There is something formlessly created
Born before Heaven and Earth
So silent! So ethereal!
Independent and changeless
Circulating and ceaseless
It can be regarded as the mother of the world
I do not know its name
Identifying it, I call it "Tao"
Forced to describe it, I call it great
Great means passing
Passing means receding
Receding means returning
Therefore the Tao is great
Heaven is great
Earth is great
The sovereign is also great
There are four greats in the universe
And the sovereign occupies one of them
Humans follow the laws of Earth
Earth follows the laws of Heaven
Heaven follows the laws of Tao
Tao follows the laws of nature
What does it mean?
Everything is circular in nature. If one is to adhere to a life by natural law, one must respect that everything comes and goes in cycles. Life grows, but it also recedes and returns back to it's tranquil state to nourish and make room for the next life.
This is a great thing! Imagine a world in which there is infinite growth. Eventually, you run out of room and resources for anything new, and then life stagnates. The thing is everything cycles.
Humans cycle. Individually we live and die. Collectively our civilizations and constructs rise and fall. At this very moment, the things that power Western civilization are slowly winding down in the way all living things do.
Life itself cycles. We have experienced five great extinctions that wipe out over almost all of the life living on earth in a few decades. Yet, even though it is a horrible, massive loss of life, it made room for the next age. In fact, they say we are experiencing another extinction at this presice moment.
The heavens cycle too. Our star will eventually expand and envelop all of the near planets, including ours and get colder. Eventually it will burn out and explode. When that happens, the matter that makes up our solar system will explode and become the next celestial body thousands of light years and millions of our years away.
I bet that the entire scope of reality will one day recirculate. The universe is continually expanding and potentially might simply fade away, or perhaps it will reverse course after losing moment from a Big Bang moment. We don't know what existed before the universe. It could look like what the end of this reality will eventually look like.
How do I use this?
Accept the cycles in your life. Fighting against natural cycles only causes extra suffering for yourself or others. To be at peace, you have to look at all things as temporary and insubstantial and why that is good.
There are cycles all throughout your life. You move to new homes, have new jobs, make new friends and learn new things. You cannot get these new things without losing the old things, not having enough time for old friends or unlearning what you assumed was right. This is another reason, practically, that making space in all aspects of your life is a good thing. When, and not if, your life changes, you need to be flexible enough to change with it.
It you have a hard time letting go of the old things, think of those opprotunities you get to have once change occurs. This does not mean you do not mourn what you loved and lost, but it does mean you have to let things pass to continue the nautral cycles. In fact, you do yourself a great injustice to ignore your feelings to "be tough" in a swell of difficult change. Just keep in mind that your feelings and thoughts will change too, and that will to help heal your emotions.
The contradiction is change is changless. Change is a eternal force on reality. It is a part of the Tao which is defined by paradox.
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Chapter 26 - Roots
Heaviness is the root of lightness
Quietness is the master of restlessness
Therefore the sages travel an entire day
Without leaving the heavy supplies
Even though there are luxurious sights
They are composed and transcend beyond
How can the lords of ten thousand chariots
Apply themselves lightly to the world?
To be light is to lose one's root
To be restless is to lose one's mastery
What does this mean?
I think heaviness and quietness is a metaphor for importance and seriousness. It is the difference between a loose feather and a loose stone. A feather floats away on the winds of Tao, with no abilitiy to be useful to anyone or anything until it gets rooted to a branch or the ground. A stone, however, becomes immensely useful. To the insects living below it, to the animals who burrow under it, and to humans who build entire cities with loose stone.
A mind that is focused on the frivolities of the world are at the mercy of reality. That kind of mind is "light" and not quiet. When one plays games all day to the exclusion of all else, what happens when they lose the pieces or otherwise can't indulge? In a way, it is a danger of civilization that allows so many people this opprotunity. Even I am a victim of it.
You used to be able to call me a gamer. My entire life's focus was on fantasy worlds in my head. I have lost a lot of years playing games. Then I started a family and illusions fell away. I realized that the skills I devalued were the ones I needed most; growing and finding food, finding water, making shelter. I needed to learn mindfulness and to respect others. Learning skills I never bothered to learn before, I found the potential to be the father my family will need and be an example I want my kids to have.
My roots in existence are growing.
How do I use this?
Be rooted in reality. I'll be the first to admit I that this is a weakness of mine. I still spend a lot of time in a place outside of reality and the Tao. However, I learned what I need to know but do not over the course of this last year on how to have respect for yourself in your own life.
Physically, do you know how to care for your needs in any situation?
Emotionally, are you tempered enough to do right and effective action in any circumstance?
Mentally, are you mindful and aware of the time and place you are in?
Socially, are you listening to the needs of those around you and not just their desires?
Quietness is the master of restlessness
Therefore the sages travel an entire day
Without leaving the heavy supplies
Even though there are luxurious sights
They are composed and transcend beyond
How can the lords of ten thousand chariots
Apply themselves lightly to the world?
To be light is to lose one's root
To be restless is to lose one's mastery
What does this mean?
I think heaviness and quietness is a metaphor for importance and seriousness. It is the difference between a loose feather and a loose stone. A feather floats away on the winds of Tao, with no abilitiy to be useful to anyone or anything until it gets rooted to a branch or the ground. A stone, however, becomes immensely useful. To the insects living below it, to the animals who burrow under it, and to humans who build entire cities with loose stone.
A mind that is focused on the frivolities of the world are at the mercy of reality. That kind of mind is "light" and not quiet. When one plays games all day to the exclusion of all else, what happens when they lose the pieces or otherwise can't indulge? In a way, it is a danger of civilization that allows so many people this opprotunity. Even I am a victim of it.
You used to be able to call me a gamer. My entire life's focus was on fantasy worlds in my head. I have lost a lot of years playing games. Then I started a family and illusions fell away. I realized that the skills I devalued were the ones I needed most; growing and finding food, finding water, making shelter. I needed to learn mindfulness and to respect others. Learning skills I never bothered to learn before, I found the potential to be the father my family will need and be an example I want my kids to have.
My roots in existence are growing.
How do I use this?
Be rooted in reality. I'll be the first to admit I that this is a weakness of mine. I still spend a lot of time in a place outside of reality and the Tao. However, I learned what I need to know but do not over the course of this last year on how to have respect for yourself in your own life.
Physically, do you know how to care for your needs in any situation?
Emotionally, are you tempered enough to do right and effective action in any circumstance?
Mentally, are you mindful and aware of the time and place you are in?
Socially, are you listening to the needs of those around you and not just their desires?
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Chapter 24 - Pride
Those who are on tiptoes cannot stand
Those who straddle cannot walk
Those who flaunt themselves are not clear
Those who presume themselves are not distinguished
Those who praise themselves have no merit
Those who boast about themselves do not last
Those with the Tao call such things leftover food or tumors
They despise them
Thus, those who possesses the Tao do not engage in them
What does this mean?
Ego and pride are mental constructs to protect our feelings. Too much pride, no matter how justified, builds that wall higher and higher. Just like stacking a child's blocks too high, eventually it is going to fall. You can build ego up to impressive heights, but by its very nature will be unstable. The only question is how much damage it causes when it collapses.
Humility is that underlying virtue that supports the other virtues to the Tao. You build humility broadly, like a foundation of a house as opposed to vertically.
You can not knock over a piece of paper laying flat.
How do I use this?
When someone says "Watch this," back up to a safe spot. The way opposites work will probably cause that thing you are suppose to watch will spectatularly fail. See Murphy's Law.
Do not listen to one who brags. Be careful if you trust someone who talks about how good they are at something. Even if that person is truly great, you have to keep in mind the price of boosting their ego.
Learn the difference between being good and being better. Doing well, whether through talent or skill is good. Effective action is important so as to improve your life. Many times, its hard to find fulfillment unless you are able to do something at a specific level which most people can obtain through practice. The fine line between effectiveness and pride is thinking of yourself as better.
This is a key to staying humble. There is always someone better than you in every aspect of your life. Even if you become so skilled as to be the best in the world, that is just a brief moment in time. Eventually, age will take that skill away from you and give it to someone new.
The only person you have to try and best is yourself.
Those who straddle cannot walk
Those who flaunt themselves are not clear
Those who presume themselves are not distinguished
Those who praise themselves have no merit
Those who boast about themselves do not last
Those with the Tao call such things leftover food or tumors
They despise them
Thus, those who possesses the Tao do not engage in them
What does this mean?
Ego and pride are mental constructs to protect our feelings. Too much pride, no matter how justified, builds that wall higher and higher. Just like stacking a child's blocks too high, eventually it is going to fall. You can build ego up to impressive heights, but by its very nature will be unstable. The only question is how much damage it causes when it collapses.
Humility is that underlying virtue that supports the other virtues to the Tao. You build humility broadly, like a foundation of a house as opposed to vertically.
You can not knock over a piece of paper laying flat.
How do I use this?
When someone says "Watch this," back up to a safe spot. The way opposites work will probably cause that thing you are suppose to watch will spectatularly fail. See Murphy's Law.
Do not listen to one who brags. Be careful if you trust someone who talks about how good they are at something. Even if that person is truly great, you have to keep in mind the price of boosting their ego.
Learn the difference between being good and being better. Doing well, whether through talent or skill is good. Effective action is important so as to improve your life. Many times, its hard to find fulfillment unless you are able to do something at a specific level which most people can obtain through practice. The fine line between effectiveness and pride is thinking of yourself as better.
This is a key to staying humble. There is always someone better than you in every aspect of your life. Even if you become so skilled as to be the best in the world, that is just a brief moment in time. Eventually, age will take that skill away from you and give it to someone new.
The only person you have to try and best is yourself.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Chapter 22 - Obstacles
Yield and remain whole
Bend and remain straight
Be low and become filled
Be worn out and become renewed
Have little and receive
Have much and be confused
Therefore the sages hold to the one as an example for the world
Without flaunting themselves – and so are seen clearly
Without presuming themselves – and so are distinguished
Without praising themselves – and so have merit
Without boasting about themselves – and so are lasting
Because they do not contend, the world cannot contend with them
What the ancients called "the one who yields and remains whole"
Were they speaking empty words?
Sincerity becoming whole, and returning to oneself
What does this mean?
Life is not a sprint or a marathon. If one were to equate life to any sort of contest, it is an obstacle course at night. There are walls to climb over, ropes to swing on, mud to wade through and pools to swim through but because you can not see very far, there is no way to know what is next or where to go. Everyone around you struggles with traversing the course and it's easy to follow along with everyone else's culture.
The culture you follow are the obstacles everyone say you should attempt.
If the goal is to get to the other side of a free-standing wall for example, are you going to climb over it and jump down, or are you going the easy way and walk around it? What happens when you eventually reach that obstacle you cannot traverse no matter how much help you get?
Not all obstacles are physical. Many times the things you can't bypass are those mental hangups everyone has. If you think you know everything, you cannot let in more knowledge. If you think you can not do it for whatever reason, you will not until you figure it how to think differently. Imagine all of those disabled people who do amazing things with the right attitutde compared to those who are not disabled but cannot do it for any reason they think applies.
Virtue is like a map that reveals the obstacle course. It not only shows you the shortcuts in our physical reality but also the shortcuts in our mental and emotional landscapes.
The part of the Tao is the path. Tao is translated to mean "the way", after all. It leads you to the goal. It might be through an obstacle, it might be around it.
To continue with the analogy of the obstacle course, if you skip a few obstacles or even walk straight to the part of the course where you wanted to be, imagine how you would look to others. They will be dirty, tired and maybe even injured to have gotten to the same place you are, but you will be fresh and ready to be there.
People who did not see you travel will be amazed and asked how you did it so effortlessly.
How can I use this?
Be sincere and honest with yourself regarding your goals. Without virtue to light the way and the Tao to guide us, the destination seems distant and murky. On the obstacle course of life, our current goal seems to be whatever is at the end of the obstacle we are currently on. We have a vague idea of what is ahead but we don't really know if it is what we even want until we finish. It might be that the path you decide on takes you decades because your culture set out all of these steps for you.
This is why we need to simplify our goals and be honest with to ourselves.
Let us say that I loved writing stories as a child. In Western culture, my friends and family might latch onto that and say, "Oh! Your stuff is very good. You should get published."
I have so many steps that complicate our path to the goal of writing stories. I would sacrifice the time and wealth of a decade if I followed this path. Nevermind that half-way through achieving this life-consuming goal I might change my mind.
There are reasons for some of those obstacles, but a one-size fits all approach our culture tends to have might not work for you.
Studying writing in school is a great way to improve, but one should not stop doing what fulfills themselves if they don't improve in such a structured setting. Not improving here simply means that you might need a different way to learn or you need some basics like discipline or mindfulness.
Getting a career is a good idea to provide yourself with basic needs, but needs are their own goal. To tie it in with a formal education and the weight of crippling life-long debt seems insane considering the percentage of successful authors to those who like literature.
Getting published is a great way to spend all of your time writing, but quitting when your first stories get rejected for whatever reason should not be why you quit. You can always get better or find different publishers or even reach out to different audiences. You should not even care if they get rejected as the goal is to write instead of getting published. The reason to truly quit is if writing is no longer something that fulfills you.
It is all too much if you have plans like this. Once you accumulate so many steps, it is easy to become confused and lost with exactly who you are and what drives you. Through the Tao and virtue, we have an easier path.
Write with your full presence. Write to get better. Write for its own sake.
Write. Write. Write.
This applies to absolutely everything. Creating art. Improving your skills. Learning more. Once you cared for your needs, do things because it fulfills you to do them. Do things because it is part of who you are.
The "doing" and the "being" come together as one inside you.
Bend and remain straight
Be low and become filled
Be worn out and become renewed
Have little and receive
Have much and be confused
Therefore the sages hold to the one as an example for the world
Without flaunting themselves – and so are seen clearly
Without presuming themselves – and so are distinguished
Without praising themselves – and so have merit
Without boasting about themselves – and so are lasting
Because they do not contend, the world cannot contend with them
What the ancients called "the one who yields and remains whole"
Were they speaking empty words?
Sincerity becoming whole, and returning to oneself
What does this mean?
Life is not a sprint or a marathon. If one were to equate life to any sort of contest, it is an obstacle course at night. There are walls to climb over, ropes to swing on, mud to wade through and pools to swim through but because you can not see very far, there is no way to know what is next or where to go. Everyone around you struggles with traversing the course and it's easy to follow along with everyone else's culture.
The culture you follow are the obstacles everyone say you should attempt.
If the goal is to get to the other side of a free-standing wall for example, are you going to climb over it and jump down, or are you going the easy way and walk around it? What happens when you eventually reach that obstacle you cannot traverse no matter how much help you get?
Not all obstacles are physical. Many times the things you can't bypass are those mental hangups everyone has. If you think you know everything, you cannot let in more knowledge. If you think you can not do it for whatever reason, you will not until you figure it how to think differently. Imagine all of those disabled people who do amazing things with the right attitutde compared to those who are not disabled but cannot do it for any reason they think applies.
Virtue is like a map that reveals the obstacle course. It not only shows you the shortcuts in our physical reality but also the shortcuts in our mental and emotional landscapes.
The part of the Tao is the path. Tao is translated to mean "the way", after all. It leads you to the goal. It might be through an obstacle, it might be around it.
To continue with the analogy of the obstacle course, if you skip a few obstacles or even walk straight to the part of the course where you wanted to be, imagine how you would look to others. They will be dirty, tired and maybe even injured to have gotten to the same place you are, but you will be fresh and ready to be there.
People who did not see you travel will be amazed and asked how you did it so effortlessly.
How can I use this?
Be sincere and honest with yourself regarding your goals. Without virtue to light the way and the Tao to guide us, the destination seems distant and murky. On the obstacle course of life, our current goal seems to be whatever is at the end of the obstacle we are currently on. We have a vague idea of what is ahead but we don't really know if it is what we even want until we finish. It might be that the path you decide on takes you decades because your culture set out all of these steps for you.
This is why we need to simplify our goals and be honest with to ourselves.
Let us say that I loved writing stories as a child. In Western culture, my friends and family might latch onto that and say, "Oh! Your stuff is very good. You should get published."
- I feel good about our friends saying that and culture glorifies the best-selling author, so I try to pursue being an novelist.
- Now with our new goal of getting published, I get told we have to get an agent that can submit my work to the publishers and make sure it gets read.
- Then our with the new goal of getting an agent, I get told that agents only take people who get a degree in Writing and that it will help improve my skills as my style does not fit with what gets published.
- To get that degree of Writing, I must spend four years or more at a large liberal arts college and sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt.
- To help pay that debt, I need to take on a full-time middle-income career for a decade or more at something you never trained for and possibly hate.
- To get that full-time job that can pay your debt, I need to build your resume and pad it with any exaggeration and half-truths and get experience working at the entry level positions.
- To get the entry-level job, I need to start in high-school getting into the highly competitive AP classes and volunteer part time.
- To get into the AP classes, I need to get perfect scores in your normal classes.
- To get perfect scores in your normal classes assuming I don't thrive in formal education, I need to study all through middle grade and high school in subjects that I will most likely never use again.
I have so many steps that complicate our path to the goal of writing stories. I would sacrifice the time and wealth of a decade if I followed this path. Nevermind that half-way through achieving this life-consuming goal I might change my mind.
There are reasons for some of those obstacles, but a one-size fits all approach our culture tends to have might not work for you.
Studying writing in school is a great way to improve, but one should not stop doing what fulfills themselves if they don't improve in such a structured setting. Not improving here simply means that you might need a different way to learn or you need some basics like discipline or mindfulness.
Getting a career is a good idea to provide yourself with basic needs, but needs are their own goal. To tie it in with a formal education and the weight of crippling life-long debt seems insane considering the percentage of successful authors to those who like literature.
Getting published is a great way to spend all of your time writing, but quitting when your first stories get rejected for whatever reason should not be why you quit. You can always get better or find different publishers or even reach out to different audiences. You should not even care if they get rejected as the goal is to write instead of getting published. The reason to truly quit is if writing is no longer something that fulfills you.
It is all too much if you have plans like this. Once you accumulate so many steps, it is easy to become confused and lost with exactly who you are and what drives you. Through the Tao and virtue, we have an easier path.
Write with your full presence. Write to get better. Write for its own sake.
Write. Write. Write.
This applies to absolutely everything. Creating art. Improving your skills. Learning more. Once you cared for your needs, do things because it fulfills you to do them. Do things because it is part of who you are.
The "doing" and the "being" come together as one inside you.
Chapter 21 - Faith
The appearance of great virtue
Follows only the Tao
The Tao, as a thing
Seems indistinct, seems unclear
So unclear, so indistinct
Within it there is image
So indistinct, so unclear
Within it there is substance
So deep, so profound
Within it there is essence
Its essence is supremely real
Within it there is faith
From ancient times to the present
Its name never departs
To observe the source of all things
How do I know the nature of the source?
With this
What does this mean?
Let us assume that we do want to have great virtue. We would need to follow the Tao to obtain this. The problem arises when the Tao is a paradox and a mystery. It is like trying to follow a quiet sparrow through a dense fog. The only clue you have is the slight flutter of wings. a branch that is still quivering from the bird taking off or if you are lucky, a feather left behind to know you are on the right path. The evidence is slight and coincidental.
To follow the Tao, you can test that the Tao is there. Faith is counter to the idea of the Tao as a philosophical concept. However, you need faith to follow something you have no language to even define or comprehend as a human being. That does not mean the Tao fails as something to help you.
Faith is necessary to have any sort of sanity. To have true certainty with no faith, one would have to go to the source and experience it for ourselves. With absolutely zero faith, you could say that China does not exist. All of those items that say "Made in China" and the books and movies that take place there could be a giant ruse for some unknowable purpose. This idea is pretty ridiculous but it points out the subjectivity with faith.
Faith is not some powerful spiritual force that dictates whether a diety loves you or not. Hoping that everything is going to be alright does not mean that having hope is the reason why it is going to be alright. Magical thinking through faith fuels justifications to keep doing what a culture or your own belief thinks you should.
Faith is simply how much you trust evidence presented to you for a specific claim.
We can see how great virtue impacts life. That virtue follows the Tao. We can see how opposites occur when one is motivated by ego and desire. Knowing opposites follows the Tao. We can see the problems of complicating our lives through intelligence and culture. We know that these human constructs are counter to the Tao.
Do you have faith that the Tao exists because of this evidence and in spite of the Tao's muddled indescribable nature?
No? That is OK. Unlike faith in China existing, the Tao is everywhere so it is easy to verify.
How do I use this?
Action trumps faith. Forgetting about virtue and the Tao, the most successful people are the ones who act to be at the right place at the right time and are motivated to do so. It is not luck, faith or hope. They have a destination and they know the map to it. They adapt when they risk something happening and it doesn't. In other words, they are not governed by confirmation bias.
The fallicy of confirmation bias is solely based on the human sense to make sense of the world: If I do A and B happens, it is because of C. Even if reason C is completely a coincidence.
* Since I flipped a coin 5 times and it was heads each time, it will probably be heads next time.
* Since I was carrying a rabbit's foot and I found $100, the rabbit's foot is lucky.
* Since it's cold outside, global warming must be a lie.
Those people who act outside of confirmation bias but a good understanding of how reality works are a step ahead. Those people drop their expectations of the coin's power to come up heads again. The sage does not carry a rabbit's foot, but they open their eyes instead. There is wisdom to study weather deeply if you wonder why people are worried about climate change.
The sage takes in and respects the hypothesis of others, but always tests against reality.
Get rid of magical thinking. The most difficult human obstacle is prayer and hope.
It is easy for the indoctrinated to say, "Since I have found faith in a spiritual force, everything has gone my way and I've gotten everything I've wanted. The spirit and faith must be the power where it comes from."
It is easy to construct that it's not the motivation you looked to when you were in trouble that made your life better, but the spirit or diety you put your faith into. If you stop getting what you want, it was not your fault, it was either the spirit did not want you to have it or you did not have enough faith. When you get mired in this, you are not in control anymore. You are a dust mote on the fractal winds of chance.
The Tao does not care about what you want or your desires. The Tao does not acknowledge your idea of how the world should work. The Tao merely is.
The amazing thing about it is by trying to make sense and follow the Tao, we naturally come across the virtues and thinking skills we need to cope and appreciate all of reality from which the Tao comes from. The Tao does not give us a good life by following it, but it simplifies our realities and tempers our desire. That is what makes our life better. We can use the concepts to achieve goals in line with following the great virtues that follow the Tao.
Follows only the Tao
The Tao, as a thing
Seems indistinct, seems unclear
So unclear, so indistinct
Within it there is image
So indistinct, so unclear
Within it there is substance
So deep, so profound
Within it there is essence
Its essence is supremely real
Within it there is faith
From ancient times to the present
Its name never departs
To observe the source of all things
How do I know the nature of the source?
With this
What does this mean?
Let us assume that we do want to have great virtue. We would need to follow the Tao to obtain this. The problem arises when the Tao is a paradox and a mystery. It is like trying to follow a quiet sparrow through a dense fog. The only clue you have is the slight flutter of wings. a branch that is still quivering from the bird taking off or if you are lucky, a feather left behind to know you are on the right path. The evidence is slight and coincidental.
To follow the Tao, you can test that the Tao is there. Faith is counter to the idea of the Tao as a philosophical concept. However, you need faith to follow something you have no language to even define or comprehend as a human being. That does not mean the Tao fails as something to help you.
Faith is necessary to have any sort of sanity. To have true certainty with no faith, one would have to go to the source and experience it for ourselves. With absolutely zero faith, you could say that China does not exist. All of those items that say "Made in China" and the books and movies that take place there could be a giant ruse for some unknowable purpose. This idea is pretty ridiculous but it points out the subjectivity with faith.
Faith is not some powerful spiritual force that dictates whether a diety loves you or not. Hoping that everything is going to be alright does not mean that having hope is the reason why it is going to be alright. Magical thinking through faith fuels justifications to keep doing what a culture or your own belief thinks you should.
Faith is simply how much you trust evidence presented to you for a specific claim.
We can see how great virtue impacts life. That virtue follows the Tao. We can see how opposites occur when one is motivated by ego and desire. Knowing opposites follows the Tao. We can see the problems of complicating our lives through intelligence and culture. We know that these human constructs are counter to the Tao.
Do you have faith that the Tao exists because of this evidence and in spite of the Tao's muddled indescribable nature?
No? That is OK. Unlike faith in China existing, the Tao is everywhere so it is easy to verify.
How do I use this?
Action trumps faith. Forgetting about virtue and the Tao, the most successful people are the ones who act to be at the right place at the right time and are motivated to do so. It is not luck, faith or hope. They have a destination and they know the map to it. They adapt when they risk something happening and it doesn't. In other words, they are not governed by confirmation bias.
The fallicy of confirmation bias is solely based on the human sense to make sense of the world: If I do A and B happens, it is because of C. Even if reason C is completely a coincidence.
* Since I flipped a coin 5 times and it was heads each time, it will probably be heads next time.
* Since I was carrying a rabbit's foot and I found $100, the rabbit's foot is lucky.
* Since it's cold outside, global warming must be a lie.
Those people who act outside of confirmation bias but a good understanding of how reality works are a step ahead. Those people drop their expectations of the coin's power to come up heads again. The sage does not carry a rabbit's foot, but they open their eyes instead. There is wisdom to study weather deeply if you wonder why people are worried about climate change.
The sage takes in and respects the hypothesis of others, but always tests against reality.
Get rid of magical thinking. The most difficult human obstacle is prayer and hope.
It is easy for the indoctrinated to say, "Since I have found faith in a spiritual force, everything has gone my way and I've gotten everything I've wanted. The spirit and faith must be the power where it comes from."
It is easy to construct that it's not the motivation you looked to when you were in trouble that made your life better, but the spirit or diety you put your faith into. If you stop getting what you want, it was not your fault, it was either the spirit did not want you to have it or you did not have enough faith. When you get mired in this, you are not in control anymore. You are a dust mote on the fractal winds of chance.
The Tao does not care about what you want or your desires. The Tao does not acknowledge your idea of how the world should work. The Tao merely is.
The amazing thing about it is by trying to make sense and follow the Tao, we naturally come across the virtues and thinking skills we need to cope and appreciate all of reality from which the Tao comes from. The Tao does not give us a good life by following it, but it simplifies our realities and tempers our desire. That is what makes our life better. We can use the concepts to achieve goals in line with following the great virtues that follow the Tao.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Chapter 20 - Culture
Cease learning, no more worries
Respectful response and scornful response
How much is the difference?
Goodness and evil
How much do they differ?
What the people fear, I cannot be unafraid
So desolate! How limitless it is!
The people are excited
As if enjoying a great feast
As if climbing up to the terrace in spring
I alone am quiet and uninvolved
Like an infant not yet smiling
So weary, like having no place to return
The people all have surplus
While I alone seem lacking
I have the heart of a fool indeed – so ignorant!
Ordinary people are bright
I alone am muddled
Ordinary people are scrutinizing
I alone am obtuse
Such tranquility, like the ocean
Such high wind, as if without limits
The people all have goals
And I alone am stubborn and lowly
I alone am different from them
And value the nourishing mother
What does this mean?
When one talks about the concepts of good and evil, they are not 'natural' in the same observable way as honesty or compassion is. Good and evil are learned as they are cultural concepts. Look around the world and, depending on their culture and upbringing, you can see that one person's good can be another person's evil. Our responses, whether they deserve respect or scorn, is as much as a construct as good and evil are.
The natural good, like honesty, humility and charity, are universal. The important thing here is that you have to separate the virtuous "goodness" from the cultural "goodness" you've learned. That is why I refer to virtue instead of good as I feel it better defines those natural qualities that describe a sage. Keep "virtue" simple.
The Western culture you were born into is a construct that indoctrinated you into what "good" means.
Look at how everyone is told that they need to work hard, achieve something and have goals way past your needs; to thrive. They need to pursuit happiness and the American dream. They can judge others that are not like themselves, especially if they have different values or are at different levels of success. People embedded in our culture are living for fun, as if all the work done is to celebrate a big party. We all try to be experts and are proud enough to let you know that we are right all the time.
People explore this culture at varying lengths, and those who are on it seem to think that there is some sort of problem with the people too far in or not far enough. I think that the problem isn't where you are in culture and the moderation you apply to it; it is the culture itself.
How do I use this?
Do not care about judgement that are not founded in natural truths. The further outside of the culture you are, the more it makes you seem dumb, stubborn and simple.
I try to live simply and "naturally". Sometimes that means it matches with what is acceptable according to my culture, but it also means that I live philosophically outside culture a majority of the time.
The perfect example is those "charitable" holidays like Christmas. It is frustrating for others when I say I do not want anything for the holidays. There is no comprehension that anyone would not want a gift. Very often, people buy me things I do not want anyway because that is "what you do" for Christmas. The thought is only appreciated because they were thinking of me, but it's tempered by the fact they did not listen and that I didn't want it in the first place. Then they act surprised I do not treasure the thing and offended I do not use it.
It is like that with everything.
When I tell others I do not have goals, I get a lot of strange judgmental looks. People look down on me because I am trying to have as few things as possible and do not care about a bigger house or smartphone. When I talk about learning a new skill, people immediately suggest I seek out college or classes.
Get out of culture. Why care what anyone in such a culture thinks about you when it's based solely on an artificial construct and not something real? People have more stuff, more ways to communicate and more entertainment and yet have as many or even more problems back before we refined our culture into what it is today.
I refuse to have any sympathy for "first-world problems". It is like feeling bad for a spoiled child that lost his toy, even though that child has hundreds more. It is like someone who refuses to eat healthy because they do not like the taste. Everything that is extra beyond food, water and shelter is something to be grateful about.
It seems that there is only a hollow entitlement for others that is truly outside of the Tao.
Respectful response and scornful response
How much is the difference?
Goodness and evil
How much do they differ?
What the people fear, I cannot be unafraid
So desolate! How limitless it is!
The people are excited
As if enjoying a great feast
As if climbing up to the terrace in spring
I alone am quiet and uninvolved
Like an infant not yet smiling
So weary, like having no place to return
The people all have surplus
While I alone seem lacking
I have the heart of a fool indeed – so ignorant!
Ordinary people are bright
I alone am muddled
Ordinary people are scrutinizing
I alone am obtuse
Such tranquility, like the ocean
Such high wind, as if without limits
The people all have goals
And I alone am stubborn and lowly
I alone am different from them
And value the nourishing mother
What does this mean?
When one talks about the concepts of good and evil, they are not 'natural' in the same observable way as honesty or compassion is. Good and evil are learned as they are cultural concepts. Look around the world and, depending on their culture and upbringing, you can see that one person's good can be another person's evil. Our responses, whether they deserve respect or scorn, is as much as a construct as good and evil are.
The natural good, like honesty, humility and charity, are universal. The important thing here is that you have to separate the virtuous "goodness" from the cultural "goodness" you've learned. That is why I refer to virtue instead of good as I feel it better defines those natural qualities that describe a sage. Keep "virtue" simple.
The Western culture you were born into is a construct that indoctrinated you into what "good" means.
Look at how everyone is told that they need to work hard, achieve something and have goals way past your needs; to thrive. They need to pursuit happiness and the American dream. They can judge others that are not like themselves, especially if they have different values or are at different levels of success. People embedded in our culture are living for fun, as if all the work done is to celebrate a big party. We all try to be experts and are proud enough to let you know that we are right all the time.
People explore this culture at varying lengths, and those who are on it seem to think that there is some sort of problem with the people too far in or not far enough. I think that the problem isn't where you are in culture and the moderation you apply to it; it is the culture itself.
How do I use this?
Do not care about judgement that are not founded in natural truths. The further outside of the culture you are, the more it makes you seem dumb, stubborn and simple.
I try to live simply and "naturally". Sometimes that means it matches with what is acceptable according to my culture, but it also means that I live philosophically outside culture a majority of the time.
The perfect example is those "charitable" holidays like Christmas. It is frustrating for others when I say I do not want anything for the holidays. There is no comprehension that anyone would not want a gift. Very often, people buy me things I do not want anyway because that is "what you do" for Christmas. The thought is only appreciated because they were thinking of me, but it's tempered by the fact they did not listen and that I didn't want it in the first place. Then they act surprised I do not treasure the thing and offended I do not use it.
It is like that with everything.
When I tell others I do not have goals, I get a lot of strange judgmental looks. People look down on me because I am trying to have as few things as possible and do not care about a bigger house or smartphone. When I talk about learning a new skill, people immediately suggest I seek out college or classes.
Get out of culture. Why care what anyone in such a culture thinks about you when it's based solely on an artificial construct and not something real? People have more stuff, more ways to communicate and more entertainment and yet have as many or even more problems back before we refined our culture into what it is today.
I refuse to have any sympathy for "first-world problems". It is like feeling bad for a spoiled child that lost his toy, even though that child has hundreds more. It is like someone who refuses to eat healthy because they do not like the taste. Everything that is extra beyond food, water and shelter is something to be grateful about.
It seems that there is only a hollow entitlement for others that is truly outside of the Tao.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Chapter 19 - Intelligence
End sagacity; abandon knowledge
The people benefit a hundred times
End benevolence; abandon righteousness
The people return to piety and charity
End cunning; discard profit
Bandits and thieves no longer exist
These three things are superficial and insufficient
Thus this teaching has its place:
Show plainness; hold simplicity
Reduce selfishness; decrease desires
What does this mean?
If you are judging others simply on the knowledge presented, there is no empathy for other people's motivations. Why people do things is much more important than how or when they did them and who they hurt. A beggar stealing bread because he's hungry should not be treated the same as a greedy man that steals bread to keep his money.
Giving with the desire to be favored either in your current social culture or in the eyes of religion is not true charity or piety. Helping others in need for its own sake is so much better than helping others to make yourself look good. A priest giving help just to worshippers is simply not as good as a priest giving to the ones who need it most.
If you are being effective and intelligent solely for riches, then you leave so much less time to understand your true self. Wisdom and contentment are more important than having more stuff. We all hear the story of the CEO who has everything but isn't truly happy compared to a poor wise man who has only what he needs but is content.
With all of these, the underlying problems are complexity and desire. Clear those two things out and life will be so much better.
How do I use this?
Use KISS: Keep it simple, stupid. Everyone has heard it, but do not take the "stupid" part of KISS lightly or as an insult. If something is truly simple, it needs to sound dumb. Think of it as a way to weed out the "devil in the details". It requires a honesty with yourself and it also requires some critical thinking. You can use logic as a tool to simplify instead of add complexity.
Lets say you wanted to lose weight; a goal that gets mired in complexity and often unquestioned. A low weight is a generally accepted as a sign of good health.
Really take a critical look at our food culture, though. Today, we have all of these "point system" diets, cultures and philosophies that says what you should and shouldn't eat, and emotional hangups and social situations that pressure us into eating. We even have a break down of the science into nutrients and calories so we can measure it to the tiniest detail. None of these things pass the KISS rule.
The best thing I can think of that passes KISS in regards to losing weight is "eat less, do more".
For many people to do just this, it is not easy. The goal requires mindfulness to know what you eat. It needs discipline to eat less less than you normally do. You have to have a knowledge of yourself to start a physical activity that you can do for it's own sake. You have to shake off the cultural expectations and entitled ego that fuel the culture in the first place. Wiith so many food and exercise options, the path of least resistance is to pick and fail at any "diet" that mask the true skills you need to lose weight and then blame the diet that failed.
Lets look at the honest part: why you want to lose weight. Is it the culture pushing you to fit in? Do you want to have more friends or a companion? These reasons are just going to cause you suffering whether you succeed or not. Do you really want to be accepted by a culture that judges on appearance over ideas, virtues and skills?
Now if you suffer from being less healthy, that is completely different. That means saying honestly to yourself that if you get to a healthy weight for you, you stop. If that means your optimal health does not fit what culture says you should be, you stop. If that means that you are a different size than when you were a teenager, you stop.
It is the motive that is the most important thing. A good life is about what you need, not what you want.
The people benefit a hundred times
End benevolence; abandon righteousness
The people return to piety and charity
End cunning; discard profit
Bandits and thieves no longer exist
These three things are superficial and insufficient
Thus this teaching has its place:
Show plainness; hold simplicity
Reduce selfishness; decrease desires
What does this mean?
If you are judging others simply on the knowledge presented, there is no empathy for other people's motivations. Why people do things is much more important than how or when they did them and who they hurt. A beggar stealing bread because he's hungry should not be treated the same as a greedy man that steals bread to keep his money.
Giving with the desire to be favored either in your current social culture or in the eyes of religion is not true charity or piety. Helping others in need for its own sake is so much better than helping others to make yourself look good. A priest giving help just to worshippers is simply not as good as a priest giving to the ones who need it most.
If you are being effective and intelligent solely for riches, then you leave so much less time to understand your true self. Wisdom and contentment are more important than having more stuff. We all hear the story of the CEO who has everything but isn't truly happy compared to a poor wise man who has only what he needs but is content.
With all of these, the underlying problems are complexity and desire. Clear those two things out and life will be so much better.
How do I use this?
Use KISS: Keep it simple, stupid. Everyone has heard it, but do not take the "stupid" part of KISS lightly or as an insult. If something is truly simple, it needs to sound dumb. Think of it as a way to weed out the "devil in the details". It requires a honesty with yourself and it also requires some critical thinking. You can use logic as a tool to simplify instead of add complexity.
Lets say you wanted to lose weight; a goal that gets mired in complexity and often unquestioned. A low weight is a generally accepted as a sign of good health.
Really take a critical look at our food culture, though. Today, we have all of these "point system" diets, cultures and philosophies that says what you should and shouldn't eat, and emotional hangups and social situations that pressure us into eating. We even have a break down of the science into nutrients and calories so we can measure it to the tiniest detail. None of these things pass the KISS rule.
The best thing I can think of that passes KISS in regards to losing weight is "eat less, do more".
For many people to do just this, it is not easy. The goal requires mindfulness to know what you eat. It needs discipline to eat less less than you normally do. You have to have a knowledge of yourself to start a physical activity that you can do for it's own sake. You have to shake off the cultural expectations and entitled ego that fuel the culture in the first place. Wiith so many food and exercise options, the path of least resistance is to pick and fail at any "diet" that mask the true skills you need to lose weight and then blame the diet that failed.
Lets look at the honest part: why you want to lose weight. Is it the culture pushing you to fit in? Do you want to have more friends or a companion? These reasons are just going to cause you suffering whether you succeed or not. Do you really want to be accepted by a culture that judges on appearance over ideas, virtues and skills?
Now if you suffer from being less healthy, that is completely different. That means saying honestly to yourself that if you get to a healthy weight for you, you stop. If that means your optimal health does not fit what culture says you should be, you stop. If that means that you are a different size than when you were a teenager, you stop.
It is the motive that is the most important thing. A good life is about what you need, not what you want.
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