Old River

-- Transgendered people going into public bathrooms. Why, after all these decades after, say Christine Jorgensen and other publicly known transgendered individuals, is this suddenly a crisis in 2016? That's what makes this whole "controversy" stirred up by McCrory disingenuous.

“For that is what conservatism is: a meditation on—and theoretical rendition of—the felt experience of having power, seeing it threatened, and trying to win it back.” ~ Corey Robin, The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin “Make America great again.” ~ Donald Trump

Funny how in the 200+ years of the existence of the United States, this was never a problem. It's a problem now only because some small-minded people have decided to make it a problem. Republicans are grandstanding to garner more votes from bigots-- even when they lose battles such as this. It's the same old southern strategy dogwhistle politics, appealing to people's bigotry so people will vote against their own interests. It's the only way they can get less wealthy people to vote for them, by further poisoning people's minds with fear and resentment. And they work round the clock warping the souls of many good people. But this sudden concern about bathrooms was never about implementing a pragmatic policy of any kind. Will everyone be required to carry "their papers" with them every time someone has to go to the loo? Pull down your pants? Look at your medical records? How will the government really know? Funny how a political party that claims the government shouldn't interfere with people's private lives are obsessed with people's privates, from marriage equality to transvaginal ultrasounds, ad nauseum. Doesn't sound like "small government" to me. This is why I can't take conservative opposition to the so-called "nanny state" seriously. Bigots can't eliminate minorities, but by god, they will do everything in their power to shove all of them back in the closet. It's about sending a message: "Keep in your place-- you are not acceptable." In other words, just bullying -- the sad obsession with wanting to feel superior.

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Finished Geldard's The Spiritual Teachings of Emerson -- well worth the read. On a related note, I found this interesting book on Amazon tying Emerson and the DDJ in a rather creative way: http://amzn.com/0679643397 The Tao of Emerson -- the DDJ on one side, and excerpts of Emerson on the other page functioning as a sort of commentary on the DDJ. Putting that one on the wish list for sure! So now I've begun Daoist Meditation: The Purification of the Heart Method of Meditation and Discourse on Sitting and Forgetting (Zuo Wang Lun by Si Ma Cheng Zhen). I'm curious as to see what similarities and differences this will have with shikantaza ("just sitting" in Soto Zen) which is predominantly what I have practiced as far as sitting meditation goes.

Evernote Daoism isn't monolithic and so it can be confusing -- so that's certainly not unusual! Different religious approaches, different philosophical approaches, a variety of doctrines and practices and any combination thereof. This means it's best to get a broad overview of what Daoism can entail. John Blofield's book Taoism served as a good introduction for myself when I was first exploring Daoist thought back around 1995. Others here might have some better recommendations. I've yet to read Eva Wong's Taoism: An Essential Guide, but I have a feeling it would be worth reading as well. But Blofelds' book covers Daoist principles as well as the plurality of approaches, philosophical and religious. Obviously, the Dao De Jing and Zhuangzi would be essential reading, regardless of a religious or more "philosophical" approach. I have a feeling, since you also are a Christian, that the philosophical angle would suit you more than the religious practice side of things -- but who knows? And that isn't to say that basic sitting meditation and/or qigong wouldn't be necessary, but you can decide for yourself how far down the rabbit hold you want to go. Experiment and see what works best for you. The Dao De Jing translation by Red Pine (aka Bill Porter) I feel is a reliable translation -- and it has some interesting brief commentaries by many Chinese scholars on each chapter, showing a variety of interpretations available (his translation is spelled "Taoteching" in case you go seeking it). Burton Watson's The Essential Zhuangzi is just that -- it's essential. And Watson is always a reliable translator who understands what he's translating. Getting a basic understanding of those basic principles is a good start for you, especially as a practitioner of Christianity. You may even come to recognize similar principles at work in the Dao De Jing as in the teachings of Jesus -- not identical to be sure, but certainly resonant with one another in their own peculiar expressions. There's much more to explore beyond this, but personally I would recommend this as a pragmatic starting point. Get a general understanding of Daoist principles, and only then begin to explore specific practices. At least this was the path that made best sense for me -- and back in the mid-1990s when I first explored Daoism, I was a Christian also.

Steve, this reminds me of a beautiful haiku by Issa: Simply trust: Do not the petals flutter down Just like that? The flowers and petals here have trust (i.e. "faith") in reality-- something we too often forget. It's a seamless kind of faith rather than a belief system meant to prop it up (as if reality needed our seal of approval!). That trust may be found in the non-grasping of meditation (faith) and not in theologizing or the construction of an ideological system to which one must assent. Its an experiential faith rather than an external belief -- and hence one reason why meditation is vital.

Exactly -- the issue isn't the awful deeds that have occurred in the past (what country doesn't have an ugly past?) -- but it's this unwillingness to even admit they occurred, much less admit that the US was founded upon (and prospered from!) these large-scale crimes. It makes all the talk of freedom hard for me to take.

(sorry, I've lived in the south for too bloody long, and I've seen too much here)

"State's rights" is nothing but a tacit code for "maintaining the hierarchy." This is the real reason for states with their newfound obsession with bathrooms and wedding cakes. The state can't gas 'em, they can't make them go away, but they can try their best to force them to stay "in their place." It's a message, the same old message that white straight males have always asserted since the founding of this country. Freedom...? lol

Thanks for that, LL. In many southern courtrooms they even had separate Bibles (!!!!!!!!) to swear on: http://www.jurisprudence.com.au/juris26/McFarlin.pdf And now in the 2st century, we still can't get over our sick addiction to hierarchical superiority (we can't even admit it as a country). This is why I find it impossible to feel remotely "patriotic" about the US-- it simply goes against my conscience. I don't hate the US, but neither do I love it.

Also, to add (if I may) from my version of chapter 11 of the Dao De Jing: thirty spokes share one axis the empty center renders a wheel’s role ... where presence confers gain absence [of fixed self] bestows its service

When I used to frequent one of Thich Nhat Hanh's monasteries in Mississippi on the weekends, the whole sangha would do repeated full body prostrations toward the large Buddha statue, knees and forehead on the floor, arms stretched forward on the floor with palms facing upward. I don't recall being taught the significance of this particular "pose," (though it obviously suggest humility) -- but, thinking in context of my Bodhisattva vows, I imagined my palms as stepping stones -- I thought of myself as a bridge for others. It became one of my favorite practices during that time in my life-- cultivating a mind of service for others. What is a Bodhisattva but someone who says, "After you"?

Karl, unsurprisingly you have entirely missed my whole point. And you have no idea who I am, what I've been through in life, or what my various motivations in life are. Your ready-made one-size-fits-all Randian sociopathic ideology renders you incapable of even listening to others who are less enlightened than you. I used to be a Randbot myself when I was much younger, so you aren't telling me anything I haven't already heard. Take your "Dear Ayn Rand" advice elsewhere.

"The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. The named is the mother of ten thousand things." DDJ 1 (Feng/English) For all those mothers who named us at our own births, Happy Mother's Day. Thank you for all you do.

Thanks for that, 9thousandthings! There is a wistfulness I find in much Chinese (and Japanese) poetry -- it carries over into guqin music too apparently. I've been listening to quite a bit of it lately. The aesthetic behind qin music is interesting too.

I am something of a Radiohead fan, though their music is terribly bleak so I can only handle it in small doses (actually that is true for Joy Division too). As far as new stuff goes, I think a lot of it falls under the "post-rock" category for me -- This Will Destroy You is another good band in the Mogwai / GYBE! vein. King Crimson 73-74 period is their peak moment I feel (Fripp/Wetton/Bruford + Cross and Muir lineup) -- but I love all the 68-74 period and 80s Crimson too (which was a gradually acquired taste for me! I wish they had done more in the 80s now). The early 90s work is good too, but I've lost track of what they've been doing since then, breaking off into various "modules" or whatever they're doing now. Old Yes and Genesis I listen more out of nostalgia from my teenage years, but Crimson still gets me worked up. So far I only have Starless and Bible Black on vinyl. I used to have Red but lost it, sad to say. I took to Yes and Genesis easily as a teenager, but Crimson I had to work at before I could appreciate them-- which only makes their work more rewarding to listen to. Definitely a perennial favorite for me.

This past Saturday evening I visited with two old friends of mine, a married couple I've known since 1997, when I lived in New Orleans at one point. They are now in their early 50s. We've talked from time to time over the years after I left New Orleans, and I've visited them, sometimes staying at their place in New Orleans. They lived through Hurricane Katrina and lost everything they had-- got stuck in a hotel building full the smell of rotting meat, having to relieve themselves in closets, cops shot at them as they tried to cross over to the West Bank. They went through hell and were (unsurprisingly) traumatized by the experience. They moved to Nashville of all places, where I was living in 2005-2006 and we managed to find each other again. I ended up moving to New Zealand in 2007, and ended up in Arkansas when I returned to the states. In 2014 I moved back to Nashville, and this weekend we caught up with each other again. Now this was a couple that was never particularly "religious" at all -- at most, they might've believed in God in that vague unspecific way that is not uncommon, but religion was not a topic they ever mentioned much even in passing. But I quickly found out this weekend that they now believe the "Rapture" is coming, Obama is evil, the US is "a Christian nation," etc. etc. They don't even go to any church because they think all establishment churches are "false churches." I am familiar with all this because in my early 20s I got sucked into this same cult-like atmosphere, but I got out after a couple years, thank goodness. Mark in particular was vigorous in his obsession with these religious and political certainties. It made me sad to see these good people have their minds distorted with fear. I got the impression that all their other friends no longer have anything to do with them now (Mark was in a jazz band-- they all came up from New Orleans after Katrina-- he's no longer in the band. He's a courier and spends his time in the van listening to talk radio, further brainwashing himself). I've been in this place before. I could see in Mark's body language that he was clinging desperately to this certainty because it was the only certainty he (and his wife, Laura) could conceive of. I first knew them both through a previous job -- Laura was a co-worker and I discovered she had literary interests -- we both liked Annie Dillard's work, among other things. She told me that for the past year the only book she has been reading is the Bible -- apparently with an interest in "prophecy." While I managed to NOT get in an argumentative frame of mind, Mark's voice kept getting louder and louder and he was even shaking. My voice got quieter and quieter, saying less and less-- there was really nothing to say. I was just so shocked and sad. Behind all these bold pronouncements of certainty was fear and trauma-- living through Katrina damaged them terribly, and their way of coping is only isolating themselves further in this unhealthy mental feedback loop. After saying (repeatedly) that I'd rather not talk about religion or politics, the conversation would change course, and return to a more familiar conversation pleasantness, catching up on old times -- but four times that night, Mark just couldn't help himself, circling back to the same obsession with Bible prophecy and the evils of socialism, etc. (and I do mean "evil" -- they saw my Bernie Sanders bumper sticker on my car -- I never said a word about my own interests in Buddhism or Daoism-- this would have opened a whole other can of worms!). And I know this mindset, having been there myself so long ago. Mark wasn't trying to convert me-- it was just being in the presence of someone who thought differently was just inconceivable to him. He was trying to convince himself, not me. I just kept waiting for normality to return so that I could exit on a good note. Though I kept surprisingly calm that night, I cried about it Sunday morning -- this I have lost too many good friends to extreme fundamentalism like this (unfortunately much of my life has been in the southern US where this sort of thing runs rampant). It just breaks my heart. Sorry... this is really more a personal tangent, and I'm venting a bit. This has been on my mind and both the OP and Yueya's comment fits all too well with what I experienced this weekend.

I appreciate the recommendations, Karl. I do know those bands. The latest prog-rock band I could listen to was Marillion (but stopped after Fish left, which was 1988 I think? But Steve Hogarth has a fine voice too). The appeal prog-rock once had isn't there anymore for me, and the heavier metal side of things I've never been able to get into. I once had a friend who was into Tool, Porcupine Tree, and Dream Theatre and I just failed to develop any appreciation for it -- just not my aesthetic I suppose. But that's just me -- it's not to deny there's no talent there to be sure! But I still have my fingers in a lot of different musical pies, circling back to a lot of 60s and 70s music I didn't explore as much, British folk and folk-rock, punk, lots of lesser known music that I had little exposure to as a teenager. My interest in rock music almost completely died 20 years ago until hearing Velvet Underground and Joy Division miraculously revived it.

Yes, I know them and have heard a few albums (several years ago) but I haven't followed them closely. They are certainly one of the much better bands out there. There are a few newer rock bands I listen to ("new" for me = anything post-1990!), but they are all in more the indie vein, Mogwai (also Scottish - I've seen them twice in concert, something I rarely do because I don't like crowds), Sigur Ros (I have almost all their music on vinyl), Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Low, Four Tet, Guided by Voices, only a few others. I can't keep up with it all! Ages ago, I was on the proggier side of rock, but now I can only stomach 70s Yes, Gabriel-era Genesis, and King Crimson (still love old Floyd but never counted them as prog-rock -- never understood that). But I can't really abide by it now. Funny, I tend to listen to rock almost exclusively on vinyl these days, but classical and other stuff in mp3 format. The bulk of what I listen to has always been classical and "early music" (Bach, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams being special favorites). Music is my one luxury I often enjoy.

Oh, and many thanks for starting this informative thread too, Yueya!

In the west too, a similar logic is at work in Plotinus, where "the One" is not merely the highest being, but rather "beyond being"-- which in turn influenced the Christian apophatic tradition, or via negativa (Pseudo-Dionysius, Eckhart, John of the Cross, and the Cloud of Unknowing being some good examples). It is in this sense that John of the Cross referred to God as "nada, nada, nada, nada, nada, nada, nada..." But it is even found in Augustine. This is now largely forgotten in Christianity, which has become "ontologically tone deaf," therefore unknowingly reducing God to a mere empirical object. It is also in other religious traditions, such as with the Sufi, an-Niffari, and others. It's interesting that this same ontological or mystical tendency has manifested itself in different religious and philosophical contexts.

I've heard good things about Pullman. I'll add this to my wish list! Thanks for the recommendation, Yueya!

A friend gave me an extra vinyl copy (mono) of the Left Banke's first album he had a couple weeks ago. I lost my copy in 2014, so it was a pleasure to hear this again today. Most people know them for "Walk Away Renee" but the whole album is full of great melodic invention and harmonies:

I'd say the problem lies with absolutism, which can take religious forms (the Spanish Inquisition, modern day Jihadism) or secular forms (Communism, fascism). But religion has a sort of ready-made package-- and metaphysical absolutism has a greater appeal (and a longer track record). But absolutism, in whatever form it takes, is always about power, putting people in "their place" (whatever that might mean in whatever context)-- the rest, as far as their fanatical followers go, is rhetoric. This isn't to deny that religion is blameless, but that the relationship between religion and violence is a bit more complex -- otherwise people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and MLK wouldn't exist.