365 Tao - ACCOUNTABILITY

[Encephalon]

ACCOUNTABILITY

 

A father without a father

Has difficulty balancing.

A master without a master

Is dangerous.

 

 

We look up to our parents, our teachers, and our leaders with trust and expectation. Their responsibility is to guide us, educate us, and even make judgments on our behalf when circumstances are uncertain. Ultimately, they are to bring us to the point where we can make our own decisions, based on the wisdom that they have helped us develop.

 

But the potential for abuse and mistakes is very great. What person can be right all the time? A simple lapse at the wrong time can cause confusion, psychological scars, and even great disaster. Harsh words during a child's impressionable moments can engender years of problems. That is why we need a parent for the parent, a master for the master, and leaders for the leaders. This prevents errors of power. In the past, even kings had wise advisers. Every person who would be a leader should have such assistance.

 

Eventually, someone has to be at the top. And who will that person turn to? Let us invoke not deities but pragmatism. It is experience that is the ultimate teacher. That is why wise people travel constantly and test themselves against the flux of circumstance. It is only in this way that they can truly confirm their thoughts and compensate for their shortcomings.

[-O-]

ACCOUNTABILITY

 

Eventually, someone has to be at the top. And who will that person turn to?

 

 

 

This implies a vertical heiarchy with an all mighty sitting on the top of the pyramid... which when faced with confrontation or critisim can easily lean on authority as a means to avoid accountability - or simply push the accountability back down the latter... perhaps a structure which is less patriarchal?

 

It is experience that is the ultimate teacher. That is why wise people travel constantly and test themselves against the flux of circumstance. It is only in this way that they can truly confirm their thoughts and compensate for their shortcomings.

 

Sure... but ulimately it is Consequence which decideds the grade. Many seek and create the expereinces they wish and avoid /deny the ones they don't - but consequence is a whole other matter. Results never lie, only our interpretations of them. Seek a master who finds/defines results by Consequence, not interpretation and you will find a master who is accountable to the Tao. You may also find he/she sits beside you, not over you.

Edited January 28, 2010 by -O-

[Encephalon]

This implies a vertical heiarchy with an all mighty sitting on the top of the pyramid... which when faced with confrontation or critisim can easily lean on authority as a means to avoid accountability - or simply push the accountability back down the latter... perhaps a structure which is less patriarchal?

 

 

 

Sure... but ulimately it is Consequence which decideds the grade. Many seek and create the expereinces they wish and avoid /deny the ones they don't - but consequence is a whole other matter. Results never lie, only our interpretations of them. Seek a master who finds/defines results by Consequence, not interpretation and you will find a master who is accountable to the Tao. You may also find he/she sits beside you, not over you.

 

For the record, these are not my creations. They come from "365 Tao" by Deng Ming-Dao, a contemporary Taoist scholar.

I hold vertical hierarchies with as much skepticism, suspicion, and even disdain as anyone I know. I am satisfied that a thoughful reading of today's commentary in its totality, not sentence by sentence, adequately addresses the issue you raise.

[3bob]

For the record, these are not my creations. They come from "365 Tao" by Deng Ming-Dao, a contemporary Taoist scholar.

I hold vertical hierarchies with as much skepticism, suspicion, and even disdain as anyone I know. I am satisfied that a thoughful reading of today's commentary in its totality, not sentence by sentence, adequately addresses the issue you raise.

 

Where do you think wise humans go to when their physical body dies, and depending on your answer is all that wisdom then lost?

[Encephalon]

Where do you think wise humans go to when their physical body dies, and depending on your answer is all that wisdom then lost?

 

I'll revert to my Buddhist sensibilities and simply state that this is not a relevent question, nor did the Buddha find it so. He cautioned incessantly about speculative sidetracks.

 

I don't identify myself as a Taoist, but I am comfortable with suspending my rational convictions and taking comfort in the belief that we are subsumed by the Tao upon death. But I'm okay with a strict humanist spin as well.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Blasto

[Marblehead]

I think that accountability is an important concept. We all, each and every one of us, should be held accountable for our actions, whether we be the master or the student.

 

Peace & Love!

[-O-]

I'll revert to my Buddhist sensibilities ...

 

(I'm in love with your avatar)

[3bob]

I'll revert to my Buddhist sensibilities and simply state that this is not a relevent question, nor did the Buddha find it so. He cautioned incessantly about speculative sidetracks.

 

I don't identify myself as a Taoist, but I am comfortable with suspending my rational convictions and taking comfort in the belief that we are subsumed by the Tao upon death. But I'm okay with a strict humanist spin as well.

 

"...He cautioned incessantly about speculative sidetracks..." on one hand yes on another hand no - since there is doctrine (which is more or less related to specualtion) about a few time returners, one time returners and no returners. And of course there is the witness from the Earth just before his enlightenment as to his countless incarnations as a compassionate type of being... which btw is not presented in a speculative framework.

 

oh well