Lost in Translation

I have been practicing smiling because I want to make myself lighter. I want my interactions with others to be more pleasant and feel that by starting the (non verbal) conversation with a smile I set a better tone for the interactions that follow. Also it makes me feel better.

Observations... Knight Read-a-Lot -- How cute! That made my day. The relationship between the question, the reader, the hexagrams, and the wording of the interpretations is fascinating. There are so many variables at play! Ultimately the reader needs to grasp an answer to a question -- a process that is admittedly not easy. I think people tend to stress the importance of the exact wording of the question not because the I-Ching needs specificity, but because the reader needs it. I'm glad you addressed this point. With experience I feel the reader will depend less and less upon question phrasing and will learn better how to gather the "feel" for the response, but this kind of skill takes time and effort to build.

Surely past generations relied on memory more than we do today for the simple fact that they had no choice. Even fifty years ago one did not have a pocket calculator so anyone who performed math as part of their daily activities would be incentivised to memorize tables of data. Today we do have pocket calculators so there is no need for that kind of memory.

They probably used slide rules. The calculations would have been quickly and dirty but surely "good enough". The thing to consider about automation is it does not stop one from thinking. It just allows one to think about other things.

I recall reading in the Iliad by Homer how the younger generation of Greek soldiers were far less than the giants of their fathers' and grandfathers' generation. Achilles, as mighty as he was, was still no Hercules. This feeling of generational decay is as old as humanity.

Guffaw. Gasp! Aw... Good idea.

Smile on the outside and thus smile on the inside. Give the kindness of your true self.

Such a happy picture!

Yes, but I'm talking about a "U" shape with the fingers, not a "(" shape. I've also found that I cross my legs when nervous, so intentionally uncrossing them similarly relaxes me. There is actually an entire science of body language that discusses unconscious "tells" that let a skilled interviewer/interrogator understand and manipulate a person. It's a fascinating body of knowledge.

The Tao is not making the choice.

My point is simply that one cannot know whether there is a reason or not. Faced with such a situation one must make a basic choice: to believe that there is a reason or to believe that there is not a reason. Neither choice can be proved or disproved. I have made my choice and you have made your choice. Our choices are not the same. That is all.

"It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all, It's a small, small

And you are also creating your own problem. There is likewise no reason to suppose that the world as a whole does not have a reason. As I said before, one is free to choose between hope (reason) and nihilism (no reason). I choose hope by choosing to believe there is a reason, and I reconcile what I perceive against this hope by accepting that my perceptions and capacity to reason are limited and thus I am incapable of knowing the truth. I don't choose to explain away my hope with specific dogma, and I don't choose to kill my hope with faith in my own capacities. To me, this is the middle way, and this comports with what I see of the workings of life. For example, my cat feels emotion and has capacity to reason and I can plainly tell his capacity is inferior to mine. I see no reason why that same relationship does not hold, albeit with me in the role of the cat and some otherworldly/otherdimensional consciousness in the role above me.

The political dialog is as much a part of the Spirit of the Dao Bums as the philosophical and spiritual dialog. I have learned much about Taoism by participating in the political threads. Sometimes one needs to give in to one's basest nature in order the exhaust the desire before beginning the process of cleaning.

This is where you and I disagree. There absolutely is a reason, but I believe that humans are too limited in our perceptions and understanding to comprehend this reason. The temptation to explain away the unexplainable is very strong, hence the myriad of religions. My answer is simple: I don't know, but I believe that someone or something does know and leave it at that.

This is the essence of it, is it not? That which reincarnates is an unrecognizable fragment of that which used to be. So what really is happening? We know that physical matter enters into our bodies and is transformed into life sustaining energy. We see this every day. And we also know that neither this matter nor this energy is "you." As far as we can tell, "you" are a pattern of thought, a perception of being, an intellectual and emotional response to the environment in which you live. Can this pattern survive death and find new life in a new body elsewhere? If it can, won't this new life quickly develop its own perceptions, its own responses and thus produce a new pattern? At some point all our thoughts begin to fail us. This can mean one of two things: reality is incomprehensible or we lack the capacity to comprehend reality. Since reality seems to do just fine I find it hard to believe that it's incomprehensible. Thus I am left with the following conclusion: humans are not capable of comprehending reality. That's a hard pill to swallow. Which brings us back to patterns, fragments and reincarnation. Do we trust that we're in good hands, even though we can't prove it? Do we have faith, or do we descend into nihilism? To be nihilistic one must believe one is correct and that nothing makes sense. To have faith is to believe that everything makes sense and one is simply too limited to understand.

I only realise I've fallen asleep after I awaken.

I have always felt the "goal" of Taoism is enlightenment. Only the enlightened know what that means. The rest of us are chasing a dream "on faith" (to borrow a Christian concept) and have no idea what we're actually searching for.

That's a good question! Looking back on my own life I can see that the person I was years ago is not the person I am today. For example, my ten year old self bears little resemblance to my forty year old self, and I have changed enough since I was forty that I can see a day when even that version of me will seem foreign. Imagine how the process of change will play out over the span of millennia and dozens upon dozens of lives! So what does it mean to reincarnate? Is it a continuation of one's self? What does that mean in light of continuous change?

Let's imagine I wrote this: A person who wants to change the oil in their vehicle may find this information useful. Of course it's also possible that this is a coded message teaching teenagers how to get laid. I guess it's all a matter of your point of view...

https://www.ichingonline.net/ Question: "What is the spirit of the Dao bums?" Short answer: #27 (䷚) Nourishment transforming into #42 (䷩) Increase Long answer: #27 (䷚) Nourishment #42 (䷩) Increase Seems pretty clear to me...

Snake Pliskin can handle it. Shoulda sent him after the "space carrot" 'nstead of that of his twin, if that's what he was. Speaking of twins, what's Danny up to nowadays? Arnold says he won't return his calls, which is odd since they live in the same house. At least that's what I heard.

It was actually a nice story about the effects of automation upon workers. I liked it, makes for a nice conversation starter.

Doctor Who vs Space Amazon. Kerblam!

That is an interesting take of the TTC. I've heard this before so there seems to be merit to it. Whether that was Lao Tsu's original intention... we'll never know. I tend to take the Tao Te Ching at face value, meaning it's a treatise on how to live effectively in the world. From that perspective I prefer to not add any esoteric meaning into the chapters beyond what is already there. Maybe that was Lao Tsu's original intention? Again, who knows...