Everyone post some favorite quotes!

[Brian]

I'm sure it has been posted here before but...

 

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

- Albert Einstein

[Tibetan_Ice]

I'm sure it has been posted here before but...

 

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

- Albert Einstein

Maybe Einstein should have used his intuitive sacred gift and realized the destruction and suffering that his scientific discoveries could have caused, instead of putting such deadly knowledge in the hands of the servant...

 

So is he blaming society for his lack of intuition?

 

 

Leaves a bad taste in my mouth...

[Marblehead]

Maybe Einstein should have used his intuitive sacred gift and realized the destruction and suffering that his scientific discoveries could have caused, instead of putting such deadly knowledge in the hands of the servant...

 

So is he blaming society for his lack of intuition?

 

Leaves a bad taste in my mouth...

I understand the point you are presenting but I must disagree. Progress is going to happen. If one person doesn't inspire it another person will eventually. It's just the way life progresses.

 

We can't blame Einstein for the bomb. Remember, the Nazis were already well on their way to having the knowledge to make one.

 

And we can't blame the auto and computer industries for the accident caused by a person who was texting while driving.

[GrandmasterP]

"Night poured over the desert. It came suddenly, in purple. In the clear air, the stars drilled down out of the sky, reminding any thoughtful watcher that it is in the deserts and high places that religions are generated. When men see nothing but bottomless infinity over their heads they have always had a driving and desperate urge to find someone to put in the way."

(Terry Pratchett, Jingo).

Edited April 2, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[plebeian]

"Those who dream of the banquet wake to lamentation and sorrow. Those who dream of lamentation and sorrow wake to join the hunt."

- Chuangtse

[zerostao]

[Chang]

"If you sit long enough at the rivers edge the body of your enemy will come floating by."

 

I have always had a liking for this quote and have found it to be true. Often attributed to Sun Tzu it apparently does not appear in the art of war and its origin is unknown.

[Marblehead]

"If you sit long enough at the rivers edge the body of your enemy will come floating by."

 

I have always had a liking for this quote and have found it to be true. Often attributed to Sun Tzu it apparently does not appear in the art of war and its origin is unknown.

Chuang Tzu spoke to something similar to this (but not this quote). Could be a modified concept from the two.

[Captain Mar-Vell]

...

"If you sit long enough at the rivers edge the body of your enemy will come floating by."

 

I not tink Sun Tzu have dat much wizdom.

 

Chuang Tze, maybe.

 

Subtle beyond measure are the Ways of DAO.

 

...

Edited April 12, 2014 by Captain Mar-Vell

[Brian]

Maybe Einstein should have used his intuitive sacred gift and realized the destruction and suffering that his scientific discoveries could have caused, instead of putting such deadly knowledge in the hands of the servant...

 

So is he blaming society for his lack of intuition?

 

 

Leaves a bad taste in my mouth...

Oppenheimer would be disheartened.

[rex]

How many people feel miserable and trapped by their lifestyles? How many people stay with people they can't stand? How many hours do people spend doing jobs they don't like for people they hate so they can have money they don't get to enjoy because they have to spend it on keeping everything they hate running smoothly?

 

http://headforred.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-living-death.html

[Marblehead]

So true but I'm not part of that crowd anymore, thank you.

[Infinity]

'The walls and barriers which we use to protect ourselves with form the prisons from which we are trying to escape.' ∞

 

 

 

'Your only free when you choose you prison.' someone somewhere

 

 

∞

Edited May 9, 2014 by Infinity

[Marblehead]

I like the first one; I don't agree with the second one.

[Student]

I am very fond of chapter 20 of the Tao Te Ching.

[Marblehead]

I am very fond of chapter 20 of the Tao Te Ching.

Yes, in our own personal life this would likely be an excellent philosophy. However, we must tend to what needs tending to else we are not much more than a single flower in a garden. (I was going to say 'weed' instead of 'flower'.)

 

We should always remember to dance. And yes, it can be according to our own timing and music.

[GrandmasterP]

Weeds are vigorous.

 

[Marblehead]

Weeds are vigorous.

Yep. I pulled a few of them this morning. They do grow faster than most of my flowering plants.

[Student]

Yes, in our own personal life this would likely be an excellent philosophy. However, we must tend to what needs tending to else we are not much more than a single flower in a garden. (I was going to say 'weed' instead of 'flower'.)

 

We should always remember to dance. And yes, it can be according to our own timing and music.

I'm not sure how you're interpreting chapter twenty, so I'm not really sure what you mean in your response to me. Could you expand your thoughts?

[GrandmasterP]

Nice avatar student.

[Marblehead]

Could you expand your thoughts?

No.

 

 

Well, actually, I will.

 

I always use Henricks' translation whenever I am speaking directly to any part of the TTC.

 

There are two sections within this chapter. The first section, lines 1 - 7 speaks to the concept of duality, in the third person and matter of factly. It is not a lead-in to the second section but has implications, after the fact of the second section.

 

The second section is spoken in first person format. (I and them; actually setting up a duality in itself.)

 

"The multitudes" are the common people living a common-peoples life. We have a comparison of "them" vs "me".

 

They seem to know what they are doing and take joy in doing that, vs, me, who appears to have no idea what I am doing.

 

They express themselves openly whereas I remain hidden. They appear to know what they want and do that, I, appear to have no idea what I want and therefore do nothing.

 

 

Thing is, from my observation, "they" are living while "I" am simply existing. They are pulling weeds from the garden so that the garden is more attractive to the eyes. I am watching the weeds grow.

 

The point I was trying to make is that, sure, it is great to meditate and philosophize. But when do we live? When do we tend to the garden? When do we stop working and just enjoy life, dancing and listening to the music?

 

We have a life so that we can live it. To remain unmoved and watch life go by is a waste of a life. Better, IMO, to do things, and even make mistakes and have to pay for our mistakes than to do nothing and make no mistakes.

[GrandmasterP]

Spot on MH.

We take what comes then deal with it as best we can.

IMO regular cultivation helps us deal with 'better' in good times and the bad times too.

Somebody said...

"In a crisis we do not rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training."

Edited May 11, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Student]

No.

 

 

Well, actually, I will.

 

I always use Henricks' translation whenever I am speaking directly to any part of the TTC.

 

There are two sections within this chapter. The first section, lines 1 - 7 speaks to the concept of duality, in the third person and matter of factly. It is not a lead-in to the second section but has implications, after the fact of the second section.

 

The second section is spoken in first person format. (I and them; actually setting up a duality in itself.)

 

"The multitudes" are the common people living a common-peoples life. We have a comparison of "them" vs "me".

 

They seem to know what they are doing and take joy in doing that, vs, me, who appears to have no idea what I am doing.

 

They express themselves openly whereas I remain hidden. They appear to know what they want and do that, I, appear to have no idea what I want and therefore do nothing.

 

 

Thing is, from my observation, "they" are living while "I" am simply existing. They are pulling weeds from the garden so that the garden is more attractive to the eyes. I am watching the weeds grow.

 

The point I was trying to make is that, sure, it is great to meditate and philosophize. But when do we live? When do we tend to the garden? When do we stop working and just enjoy life, dancing and listening to the music?

 

We have a life so that we can live it. To remain unmoved and watch life go by is a waste of a life. Better, IMO, to do things, and even make mistakes and have to pay for our mistakes than to do nothing and make no mistakes.

 

So my favorite translation is Lin Yutang, after that is Addiss and Lombardo, after that Derek Lin. Each have their own subtleties I enjoy.

 

Chapter Twenty talks about the relationship between society and a man of Tao (or woman of Tao, but for brevity I'll say man if only because I'm male) . In following Taoism, a man of Tao sees the world differently. Specifically, the man of Tao sees through the illusions society feeds to everyone starting at birth, illusions like what you need to do to be normal, what society says you need to be happy, how you should look, how you should obey societal pressure to fit in. The man of Tao sees that often, these societal pressures are actual dangerous to our own spirituality.

 

For example, in the modern day we are constantly barraged with the message that to be happy we need a bigger house, and more expensive car, we have to fit in with the crowd by keeping up with fashion, women must wear make-up and enlarge their breasts if they want to be pretty, men have to watch sports if they want to fit in. All of these things are programming us to be shallow consumers and docile, easy-to-control citizens. Yet all of these shallow pursuits, like chasing money and the whims of societal convention, are damaging our spiritual selves.

 

The man of Tao sees through the illusion- but there's a hitch. Chuang Tzu had a word for the majority of population- he called them the herd. After becoming a man of Tao, you are now separated from the herd. The man of Tao doesn't fit in with them any more. The realization that it's now much more difficult to relate to the common person, the people who fit society's mold, can make a person feel lonely. You've become a stranger in your own home. The herd is more or less happy living their lives, it could even be dangerous showing yourself for who you are- they might turn on you for thinking differently than they do. So the man of Tao must adjust to being an outsider.

 

Still, the path of Tao isn't just lonely and desolate. You still draw from an eternal source to nourish your spiritual self. The nourishment of Taoism allows you to live a content life and it nourishes your soul. And if you're lucky, you can find a few others that also follow the path of Tao and are likewise divorced from the trappings of a spirituality sapping society.

[Mark Foote]

Consider yourself other than the mass of humanity at your own peril! Everyone is a manifestation of the same mystery, everyone is offering, I'm out of breath.

[Marblehead]

Chapter Twenty talks about the relationship between ...

Yes, I like Lin Yutang's translation as well.

 

And you have a nice positivist way of looking at the chapter.

 

But I see nothing wrong with having 'things' that give us pleasure. Better pleasure than pain.

 

Nothing wrong, IMO, with dancing with the ladies - even if it is to someone else's music.

 

We should not give up the pleasures of the body just because we are trying to be a good Taoist.

 

If what we do is natural, gives us pleasure and harms none other, where would the wrong be?

 

Party time!!!