rene

mm- thanks for the link! I began Aikido in 1981; so simple, the flow. Even sans music it reveals the dance of dao. (-: warm regards

It might be the concept of karma applies as long as one's concept of De is other than Laozi's.

dawei, well put; the bolded parts resonate. It might be a bit disingenuous to assign ethical and moral virtue to a concept (De) not yet familiar to many.

lovely, lienshan warm regards

Todd, hello Thank you for your entire post and mostly for the part I captured above. Whenever I use the shorthand words of "unboundaried" and "both" and "simultaneousness" - it is the underlying concept of your paragraph above that my words point at. Nice to see the idea fleshed out. (-: warm regards, rene

Ya Mu, greetings Yes, we are speaking of the same thing. My take is that the ebb and flow of specific situations, and of life in general, may be palpable through the nei xin - spontaneously informing the 'natural responses'. Nice that you help others with this. (-: warm regards, rene

Lots of fodder to chew on and debate between the renditions! For me, the simple meal is what underlies all the words: Our source is not separate from us; its nature is our own. warm regards p.s.. overdue thanks, Marblehead, for your efforts in here. (-:

My way is to not practice Listening or WuWeiWalking or thinking about what a 'proper choice' might be. When something occurs I respond naturally and whatever happens is fine. But I'm not Taoist, though, and I like that we each have our own way. warm regards

Our own becoming soft tears and heart-songs woven into morning light

ben, others may have specific traditional practices and ritual ideas for you; my take is that what you have done is of genuine heart and your continuing to stay open to what feels right will reflect the natural ritual and practice that flows from tao. well met and warm regards. rene

Laughing skull smiles wide. Darkness covers all but those blind to screaming tears.

Multifaceted Eenie meenie miney moe Death takes him, not her

Part of me is, most likely.

I yield to others to argue over fingers, 10 or 13... Laozi's moon rises clearly, for all who breathe.

Yes. The 'left-over one' is the 'one who knows how to live...' All ten accounted for.

. De = Virtue : with Virtue = moral virtue, as in, She was a virtuous woman, well versed in propriety, manners, and contempt for all things beneath her. Folks new to these things often misunderstand in what sense 'Virtue' is being used; frequently there is too little energy spent by those do know the difference to help clarify the true aspects of De. Keeping De tied up with 'morality' however often functions as a tool for those with other agendas. Nice thread, snowmonki (-: warm regards

It's interesting to see how Henricks dealt with the last line. I wonder if 'fond memories' is what Laozi had in mind there, lol.

"The Sage Does No Harm To The People" - Did you mean the Sage does no "intentional" harm to the people? It's not possible to cause no harm. Every action, and non-action, is one of simultaneous creation and destruction.

Welcome back Guan-Wen; feel free to jump into the TTC subforum discussions anytime and dont hesitate to bring up the earlier ones if you wish. warm regards

Easy, hi The rest of your post, and the studies described, notwithstanding - the bottom line is as you state: the female instinct is to select a mate who gives the offspring the best chance. The specific pull towards a specific male, however, might have little to do with a preferece for symetry or bank statements.

Non, hi Speaking only to this part of your OP - if the studies are valid this would not surprise me at all. My observations find that, regardless of current politically-correct concepts surrounding 'Alpha males', females of most species instinctually try to breed with the male who will give the offspring the best chance of survival; the biggest baddest bull in the herd, so to speak. This seems to be a function of the 'mammalian brain' as you called it, and this drive would naturally be more present during ovulation. Post-ovulation, the drive's pull may be diminished somewhat; the 'more serious, good guys' could again be palatable as the chances of conception are diminished.

Not sure you can, Barbara. Your list is yours, n'est ce pas?

Easy, agree, summed in your (edited to, above) post. The only difference, from my perspective, is that the flow of the unknown is not beyond the horizon of the now, but everpresent and interplays unboundaried with the flow of the known within in each moment; the interplay being an expression of the reverting nature of tao.

As to the origin of left, I mean, why it's "left" rather than "right" - One of the reasons the 2ic was on the left side of the leader is because even though he was the most 'honored or trusted' he was also the greatest threat to the leader (takeover, etc). As most were right handed, with sword/club on right side, and with attack coming most likely from the left, body positioning was such that the leader could right-hand swing across in front of his own body and whack the contender. Or so I was told.

Agree, and how well this fits in with Ch32, eh? lol Glad you found your way here.