Introducing myself

[Scottk]

[Chang]

I dont know if this is the longest introductory post ever but it must be a contender. Hello and welcome

[mYTHmAKER]

[Basher]

Hello everyone! I am a new member on this forum and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Scott and I am finishing my freshman year at Towson University in Maryland. I have recently become interested and touched by the Chinese culture and would like to share a paper I wrote about the Yin and Yang. With the little bit of knowledge I have on the subject I wrote about how a deeper understanding of the concepts which are taught in Taoism could help a person lead a more authentic life.

 

Hi scottk, welcome from another "newbie".

 

I for one, very much enjoyed reading your Yin and Yang paper.

 

Will try re-reading it when I have the time.

 

Although you could have paused for breath a bit more often.

 

Basher

[Basher]

Yin and Yang: The Search for an Authentic Life

 

Quietness and Inaction

...... The phenomena of Global Warming and the Tragedy of the Commons are clear examples of man's interference with the way that the world should be ideally operating in the eyes of the Taoist adept. Because of our increased pollution in the environment, the world is heating up unnaturally fast. Humans use more resources than are necessary to survive which leads to our downfall in the Tragedy of the Commons. Since resources are spent so readily and without worry of consequences, man inadvertently ends up skewing the natural path of Tao. This is why scientists have been recording noticeable differences in temperatures worldwide over the last few decades. This is also why there are shortages of certain resources such as oil, coal, and clean drinking water (Hardin par. 31). The Tao would have man live and act in a different way.

 

 

 

Never heard of the "Tragedy of the Commons" can you (or somebody else) please explain.

 

Many Thanks

 

Basher

[Scottk]

Never heard of the "Tragedy of the Commons" can you (or somebody else) please explain.

 

Many Thanks

 

Basher

 

The "Tragedy of the Commons" is a term I first learned about in my Environmental Studies class senior year of high school. I understand it to mean that a human uses more of a resource than is necessary to survive. With this, I will give you an example. Let's say you are on an island with only a few coconut trees to eat from. Day after day you live within your means but then begin to experiment and overindulge with the coconuts. The trees do not have the necessary time to regrow the coconuts that you have already taken for yourself, and you are left to starve because you used up the resource more quickly than it could replenish itself. This is one way that I understand it, although I am sure that there are better examples.

[Basher]

Let's say you are on an island with only a few coconut trees to eat from. Day after day you live within your means but then begin to experiment and overindulge with the coconuts. The trees do not have the necessary time to regrow the coconuts that you have already taken for yourself, and you are left to starve because you used up the resource more quickly than it could replenish itself.

 

Hmmm, that explains why I've not seen one Coconut Tree in the whole of the UK. Some greedy whatsit has been eating too much.

 

If I understand correctly, Clearance of the Amazon Rain Forest and the De-forestation of Easter Island, I suppose could be examples of groups, rather than individuals doing this.

 

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

Basher