"Change your thoughts, Change your life"

[Sarge125]

Hi folks:

 

This is my first post here, and I have to say that I'm a bit overwhelemed Please excuse in advance any mis-steps I may make with this post

 

Anyway, I discovered the Tao while watching a public television show the other night, which featured Dr. Wayne Dyer. He was discussing his book entitled "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life", which is a series of essays that he (Dyer) wrote on the 81 Versus. My question for the forum is, has anyone read this book? Is it a good starting point for a newbie? Any opinions are welcomed!

 

Thanks,

Tom

[Oolong Rabbit]

Why read someone else's interpretations? Go to the source and read the Tao Te Ching. It's profoundly simple....and simply profound.

[beancurdturtle]

You could read the Tao of Willie too. It was entertaining.

 

It's hard to find a simple introduction to the Tao te Ching. I like Merel's interpolation as a first introduction - it's more accessible to the Western mind than most.

http://www.terebess.hu/english/tao/merel.html

 

Have fun,

[Eric23]

I read Dyer's Erroneous Zones back in the 80's. Really helped me through a tough stretch. It was all about saving your emotional energy for things that truely matter.

 

As for the Tao, as mentioned above, go right to the source, numerous versions are on-line. I found Alan Watt's The Watercourse Way very helpful in filling the gaps and providing some definitions.

 

Edit: Speak of the Devil!! Dyer is on PBS at this minute giving his Tao talk.

Edited August 10, 2007 by Eric23

[Mike Rambling]

Tom,

 

Welcome from a fellow newbie.

 

There are many translations of the Tao Te Ching. In my humble opinion, the most readable is Stan Rosenthal's translation.

 

It has more of the translator's own words in it than most versions, but this makes it far easier to read. If you're looking for a good place to start, this worked very nicely for me.

 

Cheers.

[Sarge125]

Thanks for the replies, folks. It looks like I have a decent reading list now!

[beancurdturtle]

Thanks for the replies, folks. It looks like I have a decent reading list now!

By the way - I was joking about The Tao of Willie. It's more entertaining than educational.

 

Peace,

[Wayfarer64]

In my opinion another true source of the Tao is found in the less accessable but much more far-reaching YiJing -(I Ching is the more typical spelling)-this is a far older tome and has a deeper grasp of what the Tao may offer in an interactive form...There is some argument with this view as with any opinion but so be it...The Tao Te Jing is easier to grasp so it may well be the best first contact point for most westerners...