UserD503

I was reading through "Vitality, Energy, and Spirit" by Thomas Clearly (his translation). In the section on Lu Yen's "Sayings" I found: The Chief Hoodlum "To learn the Way we must first kill the chief hoodlum. What is the chief hoodlum? It is emotions. We need to wipe out that den of thieves to see once again the clear, calm, wide open original essence of mind. Don't let conditioned senses spy in. / What is this about? It is about quelling the mind. One removes emotions to quell the mind, then purifies the mined to nurture the great elixir." (p. 86) Over the years, I've become a lot less emotional. I've wondered if this is a bad thing, as if I were becoming numb or callous as a defense mechanism and not being "fully human" (whatever that might mean). Is it? Is there any reason to hang on to emotions or to give emotions a due place in the mind? I often see how emotions really blur things in other people's lives as emotional responses seem to lead to drama and even trauma.

I have that storyteller in my head. He makes up all kinds of crap, quickly. I have gotten better at catching myself, but sometimes I'm entrenched in one of these scenarios before I realize it's going on. And if I can't stop it, I wish I could put the storyteller to work in something creative.

I bumped into Daoism via Tai Chi classes. In reading on Tai Chi, I ran across Daoism, and that's where I am now, really just into learning about some principles of Daoism and how a Daoism perspective can help me navigate life.