[ Post a Response | Tao Speaks ]
Posted by Butch on 8/7/2008, 1:17 pm, in reply to "Re: Though men go mad in herds, they regain their senses one at a time."
162.39.190.X
--Previous Message--
:
: Steve,
:
: The negation of the negation that leads to
: the Great Affirmation. Two minuses make a
: positive.
:
: Negative measures positive measures
: negative. Neither pole of a polarity stands
: alone. Each pole is a part of an underlying
: unity. A part of that which has no parts.
:
: Verse 1 of the Tao Te Ching makes the
: OldBoy's perspective clear.
:
: The Way that becomes a way is not the
: Immortal Way.
:
: The Way cannot be directly stated. Cannot be
: limited to words that are polarized--this or
: that. The Way must be experienced by oneself
: to be known. One can read about it all day
: long and not know for oneself what is being
: talked about.
:
: ... two different names for one and the
: same. The one we call dark. The dark beyond
: dark. The door to all beginnings.
:
: Light and Dark are but two different names
: for one and the same. The OldBoy recommends
: that we take the Dark way, the feminine way,
: the inside way. The meditative way. The way
: where light and dark, this and that, are
: negated for they are seen as one and the
: same. But the OldBoy does not stop there, at
: the negation of duality. No, the OldBoy goes
: on. On to even the negation of negation. To
: the Great Affirmation. To the door to all
: beginnings, to beginningless endlessness.
:
: By not relying on outside things, opinions,
: religion, science, and such, the adept relys
: on him or herself. The adept turns inward
: and finds the door that opens to the great
: beyond. It is a virtuous way. A wise way. A
: powerful way. The only way for it is the way
: that was given to each of us by existence. A
: way that cannot be given to us by any
: outside agency. A way that cannot be taken
: from us. It can only be given up. I choose
: not to give up.
:
: Because everything is known does not mean
: everything is determined.
:
: Butch
:
:
: Butch-
:
: I know lots of people who never went through
: the great negation...... and don't have a
: clue what negation and affirmation mean.
:
: I'm happy to say that most of the ones I
: hold closest to my heart are kind, giving
: individuals. Laozi also suggests we stop
: looking so deeply within ourselves that we
: lose sight of others.
:
: -Nina
:
:
:
:
Hey Nina,
At first mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers. Then mountains are not mountains and rivers are not rivers. Then mountains are mountains and rivers are rivers again.
At first we see things as separate realities for we have fallen into dualistic thinking. Object/Subject polarity. Then we see that things are not separate by seeing the underlying unity of all things. That seemingly separate things are a polarity, one with the other. Yin turns into yang turns into yang. Absolute separation is an illusion. Then we see that things are things in their own right just as we are a thing in ours. That the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. All is not One. All is a unitive one-though even these words fall short they are closer than the numerical one of monism. Not one, not two, undivided. A quality rather than a quantity. Others are as real as we are. Taoism is not solipsistic. Others matter.
But, there is a grain to reality that is the same for everyone. We can either go with that grain or we can fight it. Most are fighting the grain. Lao Tzu was about going with the grain. As was Chuang Tzu. The master butcher's knife was immortal.
Butch
| 48 |
"The Tao is basically utterly open. Utter openeness has no substance. It ends in endlessness, begins in beginninglessnes".
-Li Daoqun
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