Chapter 0 - Skirting the Edges

What is this blog about?

Our lives are mostly subjective.

What we think is happening becomes our reality.

By changing the way we think, we can change our world.

The way we think is what I call philosophy.

Everyone uses philosophy. Philosophy is simply defining the world and studying those definitions for underlying patterns.

Your morals, creeds, mantras, mottoes and goals are your applied philosophy.

How you feel can be changed by how you think and the opposite.  However, feelings are unconscious while thinking is conscious.  Because of this, it's hard to just "feel" your way to peace and contentment.

One must stop, think and test our own philosophy to feel differently.

With this blog, I want to share how an ancient book, the Tao Te Ching, has changed my philosophy in such a way that I am at peace when I follow it.

Why should I think differently?

I can't be the judge of that, only you can.  If you are content in your life, then great!

No complaints or desires?

Nothing you want?

If you died now, would you be satisfied with how your life is?

If not, and especially if you've been stuck in a rut for a while, maybe it is time to explore virtue and meaning again.

What is the Tao?

Well, I can give it a 'name', but to describe it is impossible.  The Tao Te Ching skirts the edges of definition itself so people can learn that it exists.

If it helps, most religions have a "creator" of everything.  God is a good example to help think about it.  It's deeper than God, revealed by the age-old question is "Who created God?"  The answer is usually that God always exists and is infinite.  Just don't personify God (or Tao) in any human terms, as Tao defined by the Tao Te Ching is infinitely broader and deeper than specifically "spirit" or "deity" we can think about.

What now?

A couple things:

I plan on talking about each chapter in the Tao Te Ching.  There are dozens of different translations.  Ancient Chinese is tricky.  However, I plan on focusing on the message to take away from it, what gets me thinking and how I see things differently.

I also want to help use plain language for Eastern philosophy concepts.  Even though the Tao cannot be described, the ideas that pour forth are good food for thought.

Caution...

I will treat the Tao as a philosophical concept.  I don't want to exclude a specific religion from what you can take away from this.  The only faith you need is that, despite our inability to measure the Tao in any way, is that it exists.

My studies have always been self-taught through the same college books and ancient texts professors have read.

Bear with me.  I think about philosophy, so I can write about it.