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Posted by Butcho
on 4/3/2009, 8:59 am, in reply to "Tinted Reality"
75.88.45.x
--Previous Message--
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: Friends,
:
: Like water the Way has its preferences.
: Those that say otherwise simply want their
: own way. The way of the ego.
:
: The sage treats the ego like a straw dog
: because the ego is an artificial thing. A
: false reality.
:
: The sage has burned up his ego in the light
: of awareness. He has become his original
: self.
:
: It is not a natural phenomenon to lose one's
: original self, to have it replaced by the
: ego. And then to lose one's ego to regain
: one's true or original self.
:
: The ego is not natural. It is a Golem. A
: Frankenstein monster of the egoistic mind
: personified as an inanimate object that has
: come to life. There is nothing natural about
: the ego. A balanced sense of self, yes. An
: absolute ego, no.
:
: The sage would have us burn our ego in the
: light of our own intrinsic awareness. Would
: have us cultivate our awareness so that the
: natural can once again take its rightful
: place in our lives.
:
: Of course the ego does not want to hear
: this. So few there be that find the narrow
: gate.
:
: You can live next to the sewage treatment
: plant if you like. I live on the other side
: of town. To each his or her own.
:
: Butcho
:
:
: I'm not entirely convinced anything in this
: universe can be classed as unnatural.
:
: The ego like weeds are natural; the ego has
: a purpose other wise we wouldn't have one.
: Like weeds the ego can get out of control
: and that doesn't do us any good.
:
: I dont think the ego is a false reality I
: think it is looking at reality through
: tinted glasses. Paradoxically its our passed
: experiences that tint our present
: experiences. The sage has removed the tint.
:
: The problem I see with the ego is its self
: importance. The ego is the thing that throws
: temper tantrums when its not getting its
: way, its stubborn and jealous; its the one
: that screams, "I AM THAT I AM"
:
assinity,
You can lead an ass to water, but you can't make it take an enema.
Part of enlightenment is to lighten up.
As far as unnatural goes, I would say there are probably more unnatural possibilities than natural ones. It is not natural to go against the grain. Yet we do it all the time. So rare in fact is going with the grain that when someone does go with the flow of a thing they are said to be an artist. A natural Taoist is an artist of life. Goes with the flow of the watercourse way of the Tao.
The action of wu-wei has preferences. Right action. Water always seeks the area of least resistance. The grain. One example of why I have said that the Tao has preferences. It is just that It never changes its mind. Thus its preference is implied rather than stated.
Those that think they have found in Taoism a godless ticket to do whatever they like for it is all natural are just projecting their own immature egoistic mindset upon that which they know very little about. But don't feel too bad, we all do it. To one extent or another. All of us but the great sages from every place and every time. And even most of them probably stumbled from the Way from time to time.
The mystic experience, the direct experience of reality as it is, shatters the ego. Or at least cracks. Until this experience happens to a person reading about it is just so many words. My words to you are just so many words. Like Steve, you argue about something you know very little about--I could be wrong. Other than what you have read that is. But again, don't feel bad. Such is the nature of the conditioned sense of self I and others call the ego. The sense of self that is a case of mistaken identity. We all have it. It is just that some of us realize it more than others. The sage does not want us to eliminate a sense of self. He wants us to change our sense of self. From the exclusivity of the ego, to the inclusivity of the Self of existence. We are each a part of that which has no parts.
I am not saying that the sage or the person on the journey to sagehood is better than the person that is not. I am saying that the sage is better off. And so is the person that has taken the first step on the journey to the interior. Better off because they are becoming more natural, more their original selves. Those that haven't taken at least the first step are completely asleep as it were. Thus the Buddha and others have said that what a person needs to do is to wake up. Needs to do if one is tired of the angst created by the conditioned sense of self, the ego.
Such is the case with all religions. There are a few doers and a lot of followers. The doers come to transcend religion. The followers do not. And, most of those that claim to have transcended religion don't know what they are talking about. The ego has an opinion about everything, especially itself. Whether it knows anything about the subject of the ego or not. The ego is a projection machine that has mesmerized our original nature, our original self, pure awareness. Thus the sage says we must be born again. Must change our perspective is we are to see rightly. Must leave the house of mirrors that the ego represents and return home.
So the sages often tell us to sit down and shut up so that our attention can fall away from our projections and return to itself. What some Taoists call learning to "turn the light around".
Butcho
285
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"The Tao is basically utterly open. Utter openeness has no substance. It ends in endlessness, begins in beginninglessnes".
-Li Daoqun
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