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Necessity, the Mother

Free will presumably makes us different from other animals. We have the unique ability to choose and act freely. (See Free Will: Fack or Wishful Thinking?, p.586) I’ve also heard for most of my life that necessity was the mother of invention. Now I have come to realize that necessity is the mother of all […]

Use Non-Responsibility

I translate lines 3 and 12 in Chapter 57 as Use non-responsibility when seeking all under heaven, and I am without responsibility and the people thrive themselves. I assume suggesting the virtue of non-responsibility flies in the face of common sense, if not threatens the very fabric of society. Like free will, explicit or implied, […]

The Truth About Lies

First, please YouTube CBS The Truth about Lies. In two short minutes it delightfully demonstrates how many things most people believe turn out not to be true. It is sobering and humbling to see how blind and deaf we can be. Oh how the power of belief (p.591) walks all over clear and irrefutable evidence. […]

Nothing’s Certain but Death and…

They say that nothing is certain but death and taxes. I’d add to that the certainty of spending! The ongoing debate over spending, taxes, and the debt problems that this country faces is a good example of chapter 70’s, My words are very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice, yet no […]

Reward, Fear & Need

Google: Emotion, Cognition, and Mental State Representation Salzman for research, reported in the Science News’ article, Cerebral Delights, that identifies primary neurological links between fear and need. Perhaps science will eventually discover most everything that is discoverable (1). I have felt for a few years that fear stood at the headwaters of all emotions, including […]

The Story Trumps Truth

Viewing life impartially is one of the least stimulating yet most pleasing experiences I know. Biased views, on the other hand, are chock full of emotional tension, highs and lows, loves and hates —exciting yet stressful! Likewise, a good story is exciting, where as plain truth is often boring. While this is evident, Correlations (1) […]

Belief in Nothing is Dangerous

YouTube [Tucson: Descent Into Madness] for the 60 Minutes documentary about a shooting in Arizona. It offers insight into what drives a person to such violence. The perpetrator was Jared Loughner. Excerpts from an interview of two of Jared’s friends are at the end of this post. What caught my attention was when his friends […]

Love

Soon after we met, my future to be wife said, “I love you”. That moment had all the ideal romantic overtones one could ask for… us out in the forest, a moonlit summer’s night. Being the bubble-busting bum I am, I replied with something like, “What do you mean by love? What’s love?” Frankly, the […]

John Cleese, a ‘Taoist’?

John Cleese has given some very witty talks on creativity in which he comes off as a de facto Taoist, or as I like to say, a small ‘t’ taoist. Well, I suppose anyone with contrarian views is potentially a de facto ‘t’aoist. To get the most from this post, google this short video [youtube […]

Fear Is The Bottom Line

There is much more to fear than meets the eye. We often associate the symptoms of fear (i.e., the outer reactions fear instigates) as the fear itself. These reactions span a range from ‘flight’ to ‘fight’, although screaming and fleeing are the images that usually come to mind. Actually, pure fear is profoundly more subtle […]

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