liminal_luke

I find myself in need of an attitude adjustment. It no longer works for me to think of people as good or bad. For sure there are people who are better than others at particular tasks. Some of us are stronger or smarter or more beautiful than our peers. But I´m not sure that any of that makes anybody better, more worthy of drawing breath. What if everybody is equal? What if I stopped seeking praise or fearing judgment? Just stopped. This morning I´m wondering how my life would change if I just dropped this whole business of ranking the value of people (including, most especially, myself) altogether.

I told Gemini to stop saying things that implied it cared about me or had human feelings, none of this "tell me how it goes?" crap. Mostly it has complied although it still tells me my cooking ideas are brilliant. If I didn´t know better, I´d open up an Indian food restaurant.

Unfortunately, the image Taomeow posted has some licensing requirements, a bit of an obstacle for us. Here´s a human-drawn image we could use for free for your consideration.

Having won the prize for the "ultimate unpopular opinion," indefatigable Cobie set his sights on the opposite end of the spectrum -- the ultimate popular opinion.

“This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled. But there are moments when we can … reconcile and embrace the whole mess, and that’s what I mean by ‘Hallelujah.’” — Leonard Cohen

Yes, that would be easy to do. It´s also possible to adjust the colors, brightness, etc. All suggestions are welcome.

To my thinking, the virtue of Taomeow´s horse is that it accurately reflects the astrological energy of the year: it actually looks like a Fire Horse. A rather nice one. Nungali´s horse makes me smile and, in it´s jokey childlike way, has some artistic flair. The mischievious boy in me likes the idea that this image Nungali made for giggles could actually be our banner. If we did make a poll, I suspect that Nungali´s image would have a surprisingy large "cult following." But it´s not really a Fire Horse. There´s a paradox that lies at the heart of what this forum is about. We´re Tao Bums. Which is to say that many of us are serious spiritual practitioners (that´s the Tao part), but, at the same time we´re also Bums. Most of us have a little of both of these qualities though proportions vary. On a good day, I´m 30% serious Taoist, 70% Bum. This likely explains my impish advocacy of Nungali´s image. I suspect the final decision will be made by the adults in the room.

For your consideration..

Thanks, kakapo! To my eye, the horse needs to be extracted from the background so it´s just the horse against the blue sky rather than the square of the whole drawing. Just my opinion. That´s some work though so no problems if you´re not up for it, especially since there´s no consensus that this is the way the board wants to go.

If you´re willing to transfer it to the banner, I´d love to see how it looks. Not sure that it´s my Number One choice, but it has a certain charm and I think it would be fun to see it on the banner.

I think you meant your image as a joke but I kinda like it. We could certainly do worse!

@old3bob has long made the point that it´s not really possible to separate the spiritual and the political. He´s not wrong, imo. It´s likely that the transition we´re about to make to Fire Horse energy is going to be a "current event." We all need a little fire but the trick, I think, is to get the balance right; better a well-tended campfire than a conflagration. Kakapo´s image catches the hard-charging character of Fire Horse well, imo, and he integrated it into the banner masterfully. What I like about your image is how it captures the best aspects of fire -- vibrancy, playful whimsy, joy.

I like Taomeow´s image too (and may have to eat my words if it´s AI created). Nungali´s image doesn´t really fit the energy of the year Chinese astrology-wise, but may turn out to be the antidote for the year we all need.

It´s OK if the image is embedded in a background. What we end up using will likely be just the horse part, but it´s easy enough for my partner to take just the horse out of the image. Other mods might feel differently, but personally I lean away from AI images because I think that human-created art carries more chi.

Sounds good. If I´m remembering right, you once posted about the beneficial effects of light later in the day (in regards, I think, to vitamin D). Perhaps I´ll start a habit of at least weekly beach walks at sunset.

A good year to spend a lot of time at the ocean and other bodies of water to balance things out?

@Taomeow Just my attempt at a joke...probably not my best attempt.

Given my experiences at the free county clinic, I´m thinking "Fire Horse" isn´t gonna be an especially auspicious year.

Oh, now I get it.

If Apech´s not available feel free to ring me. 867-5309 -- Jenny https://youtu.be/6WTdTwcmxyo?si=ye6R-kpejHSMcA9E

I´m generally not inclined to write posts that crawl right up to the boundary of current events and do a little na-na dance but, what can I say, ya pulled me in. So, in the spirit of Mods Gone Bad, here´s what I´d say... Stubbornly perhaps, I continue to believe that most people are "good." Some of us are confused and misinformed, but even the most thoroughly bamboozled retain a spark of human goodness. Mostly. Yes, some evil ones exist. But for the most part the evil ones aren´t who we think they are, which is to say they aren´t the people who disagree with us. The people who disagree with us want happiness for themselves and their communities just like we do, they just see life through a different cultural lens.

I´m of the opinion that all human beings are ultimately unknowable -- a very good thing. You, Lairg, are perhaps more unknowable than most.

The Dao that can be told is not the real Dao. The Daodejing, as understood by a given person, is likely not the real Daodejing. Very cool! (I love a little mystery, the sense that the outside world -- other people, classical texts, the universe -- aren´t completely knowable. To me, that´s reassuring.)

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Caring about craft more than money is always dangerous, but in the best way.