Stosh

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Everything posted by Stosh

  1. The Dream of the Butterfly

    Things change , or things melt, or things die,or things transform ,,, is each not a possibility by the same rationale? 10 thousand things , is that conclusively the things themselves changing? Or could it be that in the viewers mind, the world is not the same? Everything one knows looks different. After my stroke, the whole world was different. As I drifted off to sleep, the room melted away. I recycled my coffee grinder and it was reborn as a flower pot. Its still not dismissed that Chuang returned to being Chuang again! Fact , not reading in, The transformation was temporary. Is anyone contending he was literally reborn as a butterfly , and then somehow jumped back into the body of Chuang not as a baby, but as the same adult?
  2. I want to be a man now ;)

    I think he has mixed emotions about ,just what you are saying. The stereotypes folk have about the genders ,offers advantages and disadvantages,just as Zn pointed out.. but one privately and personally doesnt need to buy in to either, though physically, its probably best to pick the gender identity that fits your physical build.
  3. I want to be a man now ;)

    He has already been inspired by Something..you can read it between the lines of his posts of late. Question is though, what does he think this manliness means?
  4. I want to be a man now ;)

    Lets see your new more manly avatar. ... I liked that old one you had with the curling teeth.
  5. crime and punishment

    People who are afraid , or dont want to take responsiblity also rationalize.
  6. The Dream of the Butterfly

    I don't know what that means at all. ( the horse thing) Ecclesiastes 11:1 reads “Lay thy bread upon wet faces”
  7. The Dream of the Butterfly

    It couldve been about death,,using the metaphor of a dream ,,,but he goes back to experiencing himself as Chuang,, reversible death ? Ummm nah.
  8. The Dream of the Butterfly

    Jain texts are a context- out of this text, as are protozoa, -which I know arent mentioned, and dont need To read Chinese to know. If it doesnt say death, a word which I assume yall would recognize, this reincarnation idea is being introduced by the reader. He could just say he died, and dreamed he was a critter. Additionally reincarnation ideas vary, Christian rebirth is very different from Jain. If Zz believed in it, there would really be more needing to be said. How one sees the leopard thing depends on whether one considers their individual selves to be preserved somehow , Watson appears to just till the self back into the machinery of the cosmos...simple as that. Which I think is a lovely simple idea, needing no forced confabulation to placate. We know its true for the body, and its supported by the idea that self is illusion.
  9. Petition to bring back Deci Belle

    Perhaps demi-gods?
  10. crime and punishment

    Punishment does affect behavior , so its not useless. Hang em as high as the offense is grave. I dont mean this cruelly but,, I find it ironic , that now that you conclude you have grown out of your own desire for 'justified' punishment,,, and see it as having been reprehensible or inexcusable , now you feel that punishment shouldn't be handed out. Does not your own morality, call at least, for your own atonement? IMO the wise road is just go past calling folks vile for using negative reinforcement, accept what you have done , what others do , and why you all have been doing them. Don't find yourself superior or inferior,, in that humbleness, you can just move on and really overcome the polemics of crime and punishment , judgement and atonement. Going forward from there, If punishment is the option that fits ,accept that, do it , and if coddling is the cure, go with that. Its an imperfect world , and we are all imperfect in it , when we judge by Utopian standards.
  11. The Dream of the Butterfly

    Ok then I dont know what you consider mysticism in a materialists world, please elaborate briefly , and then Ill drop out like I thought I was going to
  12. The Dream of the Butterfly

    I agree with that as well , leave the original intact, glean what one can , then take a fresh look at the grace of the original. ( I just dont think he was intellectually 'mystical' , he explains it all as far as he possibly can , drums the point home even. ) I didnt know him personally tho , its my speculation.
  13. The Dream of the Butterfly

    I agree totally... except that If there IS a reason to read the stuff, then one has to demystify to understand,, the mystery of mystical is not understanding.,, and Im not as certain the word dream refers to the nightly sleepy alpha wave histrionics. It could be.
  14. The Dream of the Butterfly

    Sorry ,I think the mysticism not only can be but should be removed , its the only way to give the work its just appreciation IMO. Ill drop out of this. Love these though! Let's look at the text itself, with a loyal (& non-presumptive) multi-choice translation: 昔者莊周夢為胡蝶 once/formerly zhuang zhou dream become butterfly 栩栩然胡蝶也 content understand butterfly 自喻適志與 self explain/understand fit/just will/ideal/remember/consciousness 不知周也 not know zhou 俄然覺則蘧蘧然周也 suddenly awake then leisurely/surprised understand zhou 不知周之夢為胡蝶與 not know zhou dream become butterfly 胡蝶之夢為周與 (or) butterfly dream become zhou 周與胡蝶則必有分矣 zhou and/with butterfly then must have difference 此之謂物化 this is called wuhua But I might add, that last line makes a huge difference and I think giles is greatly flawed to do so.. It clearly resolves the mystical confused reverie aspect ,into a normal consideration of the experience. Understanding , remembering , etc is a situation of personally relating to the past event ,, the forgetting need not be of the facts but rather the first person experience of those facts, and Im thinking we now know what wuhua is.. subjective first person experience.
  15. The Dream of the Butterfly

    Nah, nevermind.
  16. The Dream of the Butterfly

    Our regular waking experience isnt so different, yes some things are based on physical situation, but much is not. Its a dream with some different rules. Why equate the two if not to draw attention to the similarities? Does one not imagine themselves to be what they are,? Is the soldier still a soldier ,when he isnt soldiering? The dreamer, is he still Chuang ,when he isnt ...fulfilling the life of Chuang? We think ourselves constant, a body persisting.. but the body is not exactly the same moment to moment, emotion to emotion, situation variable. I see no need to nail the wording down when the rabbit is caught. Its fine vague, perhaps clearer,since overprecise wording can be quite misleading.
  17. A personality test that doesn't suck

    It said I was an idealist , He he he. But frankly the answer choices didn't really fit what I read into the faces.
  18. Petition to bring back Deci Belle

    Isimsiz Biri ?
  19. Xing性 and Ming命, Essence and Life, in the DDJ

    If either of them are going to garner my accord , they need to make the best argument, not the longest resume. If two guys with long resumes have ever debated, one of those long resumes lost.
  20. Fuxi's Poem

    The empty hand grasps the hoe handle Doing but acting without egoistic purpose Walking along, I ride the ox the person allows his corporeal body to do its thing ,self observed The ox crosses the wooden bridge carried along through life The bridge is flowing, the water is still change comes but one is left unperturbed.
  21. The Father and Son of Taoist Philosophy

    Just then ,, Confucious walked by and inserted,,,A Man who does not care , forgets his bow.
  22. Watching The Birds

    Nooooo silly, ,,,,slovenly old blunderer.
  23. thats ironic. You came up with the greatest possible answer.... You correctly assessed its character.. its great virtue... and dumped it. ,,,,,,,a true sagely act.
  24. did you say it? Thats important .
  25. The meaning of Tao?

    You already have that. Its called the dont click on it option. I call nuwa