NotVoid Posted January 9, 2015 A dialog With The Unknown What is taoism? Taoism is a vehicle. It can take various distinct shapes and appearances, and is designed to follow distinct paths and roads. It is only a tool, just as a vehicle is, in a manner of speaking. Is taoism a philosophy? Philosophy is like chess. It engages the mind deeply, but the game is restricted entirely to the confines of the movement of the chess pieces, and the confines of the chessboard. What is the pursuit of tao? What is the goal? Can we conceptualize tao? It is a pursuit only in name. The pursuit of tao is like a feather drifting on the wind, seemingly completely without purpose and direction, but perfectly in harmony with the forces of nature. In actuality there is no harmony, as there is no real distinction between the feather drifting on the wind and anything else in nature. So it is beyond distinction. There is no goal. There is only the letting go of distinctions. By all appearances without purpose, but following nature, and then piece by piece removing all misconceptions. Really there is no letting go and no removing at all. Conceiving is the process of forming distinctions. Nature is also a concept. A distinction. Nature is used only as a convenience. The pursuit of tao is the process of dissolving what is not there at all, but it does not involve an actual process of any kind. Saying it is not there, is also employing a convenience. What were the ancients writing about? The ancients wrote about that which can't be written about. Needless to say there is much misunderstanding about this. When a person thinks they know and understand, they are clinging to distinction. When a person realizes that they do not know and understand, they are like a feather on the wind. That which can't be revealed begins to unfold. . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Silent Answers Posted January 9, 2015 I like the feather in the wind analogy. When we talk about Dao, its sort of like our waking conceptualised view of reality, it's ok and helpful to discuss it as a form of fun and perhaps further understanding in words. To be one with IT, as you hinted at, is to drop everything and just be. More like a dream state than waking reality. That's why it can never be spoken of, at that stage there are no words or any ideas to compare it to. It just flows, and you with it In this sense, thoughts are indistinguishable from Yin and Yang, whereas Dao comes before these forces arise. The state of just being in harmony with whatever may be. Floating like your feather on the breath of the wind. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Infinity Posted January 9, 2015 Not sure what you mean? Known><unkown Truth><fiction Real><unreal Have a nice Day><night Love><hate Hello><bye Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NotVoid Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) Not sure what you mean? Known><unkown Truth><fiction Real><unreal Have a nice Day><night Love><hate Hello><bye Hi Infinity. I can offer an interpretation. When you say this is known, this is not known. This is real, this is not real. This is day, and this is night. Would you agree that you are making distinctions? In this world we make distinctions so that we can function reasonably well within this world. For example, we distinguish between high and low, and hot and cold, and this helps us to act accordingly around say a high cliff and a hot stove burner. We employ our conception of 'high' and decide not to step off the edge of a high cliff, and we employ our conception of 'hot' and we decide not to place our hand on a hot stove burner. Similarly we can use our many conceptions to help us negotiate our way reasonably safely through say the streets of a town or city. We can make use of philosophy to form new concepts and ways of viewing and approaching and negotiating our way in this world. We can think about all of the concepts we have accumulated, and all the ideas we have about how things work and how best to function within this world, and we can pat our self on the back for how knowledgeable and clever we have become. We can think that our understanding extends to such a profound depth that we truly have a great understanding of the workings of this world and the universe. This mode of thinking helps us to function in and to understand the world around us better, at least to an extent, but then one day we might think something along the lines of what existed before the universe was formed, assuming the universe may have been formed? If the universe were not there, what would be left over? Where did the universe come from? If it always existed, then how could that be? If the universe were formed, then what caused it to be formed? Where did the energy come from to form the universe? If the universe was formed out of a complete void, then how can you get something forming from absolute nothing? We find that our ability to think, conceive, and reason is not helping us very much here at all. We can try to come up with theories that may seem to help fill in the blanks somewhat, but there are obvious limitations with this. We can only take this so far before it starts to break down in some ways. We may begin to realize that no matter how clever and knowledgeable we think we are, we begin to reach certain limits. Our knowledge and reasoning can only take us so far. At a certain point it begins to break down and fail us. This is just an example, but I hope it gets the point across. Our knowledge and reasoning can be very useful for helping us function within this world, and to understand this world better to a degree, but when we start considering certain questions we realize that conceptualization and reason can only take us so far. At a certain point things like knowledge and reasoning may actually begin to appear as a hindrance. Holding on to certain concepts and using analysis and reasoning may actually be acting as a barrier to coming to a different kind of understanding. Our once very proud ego which has been serving us well enough in negotiating our way in this world, may have become a major limitation. When we reach this point in our thinking, we may suddenly find that to reach a new type of 'understanding' that we may have to start putting our ordinary way of perceiving and analyzing and reasoning completely aside. Everything we thought we knew has now completely changed. We are starting again at the complete beginning. . Edited January 9, 2015 by NotVoid 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zerostao Posted January 11, 2015 “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” — Carl Sagan 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NotVoid Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) TTC - ch 1 the tao that can be told is not the eternal tao the name that can be named is not the eternal name the nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth TTC - ch 14 look, it cannot be seen - it is beyond form (colorless) listen, it cannot be heard - it is beyond sound (noiseless) grasp, it cannot be held - it is intangible (formless) TTC - ch 16 empty yourself of everything let the mind become still the ten thousand things rise and fall while the self watches their return they grow and flourish and then return to the source returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature TTC - ch 48 in the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired (daily gain) in the pursuit of tao, every day something is dropped (daily loss) . Edited January 12, 2015 by NotVoid Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
