Lost in Translation

I think we're both talking about bass but you're talking about fish and I'm talking about guitars...

Perhaps I should pay closer attention to my own thread... What I'm saying is that I cannot change you, and you cannot change me. We can grind each other into submission. We can destroy one another, but we can't change one another. However, I can change myself and you can change yourself, and as we each change ourselves the world, one person at a time, begins to change. For example: You and I are duking it out (metaphorically speaking) and I just stop. I give up. I let you win and begin to work on myself. At first you cheer because you won. But then you realize there is no one to push back against you. You've lost your counterweight. That angers you so you seek me out to reestablish our relationship, but I'm having none of it. In fact, I'm happy. And you see that I am happy, which angers you even more. But time passes and you see that I remain happy, so you begin to work on yourself - you have nothing better to do, after all. Then suddenly you are happy, too! And so it goes. One person at a time.

I want a peaceful world so I will bash my enemies over the head until they are nice to me. Or... I want a peaceful world so I will learn to be a peaceful man.

It's my belief that a man can improve himself. When enough people realize this, they target their focus internal, and as if by accident the external world improves. To focus on the external first is a waste of time.

This thread is doing just fine. Feel free to take it wherever it wants to go.

Cold beer in 3... 2... 1...

I have wrapped myself in shadow. I called it intelligence. I called it sarcasm. I called it righteous indignation. In reality it was fear. It was the cry of a small child, calling out to his mother in the night.

Ta Chuan / The Great Treatise CHAPTER VI. On the Nature of the Book of Changes in General 1. The Master said: The Creative and the Receptive are indeed the gateway to the Changes. The Creative is the representative of the light things and the Receptive of dark things. In that the natures of the dark and the light are joined, the firm and the yielding receive form. Thus do the relationships of heaven and earth take shape, and we enter into relation with the nature of the light of the gods. (Wilhelm/Baynes, The I Ching, 1950 Bollingen Foundation, Inc. pps. 343-344) So much good stuff is packed into this single paragraph. I don't know where to begin. Wilhelm gives his own interpretation, which is quite good. One item that I don't see Wilhelm comment upon specifically is the wording light things and dark things. I find it odd that there are things with the quality of light and dark. Light and dark are not things in themselves. It's not The Light or The Dark, rather it is something else to which light and dark are attributes or descriptors. This harkens back to DDJ chapter one where Lao Tsu says "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name." (Feng/English, Tao Te Ching, 1972 Vintage Books) In DDJ Tao is also a descriptor. It's not the thing itself but rather a placeholder for the thing that has no name. This is basic stuff but easy to overlook and easier to forget.

Let's see if we can resurrect this thread... Light and Shadow: the shadow is a hardening, a coalescing of will around a kernel of fear that grows, nurtured by ego. Shadows collects shadow, gathers likeness to itself. It looks away from Light, afraid of what it sees. It hides itself in the shade of its own creation, tells itself lies until it no longer knows truth.

The seemingly chaotic influence of many individuals operating upon each other can seem orchestrated when looked at from the outside, but that is not necessarily the case. Take, for example, the formation of birds flying in unison. They appear to be following a central leader, but in reality it's just thousands of individual birds.

Marblehead's influence on this forum was strong. Losing him has caused a shift. A new balance is forming and no one can say what that balance will be. I do not see it that way at all. The owners of this site are allowing the members to interact as they will. It is the members who are steering the site.

Oh, the humanity! Warm beer for three decades... That's cruel, even for an Aussie.

I take a lesson from Thich Nhat Hahn in his book "How to Walk"; Every time I encounter stairs I pause and say to myself "thank you for this opportunity to be present" before I continue up or down them.

The notion of gendered words is foreign to the speaker of English, but the entire concept of gendered things is not. A good example would be vehicles, in particular boats. It is understood that all boats are female. "She is a great ship", for example. One would never say "it is a great ship". Relating this to the text of the Bible is an excellent insight. Thank you for starting this topic.

“Stupidity cannot be cured. Stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death. There is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.” ― Robert Heinlein https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/248713-stupidity-cannot-be-cured-stupidity-is-the-only-universal-capital

I miss Marbles...

Interesting video. Highly relevant to many of the conversations here.

https://dianalorence.com/words/ It appears the house was built on a benefactor's land. I don't get the impression that she or her husband are rich, but rather they are influential.

Taken from toward the end of the video.

Cthulhu, anyone?

Perhaps this would make a good thread.

Thank you for this. Did you write this just now or is this something you had worked on before?

To be a sage is to be changed - that I wholeheartedly agree with, but why would the fate of a sage be different than the fate of anyone else?

Excellent point!

Perhaps if that cabin were a bit larger and had solar panels on the roof? At least then there could be one power outlet and the ability to run a radio or a laptop when needed. Perhaps even a small gasoline generator in the shed?