Me, age 3, actually fishing... sort of.
The fish are biting and I’m reeling ‘em in, I’m just not posting ‘em. Posting requires so much clean up to make ‘em fit for reading.
Finishing the last chapter of the Tao Te Ching was the catalyst I guess I needed to reevaluate things. I’ve wondered for a while now why I post in the first place.
I mean, the Taoist point of view has to be among the oddest and most ironic subjects to speak on. After all, he who knows does not speak, he who speaks does not know. Continue reading ‘Gone Fishin’, Back Soon’
Shishi odoshi ("deer scarer")
Yes, it is true. The reason it may sound ridiculous is that we are biologically set up to respond positively to gain and negatively to loss. A useful trick I’ve found in life is convincing my hoodwinking emotions of the actual benefit of loss and the hidden downside of gain.
Years of evidence, hard-won through personal experience, helps keep me constantly convinced now. The Tao Te Ching echos this view in chapter 58, It is on disaster that good fortune perches; It is beneath good fortune that disaster crouches. The proverb “be careful what you wish for, it may come true” points in the same direction. Continue reading ‘Loss is Gain; Gain is Loss’
We now know we are animals biologically speaking. However, do we really feel we are, or do we understand this as mostly an abstract factoid. Catching the flue for the ‘first time’ in my life may (or may not?) offer an example of the how thought can separate us from feeling our animal-ness fully.
Claiming that I caught the flue for the first time must surely be untrue, but up until now I never ‘knew’ the difference between a cold and the flue. I’ve heard of flue shots and the danger of catching flues, like the bird flue of a few years ago. However, whenever I came down with fluey symptoms I ‘knew’ I just had a cold. Do you see where I’m heading with this? Continue reading ‘Feeling Animal-ness’
More than once I’ve voiced the view that we tend to put the cart before the horse when it comes to learning, understanding, and knowing. Over the last few years I’ve become relatively convinced that we only truly understand and learn what we already know intuitively. Actually though, my suspicions began during our home schooling period as I began seeing subtle indications of this.
When I first brought this up with my family they all rolled their eye… “yeh, right” they said. However, constant brain-washing finally brought them to see my point. Brain-washing? Well, not exactly. Just offering concrete examples over time helped sell my case (or are they just humoring me). Continue reading ‘You Know’
I marvel at how seriously the prophets of doom are sometimes taken. Still, I do understand the apprehension. Indeed, my own apocalyptic sense of life probably accounts for my serious side.
If I were a true believer in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic world view I might even be susceptible to the ‘end of times’ stories these prophets preach. Being a Taoist lets me off the hook for the most part; any part that remains ‘on the hook’ is nicely assuaged by Buddha’s Truths.
I suspect this sometimes apocalyptic sense of life is one of the deepest we humans feel. I see it manifested in various ways, and while not as literal the “May 21″ end of the time story, they are nevertheless common. The stock market crashes foretell the end of the economy as we know it; extinction of species and global warming foretells the end of the planet as we know it. Continue reading ‘An Improper Sense of Awe’
Which path leads where?
A few months ago a new member Dan asked me, “So, I’d like to ask, do you have any life advice for a man approaching 30″?
One problem with that question was too many things came to mind. So I turned the question over to my subconscious. Oddly, I find not thinking about tricky issues is the best way to resolve them. Of course “not thinking about” doesn’t mean disregarding. I suppose the ‘not thinking about’ phase helps the mind get through its blind spot.
Finally, up bubbled something worthy of the question. Overall, nothing feels more important to me than understanding. While stressing the importance of understanding seems obvious, it may not be as simple as it sounds. Continue reading ‘So, I’d like to ask…’
In recent years I’ve realized there is more to meets the eye when it comes to learning, understanding, and knowing. Perhaps, these three cannot be fathomed, and so they are confused and looked upon as one. I’ve attempted to put in plain words the differences I see, but words fall short. A few days ago I fell into another discussion with Luke (older son) and my wife when I blurted out “people don’t learn anything.” My word, in writing that down just now, I don’t even agree with myself! (I confess, I often blurt stuff out, which in the wake produces grist for my mind’s mill. ) Continue reading ‘Learning What You Know’
Beyond words
Years ago I began to notice that I was incapable of really being in the moment when I was speaking – or even while I was thinking! In other words, when I’m speaking, I’m not reporting from an instantaneous state of knowing. Rather, I am passing on things I’ve already thought through some what. Speech references past experience, if even only a moment old. It is not of the ‘now’. ‘Now’ is all I can truly know. The rest is only a partial view, after-thoughts, of the ‘nows’ dead and gone. On the other hand… Continue reading ‘He Who Speaks Does Not Know, but…’
It seems my mind is always tempted to look toward ‘tomorrow’, whether ‘tomorrow’ is five minutes from now or five week from now. I reckon it is the hunter gather instinct that is driving this, for I see it occurring in everyone I know. We are always jumping out ahead of the moment. Why? Because we can. The mind’s space is larger than most mundane moments can stimulate. It seeks greener pastures, i.e., the hunter gather drive to look for that tasty tidbit the certainly must lie ahead. Continue reading ‘The Future Takes Care Of Itself’
Of the two, students are obviously the most important consideration. After all, teachers can lead students to water, but thirst determines whether students drink. Thirst is the weak link. As chapter 41 puts it, When the best student hears about the way, he practices it assiduously; when the average student hears about the way, it seems to him one moment there and gone the next… and so on.
Never-the-less, cultures place great importance on the teacher, so what makes for a good teacher? Usually the answer centers on how capable the teacher is, and their command of the material. However, after home schooling my kids, I discovered the more important, yet under-recognized, side of teaching lay deeper. Continue reading ‘Teachers and Students’
Recent Comments by Post