This post’s title is actually line 14, chapter 20 of the Tao Te Ching. If it helps, D.C. Lau interprets this line more understandably and beautifully as My mind is that of a fool – how blank. Recent experiences with my son reinforce this viewpoint. Ah, if only there was a ‘mis-interpreter’, who could cook […]
Continue reading…“Times of Yore” Posts
Posts that are tagged with ‘Times of Yore’ are autobiographical. Naturally, many end up quite philosophical for that’s the element that usually hooks my experiences into memory in the first place. However, I am going to attempt to go lighter philosophy-wise, and put more into the ‘experiential moment’.
Jack of All Trades, Master of None?
Is there any real difference between a generalist ‘jack of all trades’ and a master? After all, isn’t a ‘jack of all trades’ simply a master generalist? I’ve been doing several activities for many years now: yoga (50 years), tai chi (40 years), shakuhachi sui Zen (35 years), gardening (30 years) — plus, I have […]
Continue reading…We only understand what we know
The view that ‘One who speaks does not know’ has intrigued me for most of my thinking life. I ran across this D.C. Lao translation in Vietnam, of all places, in the early 60’s. I’ve referred to it many times over the decades in various ways. Indeed, it stands now on the ‘doorstep’ of this site. (See […]
Continue reading…Really, Have We No Clue?
As a child, I recall marveling at how everything seemed to work so well. The logistics blew my mind, although I didn’t know that was the word for it. How the authorities dealt with all the sewage and garbage my hometown produced baffled me. I am still in awe that civilization works as well as […]
Continue reading…Why?
Some say “love” is the greatest word they know. Others say “God” is. I’ve also had favorite words over the years, but ‘why’ beats them all. So I ask myself, why continue posting these observations? It’s certainly not for money. Is it for fame? I actually prefer anonymity. In fact, years ago when my yoga […]
Continue reading…Gone Fishin’, Back Soon
The ‘fish’ are still biting and I’m reeling them in, I’m just not posting them. Posting my fishy observations requires so much cleaning up to make them fit for reading. Finishing the last chapter of my translation of the Tao Te Ching — Tao Te Ching, Word for Word — was the catalyst I needed […]
Continue reading…Opiate of the Masses
Karl Marx said religion was the opiate of the masses. I say it is prosperity, not religion, which is the opiate of the masses. The United States has experienced decades of unprecedented prosperity. Indeed, most people have lived their whole lives accustomed to what is actually a historically rare era of unusual affluence. Now, the […]
Continue reading…Naturally Unnatural, Naturally!
Sometimes I hear people opine on what is natural or unnatural human behavior. Doesn’t this depend on what part of the elephant one currently feeling? Elephant parables aside, I see this issue as emerging layers of the onion of reality. (See Tao as Emergent Property.) Let’s sort this out… Like all animals, humans are naturally […]
Continue reading…Feeling Animal-ness
We know we are animals biologically speaking. Yet do we really feel we are? I suspect we know this mostly as an abstract scientific detail. Catching the flu for the ‘first time’ in my life may offer an example of how thought can separate us from feeling our animal-ness fully. Claiming that I caught the […]
Continue reading…Thoughts and Ducks Quacking
I spent a lot of the day in the backyard picking weeds. Nothing beats having enough free time to sit in the warm sun picking weeds. Even better, I’m heeding chapter 64’s, Deal with a thing while it is still nothing; Keep a thing in order before disorder sets in. Occasionally, the ducks would come […]
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