult to believe I believed that. Continue reading ‘Grinding Out Correlations’
We are born with a bio-illusion(1) which goes like this: Through hunting, “I” can gather fillers to satiate (fill) the hole. Primal emotions of need (e.g., desire, lust, want, wish, crave, etc.) and fear (e.g., insecurity, anxiety, doubt, apprehension) drive this illusion forward. This illusion originates in the hunter gatherer instinct to find food to fill the empty belly. The illusion lies in the fact that it promises happy-ever-after contentment once the hole is filled. Alas, that promise is broken the moment the next need arises, which is often literally within the next few moments. Continue reading ‘Peeking in on Nature’s Hoodwink’
Turns out that the philosophers see a subtle difference between two anti-Realist philosophies: “Dialectical Monism” and “Non-Dualism”
My word! I imagine it is hard for philosophies of what ever stripe to see things as simply as they may be. To really get to the bottom of any of this, I imagine we must examine what we mean, exactly, by the words: free, will, difference, sameness, and all the rest of the words we use for thinking and speaking. That process may be too plodding for the mind (otherwise correlations would be selling like hotcakes!). The mind wants to get ‘it’ done quickly and move on to greener pastures of thought. Continue reading ‘It Is Spooky’
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