Stosh

I tend to like the blindingly obvious, it tends to get overlooked because it is blinding, Stuff can happen because you imagined it and made it happen by moving around or speaking etc.. It is a familiar and everyday phenomena but it indicates that your mind exists as a real thing. My cat isnt about to come up with anything very novel anytime soon, she just doesnt have that next level of freedom. Folks look to fairytale magic stuff like bermuda triangles to bring themselves either hope or excitement or whatever, but the solution to their issues doesnt have to be unprovable unknowable unaccessable B.S...They already have powers in which to base their hopes or exitements or whatevers! The rules of the universe arent all known yet, and the way I am looking at it is that Tao is that which specifies those rules such as gravitational attraction speed of light , strong force weak force, that things have to have distictness to exist , that a valley is only and exactly as deep as the mountains that define it etc.. The rulebook #1)Tao ,is antichaos, the allowable parameters of stuff that can be, and the consequential patterns of its features (like evolution plate techtonics and thermal properties of an icy beverage) #2) Tao is "knowable" to a degree, we can manipulate within the stage it presents ,but neither escape nor violate it. There are more nice obvious rules like those, (as I see it) but Ill need a prompt to tell me its worth it to write , I dont do like some folks and go on just to hear myself.

To overshoot the mark ,misses as cleanly as to undershoot So it's good to hear and believe the height of the target. If that is what you've given It'll make a big difference, I think, to me.

I dont date plants anymore , they never want to go anywhere , and act like they know everything

My agenda keeps shifting for some reason, I have to keep checking on it. So right now my agenda is to figure out my agenda. Seriously!

Keeping secrets?

What makes us fundamentally different is our ability to abstract and imagine, to bridge the divide between the world in a mind and bring things into being., therefore we,, reshape the environment, adapt ourselves , concieve of others as somehow ourselves. Thumbs help , language helps , An outstanding ability to handle bizarre food, the ability to sweat effectively, long lives with long childhoods , minimal instincts ,broad shoulder rotation etc make us rather unique even otherwise.. but the mind is the key element. That aint much of a surprise answer is it?

If one spontaneously maintains the habits one has come to rely on for a peaceful continuation, maybe they just found for themselves the right answers to the ultimate question.

Both are easily supported hypotheses, Intent mediated action bridges the illusions of your mind with objective reality. You cant break the rules of the universe, but you still have powers within it, because stuff you envision and 'will to have be' can often enough be brought about. The meaning and purpose of your existence is entirely up to you as well, within the constraints of the laws of the universe you are the director, lead actor, and audience. It aint a belief in magic, but it's good stuff.

Lots of powerful emotional content there, I would however suggest that seeing the world as a game 'you get to play' can shift your pespective a whole lot (from personal experience I say that) Play in the traditional sense I think means that the consequences are nonexistent, the role you play doesnt have to be consistent with being a fighter, but you can be! Other folks I am sure ,disagree with the point I am about to say but screw-em, The superego is a conceptual subset of the mind , it is the internalized dictate of society, the thing that punishes us or rewards us like dogs with the aim of making us good citizens who "know our place". It aint all bad, but it aint all good either. Your instinct of refusal is a healthy one, it is just time to update your superego. Go ahead and imitate being the biggest weenie you ever met for a week, see what happens, ( probably nothing will change much but that is the point, it is up to you ,whether you will continue to play the weenie or the bulldog or alternate!) Or choose some other aspect of yourself you feel rigid about and put IT to the test. Or follow Vmarcos advice elsewhere -to go to a supermarket and buy nothing. The reason why I say this is that both Superego and Id supply feelings of certainty, the ego is open-minded but uncertain, so I am suggesting that you can rework your superego, or you can give greater control to your Id (which isnt really any more immature than the rest of you is) Either way you will have a better sense of who you are and what you want. At 23 you still have a long way to go and you should enjoy this illusion- this game- this straw dog- this staged play. You can play it straight up hardball if you like that, or you can play it light and easy, it is up to you. REALLY! The world is neither heaven nor hell, except the thinking that makes it so. Stosh

Thanks, folks usually hate my poems because I aim for multiply valid interps and don't hold to traditional methods. Death as motivational? Is that the reason for the wolf motif? or is it one of the two Native American wolves that eternally war within us, the winner for the day being the one fed most.? Or is it just a really great photo you took. Ps Shouldn't it be white dingo running on air? Pps the similarity to Vmarcos reference elsewhere is entirely coincidental.

A terriffic selling point for sub-Sage level Taoism (good for me,s) , it explains some benefit to not having a god to kiss-up to or a devil to fear. But being able to do things from that balanced perspective is not possible without the whim of ones own motivation ( otherwise you essentially are doing what outside forces dictate you do),, does not a true and complete sage squash his-her own initiative and render 'all' as equally peachy? More simply said , "he could , but he won't" "All voices, in dumb reply, say 'Yes', and in saying so,, say nothing" Without differentiation there is no distinction, there is no bias ,nothing can happen.

I wouldnt dream of it.

Most folks agenda is to clothe themselves

It is a good probative question, possibly very personal disclosure required in the answering of. Raised Catholic I had a very grand view of God, beautiful beyond the teachings I was told, and so I came to question the validity of it all. One day I wrote a poem to myself reflecting on things, it became a sort of touchstone, maybe it sounds silly, but although I wrote it over twenty years ago..it still squares me up. So although its not Shakespeare.. The gentle breeze it flows, and only I know it , by the pull on the sail and the tilt of the rudder I press. If I but lift my hands , to what rocky shores or sargasso seas shall I be drawn? From this swaying perch I see but blue unchanging sea and sky. So question I ,this vessel most untested. All answers in dumb reply , say "yes ", and in saying so say nothing. Speculating birds float aloft ,deciding if to rest, and ride along unfed a bit , biding time , till unknown random stirs their wings. Let sails be full , and drag me on? For I will never know till I am there, what destiny for me does hold. What choice is there twixt seeming same, and seeming same? Count my provisions on trips of unknown span, while setting anchor lonesome?, bristling cannon brought to bear , against imagined enemies unseen? So choiceful action removed from me, by unresistance I drift the faster peaceful waves, and softly nod unconcerned, the quiet stars beckon to dreams. From there on I investigated and found more and ..Voila!

I'm glad my humor is starting to seep through. Im wondering , without desiring to begin a new thread,.. If a person was as neutral as a "Sage" wouldn't they be a despicable person unsympathetic to the plight of everybody else? burning of rainforests, slaughter of millions, etc? How can the abandonment of neutrality, for the "re- embracement" of illusion (moral dualism)be justified? What is the line dogmatically correct Taoist folks draw ordinarily. You and I seem comfortable with keeping our illusions of 'right and wrong',,but we, I think, are philosophical and possibly a step removed. Badly stated, I hope you get my drift here.. (PS, have a great weekend- you and all- including Vmarco who seems under seige)

If I have a hidden agenda, I'm not telling you.

Good point. They provide a respite ,a sanctuary, they can enrich our lives and provide the meat of our meal. The trick is to retain the best and discard the rest. PS it was unfortunate that the butterfly was a butterfly, it ruined my little wordplay. but I was in a hurry to go home and I didnt spend enough time to come up with anything really good.

Perhaps no serious Taoist should consider themselves owners of anything! since ownership is illusion. It would be perhaps better to consider onesself a caretaker and experiencer. My cat chewed up my orchids,but I still clean her waste, feed her well, play with her when she is bored,keep her safe, If anything , she owns me.

Atypical me, considers brownie points moot, since theres ultimately no one to count them. The past may be gone, gone as gone can be, but it's also written in stone indestructable as the sea.

Since nobody responded , your question looked abandoned. I cant answer it though except to suggest that in dream states ,spinning indicates a loss of control ( no big surprise there) Maybe a pop back up to the top of the list will get your question seen.

Thats our thing, (the butterfly might have an illusion too, but its hard to tell)

I dont believe in gods either , especially if there is any expectation that such a god would be humanlike. But as food for thought there is one way humans can be constued as demi-gods is that by bridging the gap between things illusory-subjective and things material-objective, humans can create things qualitatively new in the universe, like lasers and Ipods.

Dogs aren't wild animals anymore. Cats kept their wildness.