Happening right before our eyes

[manitou]

Apologizing in advance for any turn to politics this may take.  I don't intend a political argument.  I only intend to voice something that I've been seeing.  I keep hoping I'll run into another Bum that sees it too.  I'm just hoping in this new WWW setting that we will be respectful of each other.

 

 

There is a component to wei wu wei that is active at the very beginning.  It's the point where someone sets their intent on a particular outcome, and takes a very small action to grow into a larger outcome.  And then the 'intender' takes his hands off of it and waits for the dynamic to return to him; when it returns, the highest action is always taken until the intended outcome is finally achieved.

 

I have a mental picture of a basin with a marble in it.  The wu wei practitioner flicks a marble (signaling his intent for a particular outcome) and the marble rolls around the basin.  Because of the practitioner's vision, he knows the exact moment and time to flick the marble.  He is a seer, and knows that if he aligns his intent with the movement of the Logos that it will succeed, as this is the natural order of things.  All we need to do is get out of the way and let the creative dynamics take over.  Sooner or later the marble will go down the drain, which is the desired outcome.

 

There is a particular man on the world stage who is a Secretary of State.  He normally speaks in a very measured way, never veering off course.  He is a soldier's soldier. Maybe 6 months ago he was giving a speech about Iran, when in answer to a reporter's question, he threw his hands up in the air in a very uncharacteristic way and said something like 'I don't know....maybe if Iran allowed inspectors back in and did a few other things....." and then he followed it up with "but they'd never do that".

 

When I heard that speech, I looked at Joe and said "He just flicked a marble". (I wasn't referring to the Secretary; I was referring to his boss)  It was so uncharacteristic for that Secretary to go out of character like that, it had to have been planned by someone above.

 

And sure enough, there has been action.  Iran took the bait, saw an opportunity for maybe having sanctions removed, and now there is dialogue.  Because I see the workings of WWW in this, I believe this will come to a good end.  Others reading this will disagree.  But I believe this is confirmed also by the fact that the Dalai Lama one more time paid a visit to the Secretary of State's boss and is most likely involved in this dynamic.

 

Call me a cockeyed optimist, and some here do.  I am seeing enlightenment at the very top in several areas.  Has anyone listened to the new Prime Minister of Italy?  Wow!  This man has some depth and some wisdom.  Has anybody heard the new President of Iraq?  (Is it Pres. Ghani?)  What a man of depth, sweetness, and wisdom he appears to be.  There just appears emerging a genre of leaders that seem to possess an enlightened quality.

 

I really do see cause for optimism, although it appears just the opposite at the moment.

Edited April 21, 2015 by manitou

[Marblehead]

Oh, most of us know that you are the poster child for the true optimist.

 

I am an optimist.  But I am also a realist.  That makes me a realistic optimist.

 

I won't speak to the Secretary you spoke of as I hold negative opinions of him.

 

If all members would respect the rights of all other members here there wouldn't be a need for the WWW sub-forum.

 

But even in the world of wei wu wei shit happens.  When it happens the mess has to be cleaned up by someone.

 

 

So your point was that you see cause for more optimism around the world.  Best Wishes with that.

[Daeluin]

I like the picture you paint. I'll just say I prefer to remain unattached to any particular outcome, and remain attached to following my flow in the present moment, so that I am available to flick the right marbles at the right time.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Daeluin

[Marblehead]

... flick the right marbles at the right time.

But don't you be flicking me!

[Daeluin]

But don't you be flicking me!

 

It appears I already did!

[manitou]

Daeluin -

 

And this is how the Sage nips things in the bud.  Or creates an outcome.  Just like you said.  Because the marble-flicker has his eyes on his own character; because he has mastered his own ego, it is possible for him to perform the sorcery of wei wu wei.  To try this technique will most likely end in disaster if one has not mastered his own ego and can sidestep it at will.  But for one that has true vision, this sorcery is there for all of us.  All we have to do is torque our own inner lens so that our vision is straight.  We too are the Sage; perhaps realized, perhaps unrealized.

 

My opinion is that in order to see the workings of the world-wide Dao in action, we must keep our eyes very high.  I would like to utilize this thread for the purpose of looking at the workings of wu wei at the highest levels in the world.  Of course it is there!  It is everywhere.  But can we see it?  Do we have the eyes?  Can we see through the seemingly bad to observe the true dynamic in action?  The action of Reversion.

Edited April 21, 2015 by manitou

[Daeluin]

Jian Wu said to Lian Shu, "I was listening to the words of the madman Jieyu. He talked big without getting at anything, going on and on without getting anywhere. I was shocked and terrified by what he said, which seemed as limitless as the Milky Way -- vast and excessive, with no regard for the way people really are."

 

Lian Shu asked, "What in the world did he say?"

 

"'There is a Spirit-Man living on distant Mt. Guye with skin like ice and snow, gentle and yielding like a virgin girl. He does not eat the five grains but rather feeds on the wind and dew. He rides upon the air and clouds, as if hitching his chariot to soaring dragons, wandering beyond the four seas. He concentrates his spirit, and straightaway all things are free from sickness and the harvest matures.' I regard this as crazy talk, which I refuse to believe."

 

"That's just as it should be. The blind have no access to the beauty of visual patterns, and the deaf have no part in the sounds of bells and drums. It is not only the physical body that can be blind and deaf; the faculty of understanding can also be so. If you were then to 'agree' with his words, you would be acting like a virgin girl who has just reached her time. A man like the one described in these words blankets all things with his Virtuosity, allowing the present age to seek out its own chaotic order. How could he be bothered to try to manage the world? This man is harmed by no thing. A flood may reach the sky without drowning him; a drought may melt the stones and scorch the mountains without scalding him. From his dust and chaff you could mold yourself a Yao or a Shun. Why would he bother himself over mere beings? A ceremonial cap salesman of Song once traveled to Yue, where the people shave their heads and tattoo their bodies -- they had no use for such things. After Yao brought all the people of the world under his rule and put all within the four seas into good order, he went off to see four of these masters of distant Mt. Guye at the bright side of the Fen River. Astonished at what he saw there, he forgot all about his kingdom."

 

Zhuangzi 1c, tl Brook Ziporyn.

[Daeluin]

My opinion is that in order to see the workings of the world-wide Dao in action, we must keep our eyes very high.  I would like to utilize this thread for the purpose of looking at the workings of wu wei at the highest levels in the world.  Of course it is there!  It is everywhere.  But can we see it?  Do we have the eyes?  Can we see through the seemingly bad to observe the true dynamic in action?  The action of Reversion.

 

This reminded me of the above quote, which plays within this realm of high virtuosity, and the nature of our seeking it out. I feel that what we can teach ourselves to see is incomplete and will mislead us, unless we cultivate ourselves to become what we are seeing: then we become both what is seen and what is unseen, are complete without being drawn from our center.

 

What can be seen or felt is merely the surface level of what is true as it interacts with the world. Often the core of what is true remains invisible to discernment from the outside-in, and observing in this way one misses what is true. But as one cultivates it from the inside-out, one is able to come to an understanding of what one is spending as it is spent, and how to cultivate it, despite it being "empty."

 

Also reminds me of this.

 

I don't mean for this to go against the flow of your thread, btw... sorta just where my marble was pushed, I suppose. Feel free to prune!

Edited April 22, 2015 by Daeluin

[Taomeow]

Synchronicity...  I was thinking of an old poem today (traced back all the way to the 14th century but still very well-known), in conjunction with some international news I've been following -- but the image that came to me, consistent with my deepest-ever pessimism regarding current global affairs, was not of a marble, but of a nail:

 

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

[manitou]

I think the way of the world today is realigning. Duh. It's real easy to be pessimistic about it. But I wonder if the Dalai Lama is pessimistic about it? Or does he see the workings of the Logos underlying all of it? My guess is that he does.

 

I think we see the bottom of the cloud only. The dark part, where all the heavy rain collects. But the top of the cloud, the parts you see as you're flying over them, are beautiful, airy, translucent, heavenly in appearance. This too is part of the cloud, but all we can 'seemingly' see is the lower dark part that we're under.

 

I like my (possibly overused) metaphor of the giant squid. We are all an individual tentacle of the giant squid, and we think we're all separate. We don't realize we're attached together up at the top. So the idea of the world in disarray is virtually the tentacles of the giant squid getting all tangled up, some tentacles killing the other tentacles. When in reality, all the tentacles need to do is stop and relax. The tentacles will undo on their own. This is wu-wei. We don't have to be the ones doing the untangling. It happens on its own.

 

The current leader of the free world understands this completely, and this is why is appears that he leads from behind. What Sage wouldn't? That which is happening in the world has to happen - it has to happen from the inside to the outside - outside forces can't impose order. This has to be worked out tentacle to tentacle, and it will be. But sometimes the rest of the world needs to keep its hands off so the natural outcome will produce itself.

[manitou]

Looking at the Feng translation on Chapter 28 of the DDJ, I've cut the following. It seems to go along with what I see - although it's very abstract to communicate:

 

"Be the valley of the universe!

Being the valley of the universe,

Ever true and resourceful,

Return to the state of the uncarved block.

When the block is carved, it becomes useful.

When the sage uses it, he becomes the ruler.

Thus, "A great tailor cuts little."

 

The current leader of the free world cuts little. He allows the dynamic to come to him before he answers the question or takes action. He is leading from behind so the dynamics which are part of human nature and Logos will show themselves; then action is taken. The minimal action. There is a huge firestorm of conversation going on right now about race, due to all the police shootings of black men. And yet wouldn't any other black president get right in there and mix it up? Not this one. He waits for the dynamics to show themselves. He waits for the question to come to him.

I think we have individual egos which project themselves into collective national ego. And wow, does the U.S. have a huge national ego. If a leader is in place that has not mastered his own ego, he will be taking action depending on his ego. Granted, the system was set up for checks and balances, the balance of power. But with all the huge egos in Congress, I think it's even more important to elect a president who has mastered himself.

 

This man has mastered himself. Ask the Dalai Lama.

 

So okay, perhaps I'm delusional. But what's the harm in knowing in your heart that all things are working for good, that that's the plan? What does pessimism get you, other than a cynical outlook? Where's the harm in looking with long eyes to see the wonderful dynamics in play? And with a cynical outlook, what comes into your life but cynical things?

 

The function of the Dao is Reversion. Reversion to the One. For mankind to realize that we are all One Being, all cells of the same body. And that love is truly the most magnificent force in the universe.

 

I think that at the end of all this, perhaps there will be a redistribution of wealth, somehow. It just can't stand, within the Logos, that there is a glut of wealth in the pockets of a few, with the rest of the world getting more desperate by the moment. Something's got to give, and I believe we currently have some leaders in place that understand this dynamic.

 

Gentleness. Love. The spirit of the valley, willingness to occupy the lowly. This is the spirit that will eventually emerge. But it cannot happen if countries like the U.S. keep the lid on the pressure cooker wherever "our interests" lie (let's call it oil, at this point in time). There is some shaking up that has to be done first, and this seems to be happening now. the pressure cooker has finally boiled over.About time.

 

If anyone is willing to drop their previous biases about this particular man and see him with the eyes of clarity of your own spirit, I think you will be greatly surprised. I think this is a truly spectacular time indeed.

Edited April 22, 2015 by manitou

[Daeluin]

I found these quartz rocks exposed in patches of beautiful woods. Sometimes they would be entwined in the roots of pine trees, and many pines seemed to have quite the gem collection at their base. Other times they would be found, often the larger ones, in patches all alone and covered in mosses. Simply content to be present, non-doing, yet ever filtering and radiating energy as the environment evolves around them.

 

 

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

Apologizing in advance for any turn to politics this may take.  I don't intend a political argument.  I only intend to voice something that I've been seeing.  I keep hoping I'll run into another Bum that sees it too.  I'm just hoping in this new WWW setting that we will be respectful of each other.

 

 

There is a component to wei wu wei that is active at the very beginning.  It's the point where someone sets their intent on a particular outcome, and takes a very small action to grow into a larger outcome.  And then the 'intender' takes his hands off of it and waits for the dynamic to return to him; when it returns, the highest action is always taken until the intended outcome is finally achieved.

 

 

 

Repeatedly.

This isnt the first time i've left the bums and come back to see good results   

 

Wei Wu Wei is, as though, a glimmer of the utmost "intended outcome"

[manitou]

As the Reluctant Retributioner, you must have flicked a marble on TTB's, lol.

 

Funny, I just took a break from the forum too and am just returning. Seems necessary once in a while...

 

You used the word glimmer. What a great word for the long-distant intended outcome. It is just a glimmer, and yet the power of the implementation of that glimmer is the sorcery of the Dao.

Edited April 24, 2015 by manitou

[Marblehead]

That's not the "Glimmer Man" you are seeing, is it?

[manitou]

I suppose it could be