Marblehead Posted January 16, 2017 The mountain trees plunder themselves, the grease over a fire fries itself. Cinnamon can be eaten, therefore the trees that yield it are chopped down. Varnish can be used, therefore the trees that produce it are hacked. Everybody knows the utility of usefulness, but nobody knows the utility of uselessness. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stosh Posted January 17, 2017 Sorry dude , this issue seems to be regarded as covered already. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted January 17, 2017 Well, he did have to make his concluding statement. Repetition is often boring but then sometimes it is a great teacher. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stosh Posted January 17, 2017 Well, he did have to make his concluding statement. Repetition is often boring but then sometimes it is a great teacher. True, ,I was beginning to think it was posted as an ironic lesson , which is to say, in concluding everything really needing to be said about the subject, we would proceed to leaving it alone, demonstrating the virtue. But me ,occasionally being a friendly sort, energetic and communicative ,, would prefer to hang around whether the thread had functional utility to me or not. Thus exemplifying another use for uselessness,, that it could serve as a backdrop highlighting whether folks just wanted to hang out with you , or if they really were looking for some other kind of gain. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rara Posted February 14, 2017 (edited) Well, he did have to make his concluding statement. Repetition is often boring but then sometimes it is a great teacher. I might as well carry on here from my Mair 5:4 post as I just so happened to stumble upon this next! Yes, there's a lot of repetition in this book and I realise that it is a great way to inject the philosophy into people - I guess just like holy books and preachers do. You could go to church every Sunday and receive a bunch of the same information week in and week out, just worded slightly differently - but with the repetition and belief, the religion's Way would become embedded in you. I'm using "you" generally. I obviously don't mean you MH I've noticed that for me - to maintain Taoist practice, I should keep reading TTC and ZZ regularly. And when I've finished my current reading of ZZ, go back to TTC and just repeat the cycle. Even if I just manage to read a page in a day, that's a page-worth of a repeated point going back into my brain. Edited February 14, 2017 by Rara 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rara Posted February 14, 2017 (edited) Sorry, just went to edit my post and ended up quoting it instead. Ignore this! Edited February 14, 2017 by Rara Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted February 14, 2017 Sorry, just went to edit my post and ended up quoting it instead. Ignore this! I find it easy to ignore people. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rara Posted February 14, 2017 I find it easy to ignore people. No, not me, just the post! =P 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
