Know that everything I see ‘out there’ is a reflection of ‘in here’, means that ‘The Way’ I think I know is more personal than universal. Only when I have no mind of my own and take as my own the mind of the people (and everything else) am I going to sense something akin to ‘the constant way’.

That said, I don’t see any necessity or virtue in getting to that place of universal knowing. If I do, I do; if not, so what? More useful perhaps is being mature enough to accept the fact that ‘The Way’ I think that I know is personal and not universal. This, more than anything else, helps keep me from judging others according to my standards (which of course simply reflect my own needs and fears). Granted, it is tough at times. That is where the courage of self honesty and rational impartiality come in handy.

In the end though, I find that the more self honest I become, the more I come to realize that there is no self... to be honest, or otherwise. How ironic. All that is left is to have no mind of my own but take as my own the mind of the people. How odd. Most intriguing of all, it happens to us naturally. Thus, even if free will existed, who would need it?

riverwolf:

Thanks so much for keeping this site going, it's such a great resource.

I’m grateful you feel it a resource. Most of the time I feel I’m just ‘pissing in the wind’. ops:

1. The different religions/doctrines all claim to be the Way, but their words and rhetoric used are just so different.

Yes, when I started noticing that each group claimed to be ‘The True Way’ I became suspicious. They couldn't all be right, so claiming to be so made all of them 'wrong'. The Taoist view became the only rationally tenable one for me. The only other alternative is to simple not think or speak.

In retrospect, I share a similiar view with Carl, in that speaking about the Way is like a prescription: it has to be appropriate with the understanding and mental state of the audience. It naturally varies with things like culture, age, gender, nationality etc....Ideally, one to one conversation would be the best thing, but the era of massive human populations religions and organisations mass-produce such advice into sermons, writings, books, etc...

Actually, I’ve found modeling the way to be the only way to ‘get it across’. The irony here is that nature is constantly modeling the way. All we need do is open our eyes and see: the fly, the peddle, the cloud, the leaf, the trash, the car, the moon, the rotting tomato... the list is endless. How we react to what we see and hear tells us volumes about ourselves; in knowing ourselves we can more easily follow the way from the start.

Why don’t we open our eyes and see? Perhaps we are blinded by our own expectations, desires, fears… We tend to only see that which we want and are ready to see. It rests in the eye of the beholder, or so this beholder sees it.

Lynn Cornish:

That said, I don’t see any necessity or virtue in getting to that place of universal knowing. If I do, I do; if not, so what?

That's the truth. So why do I meditate every day? Because it feels good!

Doesn’t it all boil down to this? Like all the rest of life on earth, we do what feels good… even if it feels ‘bad’ (if you know what I mean). What we think and do is determined deep within us in the balance scales of emotion. What we think is ‘truth’, ‘good’, ‘right’, and ‘perfect’ simply reflects what we are want and like. It is so simple, so why is it so complicated? Simply because emotion is not rational, and our rational perceptions, in the final analysis, pivot on emotion. Perhaps this is the fuel that drives the sense of irony. Hmm...