Carl Abbott

The less I think, the more I know

The less I think, the more I know sounds a little odd. It parallels that equally peculiar line in chapter 56, One who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know. If anything ever begged for elucidation, this does! The problem with thought lies in the preconceptions necessary to think and speak. This […]

Exquisite Balance

I never ever use the word exquisite, but this morning while standing on my head I thought, “How exquisite this moment of perfect balance feels”. I went on to consider other facets of life such as working, eating, speaking, and shopping. In all cases, balance is possible, but is often only partial and so seldom […]

Skullduggery is rampant in nature

Google [Nature’s recourse: How plants and animals fight back] to see how plants and animals fight back when mutual arrangements between them go sour. Here’s a short excerpt… Nature has a shifty side. Bees cheat flowers. Flowers cheat bees. Fish cheat other fish, and so on. The more biologists look, the more skullduggery turns up. […]

What Shapes How You Think?

Google [Does Your Language Shape How You Think?] for research that speaks to my recent post Thinking Clouds Consciousness (p.119). This offers interesting details underlying this question, although, in my view this is a no-brainer. Clearly, language and thinking are inextricably linked… It takes one to do the other. If you can, flip off the […]

Tao As Emergent Property

Generally, emergence occurs when something has a trait that its parts don’t have individually. The emergent property exists only when its parts interact in a combined whole. In a Taoist version of this, the ‘simple’ forms the basis upon which the ‘complex’ emerges. Here, I see each layer of existence as an emergent property modeled […]

Balancing Difference With Similarity

Noticing differences greatly assists survival… up to the point of diminishing returns, especially for a thinking animal like us. Even so, the naïve acceptance of difference as a true portrayal of reality would not have been a problem for our hunter-gatherer ancestors, given their truly down to earth circumstances. Conversely, our naive acceptance of difference […]

Thinking clouds consciousness

I sat looking out over the ocean this crisp morning. I had finished my morning routine of yoga, calligraphy in the sand and tai chi, so I could just sit in the sand and let my mind think on itself. What stood out today was how deeply consciousness is separate from thinking. This may be […]

Where Is Freedom?

I bought a finch in Japan in the early 70’s. I took it home and left the cage door open so it could fly around if it wished, but it wouldn’t. It just stayed contentedly in its cage. Months passed before it ventured out. I left the window open too, and soon it would go […]

Decisions Decisions

Harvard Decision Science Laboratory held a fascinating interview. For a transcript, Google[Decisions, Decisions – CBS News]. Here is a short excerpt: Here is a short excerpt: It may not sound rational, but experts say emotions and gut feelings are more important than intellect in making choices. “We’ve never succeeded, never, in having people recognize the […]

Poor Thais And Rich Swedes

I had a little bakery on the Thai-Cambodian border in the early 60’s. It was little more than a shack, but big enough for me and my common law Thai wife (photo right), her mother, brother, and sister (1). Most of the customers were Thai peasants who would stop by for some sponge cake on […]

Time’s Arrow

John Wheeler was a visionary physicist and teacher who helped invent the theory of nuclear fission, gave black holes their name and argued about the nature of reality with Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. This quote from him about language and time shows he must have been a natural ‘taoist’, so to speak. Perhaps he […]

Desire and Contentment

Chapter 46 puts forward a curious dilemma. According to that chapter, when the way prevails in the empire, fleet-footed horses are relegated to plowing the fields; when the way does not prevail in the empire, war-horses breed on the border. However, chapter 34 holds that, The way is broad, reaching left as well as right. […]