I was going to name this post The Real Lesson, but somehow that felt a little off base, so I named it after my shakuhachi flute teacher, Yamaguchi Goro. This photo is of him and Aoki Reibo playing a beautiful suizen piece, Shika No Tohne (The Distant Cry of Deer). To see this performance, google […]
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“Fixation on same same”
Recently my friend Andy teased me about my “fixation on same same”, as he put it. My habit of noticing similarities between apparent opposites bugs him a little. “Fixation on same same” was his response to my comment, “Folks on the left use folks on the right as scapegoats and vice versa”. The underlying needs […]
Continue reading…Beware: the Blind Spot
I occasionally refer to the blind spot as our main impediment to understanding. What is the blind spot? Put simply, the blind spot = emotion + thought. The loudest emotions are need and fear (1). When those roar, they are all we can hear. In How the Hoodwink Hooks, (p.100) I first explain how desire […]
Continue reading…And Then There Was Fire
I’ve always found pondering the how’s and why’s of life and the world to be irresistible. The mountain of historical and scientific information available certainly makes this challenging. Happily, a lifetime of inquiry may be paying off. I can see outlines of the big picture now. The constant difficulty lies in how mountains of detail […]
Continue reading…Tao and Democracy
Having a largely ignorant electorate is both an advantage and a disadvantage in a democracy. Being unaware of shortsighted political narratives makes it harder to dupe people. However, ignorance of historical and scientific fact can easily lead to disastrous political choices. The Science News’ report, Uncommitted newbies can foil forceful few, explains why both democracy […]
Continue reading…What’s Not the Elephant?
My favorite Buddhist parable is the Blind Men And The Elephant. Several blind men each touch a different part of an elephant and proceed to describe and debate what they think an elephant is. The lesson here is how untrustworthy perception actually is. With only five main senses, we are all blind in the final […]
Continue reading…Upping the Ante
Have you noticed the ever-present urge to continue to up the ante? Not only that, but isn’t the sky often the limit? We can’t help but aim for the next step up, and when we reach it, that level becomes our new bottom line. Most of us are content for a while, but then we […]
Continue reading…A Word to the Wise?
“A word to the wise” is a good maxim, but flawed I’m afraid to say. I’ve always liked how D.C. Lau phrased the last characters of the first line of chapter 51: Circumstances bring them to maturity. It’s true, albeit not what the characters literally say. What is it about circumstances that bring us to […]
Continue reading…A Bee with Personality
Science has driven another nail into the coffin of human uniqueness. (Google [Bee genes may drive them to adventure].) This is yet another example of chapter 56’s, This is called profound sameness. Soon—in a thousand years more or less—we’ll be forced to admit that, while we see ourselves as unique, we are actually profoundly similar […]
Continue reading…Necessity, the Mother
Free will is what presumably makes us different from other animals. We believe we have a unique ability to choose and act freely. (See Free Will: Fack or Wishful Thinking?, p.586) The well-known proverb, “Necessity is the mother of invention”, points to the actual truth. Simply put, necessity is the mother of all choice and […]
Continue reading…Guilt, Shame and the Name Game
I touched on guilt and shame in the post, I am foolish of human mind also? (p.276). Nevertheless, I feel our practice of naming such emotional experiences deserves its own post, so here goes, beginning with a personal example… Up until thirty years ago, I had never experienced depression… or so I didn’t think. Following […]
Continue reading…The Secret to Happiness!
I’ve long realized that much of life’s pleasures appear to occur in the anticipation of them… in the desire more than in satisfying the desire. The conclusion of a desire or goal — the sated phase — is ultra fleeting, almost to the point of being anticlimactic. If you’re interested in this, begin by watching […]
Continue reading…It Began Now
The Science News book review, Games Primates Play, is worth reading. It is short so I’ll paste the whole review below first, and then add my tangential two cents. Games Primates Play: An Undercover Investigation of the Evolution and Economics of Human Relationships Even decked out in cultural finery, people make monkeys of themselves. Maestripieri, […]
Continue reading…I am foolish of human mind also?
I am foolish of human mind also? is one of my favorite lines in chapter 20. The more literal the translation, the more peculiar it can read. If it helps, D.C. Lau interprets this line more poetically as, My mind is that of a fool – how blank. I do feel the literal phrasing of […]
Continue reading…Seat of Consciousness
I recently received a kind email from someone who ended with this: Lastly, from reading Lau Tzu and Chuang Tzu, do you agree that it would seem that they would likely favor vegetarianism? I am becoming vegetarian myself, but it seems that eating clams and mussels might be possible, because they have no brain, and […]
Continue reading…What Follows Loss of the Way?
Knowing what was, what is, and what will be is virtually impossible because our own biases shape what we think we know. Chapter 38’s descending order can help evade the trap of preconceptions when pondering the whys and wherefores of life. Hence, virtue follows loss of the way. Benevolence follows loss of virtue. Justice follow […]
Continue reading…Placebo Effect
Google [Treating Depression: Is there a placebo effect? – CBS News] for an interview with Irving Kirsch, a scientist at the Placebo Studies Program at Harvard Medical School. Kirsch, who’s been studying placebos for 36 years, says “sugar pills” can work miracles. He has found that the drugs used to treat depression for most people […]
Continue reading…Imagining a Better Way
Human imagination is both a valuable survival asset and the source of lingering anxieties. Ironically, imagination also promises us ways to quell these anxieties. I say promises because fulfillment can’t truly be possible. This peculiar dynamic reminds me of the Möbius like geometry of Escher’s Waterfall. We can imagine a better something and so we […]
Continue reading…Who or What Do You Trust?
The ‘small “t” taoist’ (p.154) within us can find it difficult deciding who to trust, especially if we feel both the advocate and the critic make credible cases. Conversely, the partisan within us seldom hesitates before favoring one side or the other. Sincere advocacy for anything is a projection of one’s own beliefs. Importantly, sincere […]
Continue reading…Giving Your Life a Gift
It’s been 50+ years since I first began doing yoga. This, along with my daily reflection of Buddha’s Noble Truths (p.604), has been the best thing I’ve done in my life for my life. Admittedly, a lot of living had to pass under the bridge of life before I truly realized this. For decades, conviction, […]
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