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Apologies for this not being what you asked for, but... yes, your spiritual practice does seem somewhat limited. It sounds like you're limiting yourself to predefined "spiritual practice" and not actually allowing yourself to explore and grow. It sounds like you're a little too concerned with an idea of "spiritual enlightenment" based in Daoist practice, and think that understanding Laozi and doing tai chi will eventually be a magical solution to your issues. It will not. I'd suggest that your current perspective is doing more harm than good. Focusing so heavily on these ideas of becoming spiritually enlightened, trying to follow your path, maintaining touch with your spirituality, getting where everyone else is, etc... this is what's creating your anxiety. You need to let go, explore something else for a while. It's analogous to an athlete becoming obsessed with being the best in the world, forgetting that the reason they love their sport is the way they feel when they play. The point of spiritual practice, of life, is play. Don't get me wrong, 'Daoism' is lovely. For the last few years I've been going through a minor crisis of my own, and reading the Laozi and Zhuangzi (and studying them a little with people on here), and learning about Daoist and Buddhist and Hindu and Western philosophy, and science, has helped to keep me on an even keel. I've gained an insight into the self and my self, I've learnt how to be more content with where I am, etc. But this has been only a part of the picture. Without rigorous exercise, without getting outside and "being in nature", without one or two people to share conversation with (in person), without exploring a number of hobbies, and a number of other things, I'd be absolutely lost. And this is entirely personal, of course, but building an altar to anyone, Laozi or Jesus or Ban Kenobi, would have been absolutely detrimental to me. Look around the world. Hindus, Christians, Buddhists.. Worshiping idols leads to false hope and idleness. Again, apologies, I'm sure this isn't what you want. And I might have misunderstood you. But this is how I see it.

I'm not really sure what you're talking about. So have edited this one out. Why do I even bother to scroll down anymore..? Stick with Daoist Textual Studies, silly.

Yeah. I agree. We are a tolerant society, respecting the 'right' of others to have different belief systems, etc, to think as we think and speak openly about it if we choose to. Not to speak openly without fear of being disagreed with, but without fear of being (for example) murdered for our beliefs. Where we become (rightly) intolerant is when another's belief system, for example, limits our freedom to speak openly, or makes us fear that we might be murdered for our beliefs. This is why we don't like Islam. Strictly implemented, it necessarily conflicts with freedom of thought, speech, and action, and might require adherents to commit violent acts. We can't tolerate it in any strict form. But we can still be open and tolerant, valuing equality and freedom. The thing is, the majority of Muslims in this country (and others) are quite happy with not shoving Sharia law down our throats. The near-constant media attention claiming that basically all Muslims agree with ISIL is fear-mongering. There are problems with Islam in this country, especially concerning sexual violence and general mistreatment of females. These kinds of problem are certainly not going to be solved by accepting the Islamic way of belief (that men are superior to women, etc), but also not by constantly demonizing Muslims and pretending that our entire way of life is under attack because of a bit of immigration. The reaction to the refugee crisis so far has been, from some people, absolutely bizarre. "They're all coming here to kill us and rape our women", "They're all coming for the benefits, to live off our hard work", "None of them are really refugees", "They're all ungrateful pieces of shit", etc etc...these are the kind of headlines I object to, the kind of sensationalist nonsense that began this thread. The kind of posts that Shanlung was making. We're not letting that many in, and the ones we let in are probably going to be fine. Germany is letting a lot in, and the majority of them are lining up waiting to begin a new life. It won't happen overnight. When immigrants want to come here, it's often because they see the UK as a better and safer place to be alive. If foreign terrorists get in and commit atrocities, we must blame (among other things, including Islam and the place they came from, etc) UK border control. If British nationals grow up here and commit atrocities in the name of Islam, we must blame (among other things, including Islam, etc) the way they were educated and the kind of atmosphere they grew up in that would lead them to hate this country so much that they were willing to forsake everything -- common sense, compassion, family -- to blow themselves up. I dunno. I'm not trying to place a load of blame on the UK itself, because it is indeed a relatively open, tolerant, free place. It's a good place to be. But some UK citizens want to murder the rest of us, and I just think that if we are doing something wrong -- and it would be silly to think that we are perfect -- it is not that we allow people from other countries to come and live here, but that we enable people born and raised here to hate us so much. Constant 'Muslimophobia' does nothing but fuel the fire.

We both decided what these words meant to help further our own cases. What really matters is what the person originally using the words, i.e. Luke, meant. I think it was obvious that Luke did not mean those words as you interpreted them. I might be wrong. It might. But that's not what I'm advocating. There's a balance between being completely open and completely closed, and the UK is more open than Saudi Arabia (KSA), for example. This is part of what makes the UK culturally superior, isn't it? I think so. The UK is secular, the KSA is Islamic. The UK is tolerant and open, the KSA is intolerant and closed. In the UK we value privacy, in KSA...well, actually, apparently Sharia law places a lot of importance on privacy. They probably get more right to it than we do... Balance! If we're defining 'openness' as being open about opinions (which I would call 'honesty', not 'openness'), we must find a balance between being open/honest and tolerant. Not easy. So you are for tolerance? I thought so, couldn't really understand how you wouldn't be, though you seemed to be saying that 'justice' was its opposite.

False for some. Some people actually care about others. You are using personal definitions to create personally acceptable antonyms. I can't speak for Luke, but the openness, tolerance, and diversity I 'liked' his comment for are absolutely not the opposites of privacy, justice, and stability. Don't bring the state into it. No, openness is simply about being open to things -- ideas, methods, cultures, humans -- that one is not intimately acquainted with already. Everyone must live with a certain amount of openness, or nothing -- literally nothing -- can ever happen to them. Openness and privacy are not antonyms, and absolutely not mutually exclusive. Again, the state. No, tolerance is about tolerating those who differ from you in belief, method, culture, 'ethnicity', etc. The opposite of tolerance is intolerance, not justice. An Islamic or other religious state must surrender openness and tolerance for being closed-off and intolerant. A free state in which people believe in and are entitled to equality, privacy, 'justice', etc, must be one in which openness and tolerance are embraced -- to a far greater degree than they are in a religious state, anyway. Diversity and multiculturalism are not the same thing. But, sure... not everyone loves diversity. But creativity, intellectual curiosity, a taste for variety, awareness of the world around... these are all, in my opinion, markers of a superior intellect, and a culture that values these things is a superior culture. Wow.

Some hungry refugees want food and shelter. Monsters. It's not an exhibition of gratefulness, for sure, but neither is it a stark act of evil. They -- if they are indeed from Syria, and perhaps even if they are not -- have moved from their war-torn country and been offered shelter and food. Were you expecting every single one to line up without a fuss? Expecting these homeless people all to slip into a variety of occupations overnight? For fuck's sake. Look... Germany probably didn't do it right. A wealthy country opening its doors to immigrants is asking for some trouble, without a doubt. Everyone needs to be thoroughly checked, and the excess numbers of men need to be checked even harder. But grabbing on to every little potential chance to complain about immigrants who aren't even affecting you? Utterly pathetic.

You dare use my own spells translation against me?? (paraphrasing Severus Snape) Well played. Though I maintain what I think I've said somewhere before, which is that however effortlessly a king/ruler is able to rule, he is still a king/ruler -- he must be doing something, engaging somehow. Someone living alone in a cave wearing a crown is likely insane...

Well, this isn't entirely true, is it? A large chunk of the DDJ, for example, is dedicated to advising a political ruler how best to rule. Hard to do without engaging. And yeah, there is also, as you say, stuff like this: Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes place) under the sky; without looking out from his window, one sees the Dao of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows. (Laozi 47) Indeed there seems to be a lot of paradox involved. I think...it doesn't need to be either/or. Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation -- the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up) It's also worth noting that the DDJ isn't a perfect book of universal law handed to an immaculate prophet from some omniscient creator. In other words, it's not a bible, it's a guide, written by a bunch of ancient people. Same with the other Daoist texts. Some were wise, some probably not so. Not every chapter in every text can be universally applied; actually, I'm pretty sure that certain chapters should be generally ignored. If you find paradox, or something you disagree with, you don't necessarily need to worry yourself. If you feel like engaging, engage. Engaging can be brilliant. And if you don't, don't. Withdrawal can be good too. Just be aware of yourself, your reasons for doing what you're doing, and know that you can't truly change the world, though it can be good to try.

No. The notion that 'everything has value' is entirely meaningless. We can't claim that everything has a shape, or a colour, or a feeling, or utility... so how can we claim that everything, including abstract concepts such as 'hate', has an abstract property such as 'value' ? Value is all in your mind. It is a human concept. Rats, rocks, clouds...none of these talk of the 'value' of the others. Nothing has value but that which you ascribe to it. Life has no value but to the living who decide they love to be alive. Hate has value only if you decide it has. And if you decide it has, whether or not this 'value' is going to make you happy is another matter. I've found no use for hatred in my life thus far. It's never made anything better, for me or others. These days... I feel it, recognize it, but move on from it.

Yeah. obesity (+= diabetes) = low T = loss of muscle mass, energy, libido; increased depression, diabetes, osteoporosis... No worries, though. Technology will 'fix' this too.

Interesting. Yes, technology will be the major player. Though we continue to evolve in the 'traditional way', the ever-increasing rate of tech development will mean major changes in a relatively short time. (Assuming we aren't all dead in 20 years from WW3, which lasts a whole 5 hours...) Before long humans will be imbued with nanotechnology, I suppose. I find this article rather frightening: https://www.foresight.org/policy/brief2.html Well... I find the idea of the end of aging incredibly controversial, but there we are. Most won't. Before long humanity won't just be looking to colonize Mars. We'll become an intergalactic plague.

Well, yes, fear is a major factor, but simple faith is another. The truly faithful Muslim, Christian, or Jew is just like a sheep. Interestingly, the important Abrahamic prophets all share a shepherd-like story of some sort: Moses led his people out of Egypt; Jesus was "the good shepherd" laying down his life for the sheep; Muhammad watched over camels and sheep before he became a warlord. I'd suggest that humans/populations the world over display sheep-like tendencies, foxes taking the lead. I like to think of myself as a bird.

Please notice that I didn't say "all is OK with Europe". By pointing out the relative freedom we enjoy in Germany, France, and the UK, I meant that certain countries -- notably, many European ones -- are the best in the world in which to live. While far from perfect, modern European culture might be said to be a good model for others. Part of the reason this is true is that, more than certain cultures, we tend to value freedom, equality, and logic (three core beliefs/skills that are, nonetheless, lacking in many who hail from these countries, apparently).

edit #2: as shanlung replied before I deleted my content, I'll paste it back in. shanlung, Your posts so far seem to be implying that the refugee situation in Germany must be to blame for the attacks last week. As SC has pointed out, though there may well have been more men originating from Muslim-majority countries involved in the reported assaults (northern Africa -- Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria) than in previous years, the group was not made up mostly of Syrians or other newcomers to Germany. They are people who have been in Germany for a while, and in fact crimes like this happen every year but are perhaps less likely to be reported if the assailants are not black or brown. This means that plenty of white Germans have been acting like this in the past. Comparing your false implications vs the actual facts, it would seem that this topic has no validity. Trying to talk about refugees, but the OP has little to do with refugees. Bringing up a country like Singapore is not particularly helpful: it has a fairly terrible record when it comes to 'human rights', and so should not be compared to places like Germany, France, or the UK, where people actually enjoy freedom. Nobody here is going to pretend that Islam is a lovely religion, or that there isn't probably some greater incidence of sexism and mistreatment of women among male Muslims based on the religious beliefs they've grown up with; but this doesn't mean that all refugees are filth or that we should judge anyone based on alarmist newspaper stories.

Pretty good definition in there. I've been wondering about watching it... might give it a go after having seen this!

TM I agree, especially with your second definition. Though rather than "kung fu the martial art" I would suggest that, for most Chinese, it is a general term for Chinese martial arts, pretty much interchangeable with wushu 武术 (literally 'martial arts') in every day speech. Some Chinese sources suggest that it is a term that can encompass the whole of the Chinese tradition of martial arts and personal cultivation. Baidu goes as far as: 功夫，是民族智慧的结晶，是汉族传统文化的体现，是世界上独一无二的“武化” Gongfu is the crystallization of the people's wisdom, the incarnation of traditional Han culture, a 'martial culture' unique in the world

Aetherous.. I'll first say, I liked your translation. Though I must also say it is my general preference not to add words or ideas that are not specified or strongly implied in a text. One of the beautiful things about the language in the text is that it is open to interpretation. There are texts from those hundreds of years ago that are definitely not as open to interpretation, but the Laozi always has been (which is, of course, why we're all here debating the details ) Then, I must point out that my character choice (seen earlier in the thread) was never intended for wider use. Apart from the fact that I got it a bit wrong (and never bothered to correct it on here) the modern characters I used are intended only to resemble as closely as possible in structure the writing on the GD slips. This created 2 problems: firstly, in many cases it is not possible to find a modern character that has the same structure as one on the slips; secondly, when it is possible to find one that is identical in structure (such as 紛) these characters often have a different meaning now than they did when they were written (other characters now taking their places). That being said, the character in question is (IMO beyond a reasonable doubt) written as 紛 in the GD, and I doubt the meaning has changed all that much since, really. My original translation, 'untangling knots', could be taken in a number of ways.

The collapse of civilization, eh? I'm not sure whether to agree or not. I mean, civilization is not good. I am all for 'civilization' as we know it collapsing and something else (something genuinely based on compassion and equality rather than oligarchy and war) taking its place, and would not be appalled to discover that civilization were in fact about to take its final breath. But I'm pretty sure that what you see as 'collapse' is in fact a general improvement. Civilization is, tentatively, starting to become something good, finally. Economy, education, philosophy... they're all better, on average, than they ever have been. This isn't just my opinion, this is as objectively demonstrable as anything that isn't 100% objective. Economically, we're all doing better than past humans. We have more to spend; a far smaller proportion live in poverty. It is true that the absolute number of people living in poverty is greater than it ever has been, but this is only because we've been doing so well (health- and lifespan-wise) that there are more of us now than there ever have been. The world population is, on average, far better educated than any prior population ever has been; the best educated of today know more than any humans in history; I am far better educated than my ancestors of 200 years ago ever could have been. Our scientists and philosophers are able to connect the pieces from over 3000 years of science and philosophy around the world to construct the most complete idea of reality any humans have ever known. (Art and literature are, of course, entirely subjective, and I'm not sure what I'd argue either way.) You can use Japan as an example if you like, but their admittedly odd culture is not exactly representative of the entire world. And either way, it is doing better economically, scientifically, and educationally than it ever has before. What you call a loss of identity I might call... freedom. I'm sorry.. what..?

Though this is Dao-related, obviously there is no dedicated art subforum, so I thought this might be the best place to do 2 things: learn something new about Daoist-related art, and show people a bit of my own. In Beijing last year, I came across the most wonderful painting of a woman riding a tiger: Upon further enquiry, I learned a litle about the story of Wu Cailuan, and discovered that there are so many more wonderful paintings depicting her riding the tiger. One that I came across that I really love is, apparently, by renowned painter Hua Sanchuan 华三川, though it doesn't look entirely like his normal work: It looks like Hua's seals (I don't know what the different seals mean, but these look like the ones on his other works) so I assume it is his work. Either way, I love the peaceful, harmonious feeling, quiet colours, the almost tangibly soft fur of the tiger, and the graceful position of Cailuan herself. I liked it so much, I did my own (digital) version. I knew that trying to copy the feeling of the original was a fool's errand, so I went for a more limited palette and removed the lush greenery; a kind of yang to the original's yin. It was great fun to work on. And so...your turn. What Dao-related art can you recommend?

Undulus asperatus (photo from this lady, not me!)

Took a couple on my phone the other day. It's been overcast for a while (good for rain, not much to show in a photo..) but every so often they break apart..

Come to think of it, yes. Quite common today too, I guess. I knew a Wenwen 雯雯, for example, and I'm sure I've met people with Yun 雲 in their name. Yu 雨 rain is very common as part of female names (notice the characters for clouds such 雯 and 雲 include the character for rain). Certainly interesting that literal translations are not always used, and sun is emphasised. I suppose that 'Skybright' is snappier, rolls off the tongue better, than 'Fair Weather Cirrus'... but I think Cirrus itself is a beautiful word. It's not just clouds of course (as I'm sure you're aware), but 'nature' in general. In Japan, too; recently watching the latest Sasuke (Ninja Warrior, I've loved it for years) I noticed how many surnames involve mountains, trees, rivers, flowers, etc. I suppose some English given names and surnames were once inspired by nature, but meanings have become obscured.

Interesting phrasing. "Being on Facebook probably makes you slightly less happy" would have been my choice. I have only ever used FB as a replacement tool for communication, not a replacement for a social life. It became popular when I was first in China, which was very useful. I've never been big on phones, and FB allowed me to communicate with all my friends back home with photos, updates, private messages, etc. Of course I still spoke on the phone/Skype with family and a couple of friends. Nowadays, though it's changed and certainly become a great moneymaker, it remains for me a free communication tool, allowing me to stay updated on friends around the world (not so many in China, unfortunately; have to use other networks for them) and share certain things with friends closer to home. My phone is too old to use FB, but when I bother to get a new one I will also be able to stay updated more easily on social gatherings, the organization of which is almost exclusively through FB these days. Making organization more convenient, I think it probably actually leads to more interaction among my local friends.

You say that your call for help is sincere, but I don't believe you. You have been offered some reasonable advice, some ideas that might actually make sense, methods that might help; but you seek out an astrologer, whose advice allows you to wait, to not have to change the way you think, to not have to ask yourself any real questions. I hope that your nightmares cease. My advice is to seek out the real reason you're having them.

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