Albion

The only movie that I could think of is 'The Tao of Steve'. It's all filmed in New Mexico (around Santa Fe, mostly) where I used to live. I *think* that the main actor's name is Donel Logue, and Greer Garson plays his love interest. Logue develops what he calls 'The Tao of Steve'. It's his way of incorporating a little bit of the Tao Te Ching, into a sort of manual to "pick up chicks". The TTC is quoted from (mostly out of context) in this movie, but it is quoted from, which I found interesting. Logue plays a late 20ish guy who has a pretty hefty sexual appetite, until he meets a gal (Garson) who is friends with his neighbors, and who is pretty much hip to his tricks, I could tell you just why this is so, but it might be a spoiler, and as I'm a real movie freak, I don't wanna do that! The beauty of New Mexico, and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, is a real strength to this movie. A motorcycle ride in this movie, down N.M. North 14, came within only about a mile or two from where I used to live, on the Eastern side of the Sandia Mountains. This is actually 'the back way' into Santa Fe, New Mexico (but only 'the locals' really know this). The great beauty of New Mexico is worked out as an awesome back drop to to this movie. It's a pretty good comedy, a bit raunchy, with a kind of happy ending, and the references to the TTC are all pretty funny, and are well done. I would give it a maybe six and a half, or maybe a seven, on a scale of 1 to 10, on my "really good movie list". Some of the comedy is a bit slow, and you can see it coming from a long ways off, but it still manages to give us a laugh, and helps us to remember, when we were kind of where 'Dex' (the name of Logue's character in the movie) was, in our own lives. Check it out, it's worth a watch. It's sometimes still on HBO, usually in the mornings. Keep on Daoing, Different Abled Daoist ​

Friends of Dao, I've been doing some thinking this morning. Someone that I know, and admire very much, studies only one version/translation of the Dao de Jing (Tao te Ching). For years, until the last few months I've been doing the 'busy beaver' thing and studying a lot of different DDJ/TTC translations. Up until the last few months when I finally broke down and started studying the 'Tao Te Ching--A New Version For All Seekers' translated by Guy Leekley. You can find some reviews at Amazon.com about it here: https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Version-Seekers-ebook/dp/0979150949/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472232980&sr=1-1&keywords=Tao+Te+Ching+A+New+Version+for+All+Seekers ​Anyway, Guy Weekly's TTC has just a wee bit of a Buddhist slant in it, but it's still very good, and I "accidentally" found it, and have been using it since then. I've been reading/studying the Feng/English TTC beside Weekly's TTC as of late, which I find helpful. But this morning I got a paper copy of 'The Way of Lao Tzu'--[Tao-te ching] by Wing-Tsit Chan, it's wording is from circa 1963, but it's different from the online version, in a fairly large way. I got this TTC for 99 CENTS! And it's in very, very good condition! I mean WOW!! So, here's my question, maybe settling down and only using only ONE version/translation of the DDJ/TTC is a pretty good idea. That way you can 'sink yourself' (in a good way!) into one translation, and learn what that translation has to say to YOU. I'm NOT suggesting that we ever avoid studying and learning new things about the DDJ/TTC, but in fact, just the opposite, that we learn from one translator to the point of letting her/his words become a real PART of us! If I had not seen this work for someone else, I might not have thought this through at all, in fact! So, thanks to that person, you know who you are (in more ways then ONE! lol)!! Anyway, these are the thoughts that have been rattling around in my mind this morning, I thought that I'd write this down here, and toss it out there for discussion. I hope that's it's taken in the good spirit in which it's written. :-) Your Friend in Dao, Differently Abled Daoist

I'm wondering if anyone here would like to study the Dao de Jing/Tao Te Ching, maybe a couple of times a week? I was thinking that it might be fun, and a way to learn more about the DDJ/TTC. I'm certainly not a sage, but just someone who would like to have some others to study and share with. I was thinking that we might try to tackle maybe a chapter or verse a week, or maybe a chapter or verse twice a week. You can leave a note here, or send me a PM if you think that you might like to do this. Anyway, I hope to hear from someone, and if not, Peace to everyone anyway. Differently Abled Daoist Added by Admin: This is the version being used, Feng-English: http://terebess.hu/english/tao/gia.html

Dear Dawei, I CANNOT sign out. This has NEVER happened before tonight. Can you please help me, I don't wanna lose "my online home". I've tried everything, and going to bed without signing out is probably totally a bad idea. I don't know what to do. Can you help me? Remember what I told you just the other day. You remember, right? Thanks for any, and all help! Differently Abled Daoist

Dear Dawei, OK, please ask Rene to copy and paste my e-mail that I wrote to her this morning on to you. OK? It will tell you EVERYTHING. I'm using the password that you guys assigned to me. I tried to change it to something else, but it will NOT let me. OK, this is a weak password, if you have any ideas how to help me make it stronger, please let me know, ASAP, OK? Thank you. I created quite a mess, I'm very sorry. My intent WAS ONLY GOOD. Honestly. I was "Differently Abled Daoist', now I'm Albion, which is my first name. Thanks to you, Marblehead, and especially to Rene for all of her help! Fans, take it from me, if you are going to change your screen name come here and ask/tell Dawei FIRST! Thanks for everything. Please get back to me in a PM about the password. THANKS! Peace, Albion

Dear Rene, If I haven't sacrificed 22 or 23 computers to this sociopath, and one really nice cell phone, since 2002, frankly, I'd stay. But I *have*. And that's big money to me. It wouldn't surprise me to see this on a fundamentalist Christian e-list, even on a (so-called) "wiccan", or neo-pagan e-list, not even on a Old Craft e-list! But one that supposed to be Daoist, and is filled with Buddhist's and other kind people. Well, it pretty blows my shit away! I'm NOT gonna lose another computer to this asshole. YOU should be afraid that's he HERE. What, he's make someone seem like a newby who's from 2012, or 2015 (I forget which year it was), and acts like it's from RIGHT NOW. That should be enough. Let him hack away, cause that's exactly what he'll do......or if *I leave*, he might leave too. Let's hope so. Peace, I've enjoyed my time here, Albion

I just asked that you send it on to *Dawei, personally*. I read it again, maybe that's not clear. If that's the case, I'm sorry. Albion

I'd like to change my screen name, simply to my first name here at Dao Bums. How do I do THAT? Thanks for your help. Peace, Albion

Autumn in Southern Wisconsin, Enchanting and beautiful music in the background, the humidity gone for a day. Red and yellow leaves showing up more and more. I Love Autumn, it's peacefulness, and sometimes it's pain, in beginning to turn towards Winter. Taking off Summer's clothes, ever so slowly, like a Lover. Wet streets, wet ground, grey skies that seem endless, but they bring in a sense of everything Being exactly as it should be. A leaf falls, seeming to say to me "See you again next Spring". The Cranes still here, long grey bodies, bright yellowish and orange eyes, A seemingly good omen, as they hunt for food, Undisturbed by humanity all around them, They just continue being Cranes, The real Adepts of the neighborhood! I'm glad today that Summer's heat is gone, Autumn always makes me take stock of my life, and be thankful. For this divine moment of introspection, Of giving me a look into nature, a true vision of how simple that life really is, when we just get still enough to hear, to really listen, and to really see. And to feel taken care of by the Divine Dao, who allows and helps us to be, who we really are, in this moment, called Autumn.

Yes, Stosh I totally agree with you here. Very well said! peace, D.A.D.

If I want to add a saying, or a sentence to the bottom of each of my posts, how would I go about doing that? Could I ask you guys for help on that one? Thanks for your help! Peace, Differently Abled Daoist

Thanks to you guys going on without me last night. Sometimes a good night's sleep makes everything better! I appreciate each of your comments, and I especially appreciate Rene stepping in to halt a conversation that did/does not belong here. Thanks for that Rene. You are a good friend! Peace, D.A.D.

"If men lack knowledge and desire, then clever people will not try to interfere." I always liked the wording "cunning" in place of 'clever'. But I also agreed to use one translation so I won't back off of that promise. Just a thought below. Don't we ALL know (or have known) people like THIS? Who try to push their will or agenda by being clever, or cunning? Yes, I think so. Dear Jonesboy, I liked what you said, which I very much agree with. I especially like "the local mind" saying. I'm not sure that I've heard that one before. But that's a very good way to put it. Thanks for that! Peace, Differently Abled Daoist

My Friends in Dao, I've been out shopping all afternoon. And I don't know if any of you know what Fibromyalgia is, but I've got a pretty wicked case of it. So, let's do chapter 3, tomorrow, if none of you mind. And we can get back to discovering what Laozi has to say to us in verse/chapter 3. How's that? If anyone wants to go ahead and dig into chapter/verse 3, then I'll join you all in the morning. OK? Thanks for your understanding, and I really appreciate all that we've done so far. And I look forward to verse/chapter 3. So, I'll see you all tomorrow. Thanks, Differently Abled Daoist

Been alone now, for seven and one half years. Wondering if it'll stay like this forever, Or if 'the Dark Enigma' will bring another lady, my way, in spite of my fears. Get tired of wondering, on some days. Other days are filled with busyness, and the thought recedes to the back of my mind. Then it comes out of hiding, once again. But honestly, right now, I'd settle for a friend, who just lives close by. We'd meditate, listen to music, drink tea, and maybe every once in a while, we'd Make Love. Then I think that it's been seven and one half years, since I Loved a woman, and for a very short while, she Loved me in return. Don't wanna be hurt again, ​Just lookin' for a friend. To explore Autumn with, and watch the leaves fall to the ground. Such a beautiful time to Fall in Love, and watch the seasons change. In November I turn 65. And I'd like to not be alone, on my birthday. Come on. I know that 'you' hear me! ​Is that askin' too much? So, she'd better hurry up, cause I'm plain tired of being alone. Do 'you' hear me, I said that I'm plain tired of being alone! Nothing would make me happier, if for once, you'd show up, on time. I'm waiting, but I've stopped watching....................the clock.

​Thanks so much Roger! D.A.D.

Friends in Dao, It'll be late tomorrow afternoon when I can post again. If someone else wants to start on verse/chapter 3, feel free to do that, it'll probably around 5:00 PM (CST) when I get home and situated tomorrow. I hope that everyone has a really great night, a night of sweet dreams, and Peace. In Dao, Differently Abled Daoist

The San Francisco Peaks right now at sundown (in real time). http://www.flagstaffarizona.org/webcam/

Thank you so much! Heart touched! D.A.D.

I personally consider The San Francisco Peaks right outside of Flagstaff, Arizona, to be the most beautiful mountains that I've ever seen. They are an ancient extinct volcano. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/San_Francisco_Peaks,_winter.jpg&imgrefurl=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphreys_Peak&h=3600&w=4800&tbnid=KDnFalMrRH37BM:&tbnh=160&tbnw=213&docid=go5Ivimu-osYFM&itg=1&usg=__eOPJKvupSB5EukRjQRya72EY1hw=#h=3600&imgdii=KDnFalMrRH37BM%3A%3BKDnFalMrRH37BM%3A%3BM3gctFJegFX8xM%3A&tbnh=160&tbnw=213&w=4800 This isn't a very good photo, even compared to some that I've taken, but never-the-less it is the San Francisco Peaks, a mountain that is very 'Holy' to both the Hopi's and the Navaho (Dineah [spelling?]) people's. This mountain is very beautiful to ME. But somebody else might say: "Well, the Colorado or the Canadian Rockies are way more beautiful then these mountains are!" I've also lived in the Mojave Desert, and there are some really UGLY mountains in the Mojave. This is the first part of verse 2 in the TTC: "Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty, only because there is ugliness." This mountain comparison is a perfect example of this. "All can know good as good only because there is evil". The TTC doesn't say that there is NO evil, but that we can know good as good, when it's compared against evil. I don't know if floods, volcanoes, earthquakes or mud slides are evil, they are just an intense part of nature, and therefore part of the Great Circle of All Life on Earth. But I DO know that there are evil people. Look at the present American presidential election. This may be a vast oversimplification, but if the shoe fits........... "Therefore having and not having arise together. Difficult and easy compliment each other. Long and short contrast each other; High and low rest upon each other; Voice and sound harmonize each other; Front and back follow one another." All of these are much like the choice of mountains. They all contrast, and even balance each other out. "arise together" as verse three in this passage says. But then Laozi tells us: "Then the sage goes about doing nothing (wu wei?), teaching no-talking". *Sometimes* in handling bad stuff (not every time I think), the BEST way to handle it, is to *do nothing*. And honestly, NOT TALKING about it takes away some of it's power too. Who can understand what *you've gone through* that they have never even experienced? It's best left undiscussed. In my opinion, the sage is a learner (and teacher) of life's lessons, and HOW to absorb them, or NOT. "The ten thousand things rise and fall without cease............"civilizations rise and fall.... literally without cease, "Creating, yet not possessing", Look at the megalithic builders.......no one knows from where they came, or where they went, but there are their stone monuments all over Western Europe and Britain and Ireland..........but they possessed these places a very short time, in linear time, as time as we understand time now, and the way that it goes. "Working, yet not taking credit. Work is done, then forgotten. Therefore, it lasts forever." I could wax poetic here, but these three lines summarize it all. The things that "a sage" does, are done. And forgotten. When forgotten, the sage's work, "lasts forever". A strange, but enduring concept! Please forgive me, I just couldn't help it! I'm sorry for being so wordy here, I'm just very much a regular guy, learning daily, just as we all do. I hope that in trying to take on such a great task as this, I don't blow it, by being too wordy. That's it for me, I'd love some feed back. Peace, D.A.D.

Hey Joe, Look, I've got up to somewhere between 45 and maybe 60 versions (this includes some downloaded from the internet) of the TTC/DDJ, are ANY of them the *originals*??? NO, I seriously doubt it. This includes the Ma Wang Dui Silk, and Gaoudian Bamboo 'slats' DDJ. Are any of them the originals?? NO, I seriously doubt it. So, we decided to use the translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English. It's easy to understand, and most people either have a copy, or you can download one for free from the internet. We would be honored to have you join us in our wee study here, if you'd like to. You are most welcome! Deep Bow. The Dao be with you! Differently Abled Daoist

OK Let's use only ONE translation. 'Lao Tsu Tao Te Ching', translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English. Almost everyone knows, or has, this translation. My coffee book version is down the hall in my storage closet. But my 'Plain Text Only' version is right beside me. Chapter 2: 'Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness. All can know good as good only because there is evil. Therefore having and not having arise together. Difficult and easy compliment each other. Long and short contrast each other; High and low rest upon each other; Voice and sound harmonize each other; Front and back follow one another. Therefore the sage goes about doing nothing, teaching no-talking. The ten thousand things rise and fall without cease, Creating yet not possessing, Working, yet not taking credit. Work is done, then forgotten. Therefore it lasts forever.' Now, I've gotta do some work on my computer, but I will get back to all of you this afternoon. I've already felt like I've learned from each of us doing this together, so..........I'm at Peace with that. We need to keep going, and I have a feeling that we all will learn from each other, which is exactly what I had hoped for! In Dao, Differently Abled Daoist

I had some stuff that I needed to do this morning, but I decided to postpone it. Maybe I should change my screen name to 'Romantic Quester' (or how about 'Romantic Fool'? lol). You know Rene, I think that those people who choose to depart from life, and choose intentionally to set themselves apart in a monastery or deep in the mountains, if that works for them, to turn away from life, and *only* concentrate on their spiritual growth, well and good. And let me be clear here, I'm NOT saying that YOU are like that. Let's get clear about that. OK? No one Loves wilderness more then ME. Henry David Thoreau said: "In Wilderness, lies the preservation of the world". Chief Joseph ('Rolling Thunder in the Mountains') of the Nez Perce Tribe said: "The Earth and myself, are of One Mind" (my caps), and I agree with him too. I wholeheartedly AGREE. If I wasn't in this wheelchair, and being 'abled differently', I would likely BE where you are, in the mountains somewhere out West, but I could not find a way to break out of the workforce, until I fell off of a ladder. Sad but true. But you (Rene) said: "Some traditions feel that the more one can turn his/her back on the manifest - the more one will find/understand the mystery. I disagree with that idea." Yes, so do *I*. In a way, I live like a monk. But that does NOT mean, that that is my WISH. There's a lot of talk on here, on Dao Bums, about being celibate and sexless, show me just one place where the Laozi speaks *plainly* to either of those ideas. And don't get me wrong, if someone thinks that living like this, will bring them closer to the Dao, be my guest. But I've read the TTC/DDJ for quite a few years now, and I simply do NOT see this in the text of the Laozi. We are NOT Buddhist Monks, nor are we Roman Catholic Priest's. At least I'm not, and I don't think that any of the other's involved in this discussion here, are either. So, I've wandered away from the TTC, if we want to discuss these ideas some more, I'm *good*. I just want *all of us* to 'guide' this discussion. Not just ME. So let me know through the day, as we go along, where we are, and if we are ready to talk about verse/chapter 2. And then, we'll do it! OK? Peace to all of you, D.A.D.

Dear Roger, Yes, brother I do do that (pray) sometimes it's difficult to think of Dao as anywhere near "God". But, I'm a recovering drug addict, 29 years sober, and I can tell you that I did NOT do that alone! But I think that Dao is very near to being like 'The Force' of the 'Star Wars' movies. And the above poem is a prayer/plea spoken out loud, that is written down (and even accompanied by music lol), for that very thing. "Please send a woman my way, who will NOT judge me for being disabled, and who will Love me for the rest of my days/life on earth". Thank you for writing, if you feel so led, YOU have my permission to ask for the above for me too. Some days, it's hard to keep going on alone. It's really as simple as THAT! Peace to you, Differently Abled Daoist

For those few romantic souls here, here is another beautiful version of the same song: