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The Tao is a feeling, a sound, an energy, a vibration...it has no end
and has always been here.
If you were on the Moon?
The Tao would be there.
If you were in the depths of the ocean?
The Tao would be there.
It is the space between the nucleus and the electrons....
it flows through the unimaginable.
Yes, the Tao experiences us.
Thanks for humoring me, I appreciate! I'm a tad goofy when it comes to the Tao however harmless!
edit: mostly harmless (me thinks). How would I know?
Another 'tried & true' experiment of sorts: The Moon is very gorgeous this evening from where I sit - please go & check it out for yourself. See the Moon & not the finger pointing towards.
Please report back when you get a chance. Many thanks, much respect. G'night!
Another 'tried & true' experiment of sorts: The Moon is very gorgeous this evening from where I sit - please go & check it out for yourself. See the Moon & not the finger pointing towards.
Please report back when you get a chance. Many thanks, much respect. G'night!
I'll probably go to a drumming in the Co Rockies tomorrow night...
think I'll where a down jacket!!
So I will really see it then!
taoism is based from the i-ching, the chinese cosmological view, which utilizes the four elements, Heaven, Water, Earth, Fire, to reach balance, in various aspects of life
there are a few systems of martial arts based off of the i-ching,
the tai chi style (forgive the theatrics, but still relatively accurate)
Have forgotten most of the other stuff I memorized way back when. However I do remember the thing about being as water. Remember that water is the most yielding of substances. It always takes the shape of its container. It always seeks the lowest place. Yet water will eventually wear away the hardest stone.
Thanks for the journey down memory lane.
That is what Yip Man told Bruce Li to do, become as water...
Trying to interpret the meaning of Tao/Dao becomes like the exercise of the blind men describing the parts of the elephant.... everyone has an opinion based on their life's programming that is stored in their minds. Except an elephant is something that is identifiable in nature (if you are not blind), but in this case we are talking about an abstract concept in which only metaphors are useful. I think the Dao was meant to be like that because this metaphorical 'path' of life varies for each one of us. No two paths are exactly the same.
To use a bad analogy... the hardware and operating software in our computers may be pretty much the same, but the applications we've put on them vary all over the place. And so our experiences are like those apps. They are different in each of us.
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
Our paths (life's experiences) are all different in an existence that is in a constant flux.... neither perfect nor imperfect.
Moon: I had to go into the street, 5 am, to get away from my huge trees to see the eclipse.. but,
all I could see was a dark gray circle up there!
TV had reddish shots.
I tried .
Trying to interpret the meaning of Tao/Dao becomes like the exercise of the blind men describing the parts of the elephant.... everyone has an opinion based on their life's programming that is stored in their minds. Except an elephant is something that is identifiable in nature (if you are not blind), but in this case we are talking about an abstract concept in which only metaphors are useful. I think the Dao was meant to be like that because this metaphorical 'path' of life varies for each one of us. No two paths are exactly the same.
To use a bad analogy... the hardware and operating software in our computers may be pretty much the same, but the applications we've put on them vary all over the place. And so our experiences are like those apps. They are different in each of us.
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
Our paths (life's experiences) are all different in an existence that is in a constant flux.... neither perfect nor imperfect.
That's kind of where I am with this right now.
I like these words to describe also, & the hardware/software analogy is a good one.
The 'constant flux' also holds meaning for me, after all, everything, including us, changes constantly as we experience time. All we have is now ... & now ... & now ... & so on. & we mostly only have words to describe - that's not altogether true, we can paint pictures with words & share experiences & so on.
Even so, sometimes there seems to be a certain OCD quality to experience, like a 'control freak' facet? People sometimes use an inaccurate or inelegant word for another framework, ideology or system of thought. Or they may develop rituals or even magical thinking to complete or justify the various frameworks. All these different frames & not a one capturing the whole or using some sort of universal language to even describe (perhaps the same phenomenon). There are, after all, so many different ways of seeing. Sometimes people want to be certain or sure, sometimes this can be 'seen' as a form of intolerance of ambiguity? & it's easier to never have to even think about these 'shades of grey.' Granted, we're all different even if coming from the 'same cloth.' Certain frameworks may be comforting especially to a certain type of mind. & who doesn’t want to control at least one tiny aspect of their existence? Sadly, most times even that is an illusion. A comforting illusion but an illusion all the same. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy …” or, more succinctly, “Hell is other people.”
Is it meaningful to consider some kind of unified field of experience? I don't really think so. Nice try but no dice, imho. The more you notice the structure or organization within the framework, the more you realize everything outside the framework is, perhaps, more like chaos (or the Tao).
Fr’instance I enjoy taking photographs with a camera (& lately by using my cell phone too). In order to accomplish what I set out to do, I frame the picture. Looking through the lens & immediately making several decisions. Horizontal or vertical? Up close or from a distance? What do I want to include in the frame? Speed of the action I want to capture? Just a few things I consider before … I click the shutter, freeze that moment in time, never able to return except maybe through memory or imagination.
Also acknowledging there are so many more things one could say about this simple task. Right from the start tho, there are certain things I take for granted (an ideology of sorts?). Big one is, try as I may, I can’t duplicate what I see mainly because there are (many) things that exist outside the frame. Easily seen when I look away from the lens (or frame). Can’t capture the (many) things I see beyond the frame though. Admittedly accepting this limitation, I move on & take the picture.
Similarly with other types of frameworks. It becomes necessary to accept there are things not captured within your carefully controlled frame or vision. In order to play, you accept the limits. Some of the nicest visions I’ve ever had or seen, I’m unable to duplicate & remembrance exists within my mind & maybe nowhere else. Who can understand these things? Not me that’s for sure.
I enjoy attempting to understand & share experience through various means. I enjoy taking photographs. I also find joy in stepping back into the world of a million frames & appreciating the freedom of uncertainty. Beauty is in both.
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