I was reading a Garfield cartoon the other day. In the first two frames Jon says "I thought it was Tuesday, but as it turns out, it's Wednesday." In the final frame, Garfield sarcastically adds "But in spite of that startling revelation, ladies and gentlemen, the man is still able to function."
Chapter 37 of the Tao Te Ching starts "Tao endures without a name, yet nothing is left undone". Our concepts of the passage of time are very much linked in with names, words, descriptions of some kind. We work "9 to 5", "Monday to Friday" or if we work on a shift pattern, the times/days when we start/finish are quite clearly defined. And so often we find that as we travel along in this way, our time, our days, our lives seem to flash past in an instant. Yet we all remember those summer holidays of our childhoods where the days seemed to last forever, nothing was left undone and six weeks seemed like a glorious lifetime with endless possibilities.
As we grow older we become habitual clock and calendar watchers - we have meetings arranged days/weeks in advance; our lives become more constrained by time. But when we go on our annual leave, particularly if we make the effort not to read the newspapers, we very quickly start to lose track of what day it is and, all of a sudden, just as it did when we were young, the world opens up with endless possibilities - at least it should do.
How many people do you know that stay in email/mobile phone contact with their offices whilst they're on leave? How many people do you know who will only take a week's leave at a time? In our society's constant drive for efficiency, we have started to cram every minute full of activity, until we are in danger of finding our ignition switches stuck in the 'on' position with our engines operating at maximum revs. This sort of usage or behaviour is not sustainable; "extraneous activity inspire disgust" (ch. 24).
Tao has no name, it cannot be described, and yet when we are truly in tune with it, nothing is left undone. As in the Garfield cartoon, Jon has lost track of time, he is free; Garfield's sarcasm is like most peoples' understanding about time - how can you not know what day of the week it is, with the subtle subtext, that somebody of Jon's type can forget what day of the week it is because they don't have important meetings to attend, telephone calls to make/receive, etc., etc. But if we are truly in tune with Tao, we don't need to know which day of the week it is, without knowing, nothing is left undone.
Tag Taoism Garfield Time
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
A letter to myself
I was visiting the Official Calvin & Hobbes website earlier and read the cartoon shown for today.
Hobbes is helping Calvin get the mail from the mail box and Calvin says "Ah! I got the letter I wrote to myself!" Hobbes replies: "What did you write?" Calvin (reading aloud) says "Dear Calvin, Hi! I'm writing this on Monday. What day is it now? How are things going? Your Pal, Calvin." Calvin then goes on to say: "My past self is corresponding with my future self." And Hobbes replies: "Too bad you can't write back."
How many times in the past have we wished that we could go back and tell ourselves what will happen in the future so that we can avoid the heartache/disasters etc. that are lying in wait for us. Hobbes says it's too bad that we can't write back; no matter how hard we try, we can't post a letter to the past. But how often do we actually try to live there? How often have we caught ourselves rehashing old situations and trying to rationalise them or have ourselves say the things that we thought of later that would have been 'clever'.
Rather than trying to change the past in our own heads, we should view these situations, or the people from these situations, as resources - as it says in Ch. 27, "the bad person is the good person's resource." In the scroll of the 3 vinegar tasters, the world for the followers of Tao, is a teacher of valuable lessons, but this doesn't mean that we should be living in the past rather than in the present. As in the story about the Tibetan Monk and his annoying secretary, we need to learn from our resources (the annoying people/situations we encounter today or have encountered in the past); if they are still annoying us then it means that we still have unresolved issues and we need to develop more compassion, patience and understanding.
Ultimately, what we seek in following the Way is a true understanding of ourselves and our place in, and relationship to, the World. Chapter 33 expresses this best:
"Knowing others is intelligent
Knowing yourself is enlightened."
So unlike Hobbes, we realise that it's not a shame that we can't write back; our past, and our present, is our 'teacher of valuable lessons', rather than something with which we wish to be in correspondence.
Tag Taoism Calvin and Hobbes 3 Vinegar Tasters
Hobbes is helping Calvin get the mail from the mail box and Calvin says "Ah! I got the letter I wrote to myself!" Hobbes replies: "What did you write?" Calvin (reading aloud) says "Dear Calvin, Hi! I'm writing this on Monday. What day is it now? How are things going? Your Pal, Calvin." Calvin then goes on to say: "My past self is corresponding with my future self." And Hobbes replies: "Too bad you can't write back."
How many times in the past have we wished that we could go back and tell ourselves what will happen in the future so that we can avoid the heartache/disasters etc. that are lying in wait for us. Hobbes says it's too bad that we can't write back; no matter how hard we try, we can't post a letter to the past. But how often do we actually try to live there? How often have we caught ourselves rehashing old situations and trying to rationalise them or have ourselves say the things that we thought of later that would have been 'clever'.
Rather than trying to change the past in our own heads, we should view these situations, or the people from these situations, as resources - as it says in Ch. 27, "the bad person is the good person's resource." In the scroll of the 3 vinegar tasters, the world for the followers of Tao, is a teacher of valuable lessons, but this doesn't mean that we should be living in the past rather than in the present. As in the story about the Tibetan Monk and his annoying secretary, we need to learn from our resources (the annoying people/situations we encounter today or have encountered in the past); if they are still annoying us then it means that we still have unresolved issues and we need to develop more compassion, patience and understanding.
Ultimately, what we seek in following the Way is a true understanding of ourselves and our place in, and relationship to, the World. Chapter 33 expresses this best:
"Knowing others is intelligent
Knowing yourself is enlightened."
So unlike Hobbes, we realise that it's not a shame that we can't write back; our past, and our present, is our 'teacher of valuable lessons', rather than something with which we wish to be in correspondence.
Tag Taoism Calvin and Hobbes 3 Vinegar Tasters
Thursday, April 13, 2006
The importance of compassion
Compassion is one of the 3 great treasures of Taoism. Compassion, in the western understanding, is almost always linked to concepts of kindness and caring. It can be related to concepts from Christianity which talk of 'turning the other cheek', 'forgiving your brother seventy times seven'. It often has connotations of soft blindness, like a warm cushion with no strength or backbone to it. When referring to a compassionate nature here in the West, the implication is often one of softness and that softness is wrong, weak, just a little contemptible.
"Nowadays, people reject compassion
but want to be brave,"
But there is a great deal more to compassion than softness. In order to be truly compassionate, we might sometimes find ourselves in the position where we 'have to be cruel to be kind'. So often in our modern society, we are asked to protect people from the consequences of their actions, to shield them from the realities of the situations in which they find themselves. However, if we read Chapter 67 in TTC correctly, this is not what compassion always requires us to do. If we are truly seeking to protect someone's best interests, is it not more appropriate that, in the right circumstances, we tell them the unvarnished truth? Perhaps, by doing this, by bringing people into full-on contact with reality, we are being truly compassionate, because ultimately only when they fully understand all the implications will they be able to develop their full potential.
"Compassion:
Attack with it and win.
Defend with it and stand firm."
As we can see, from the quote above, compassion is not a wishy-washy, cuddly thing in the Taoist perspective. It is dynamic; you can both attack and defend with it. Taoist compassion does not stand by and say that 'it's all for the best, in the best of all possible worlds' and do nothing. Being compassionate does not mean that we stand there feeling sorry for people, although empathy and sympathy do have roles to play. After all:
"Heaven aids and protects through compassion."
So, act with dynamic compassion, attack with it and win; defend with it and stand firm. Don't equate compassion with spinelessness; become one with Tao and view reality with clarity and use that clarity to nuture the first of Taoism's 3 treasures - compassion.
Tag Taoism Compassion
"Nowadays, people reject compassion
but want to be brave,"
But there is a great deal more to compassion than softness. In order to be truly compassionate, we might sometimes find ourselves in the position where we 'have to be cruel to be kind'. So often in our modern society, we are asked to protect people from the consequences of their actions, to shield them from the realities of the situations in which they find themselves. However, if we read Chapter 67 in TTC correctly, this is not what compassion always requires us to do. If we are truly seeking to protect someone's best interests, is it not more appropriate that, in the right circumstances, we tell them the unvarnished truth? Perhaps, by doing this, by bringing people into full-on contact with reality, we are being truly compassionate, because ultimately only when they fully understand all the implications will they be able to develop their full potential.
"Compassion:
Attack with it and win.
Defend with it and stand firm."
As we can see, from the quote above, compassion is not a wishy-washy, cuddly thing in the Taoist perspective. It is dynamic; you can both attack and defend with it. Taoist compassion does not stand by and say that 'it's all for the best, in the best of all possible worlds' and do nothing. Being compassionate does not mean that we stand there feeling sorry for people, although empathy and sympathy do have roles to play. After all:
"Heaven aids and protects through compassion."
So, act with dynamic compassion, attack with it and win; defend with it and stand firm. Don't equate compassion with spinelessness; become one with Tao and view reality with clarity and use that clarity to nuture the first of Taoism's 3 treasures - compassion.
Tag Taoism Compassion
Sunday, April 09, 2006
All chilled out
It's been a busy week and a busy weekend. Arranging events at work brings a lot of things together - when I do this sort of thing, I try to plan with military precision (I know, it's a contradiction in terms, a bit like "military intelligence") but people rely on me to get things done - and they get done, come hell or high water!;-))))
My weekend was busy for other reasons - I'm a member of the Taoist Tai Chi Society and I was involved in a Tai Chi workshop here in Stamford (UK).
It's amazing what a difference small changes to your practice can make. Just a small change in how I do my toryu's and my poor old knee went most of the day without complaining (much). In the past, I used to fence (swords, not wooden panels) and I've dislocated my kneecap twice. This meant that I could only do so many toryu's before the knee started to complain.
All that happened was that I was shown/told 2 small pieces of information. This was the "softest thing in the world" that "rides roughshod over the strongest". My determination to 'tough' things out sometimes got in the way of my practice. Small changes meant that I spent most of the day doing toryu's and I'm still OK. Very, very tired - but OK and my knee has behaved itself.
Not forcing, going with the flow - a lesson to remember.
My weekend was busy for other reasons - I'm a member of the Taoist Tai Chi Society and I was involved in a Tai Chi workshop here in Stamford (UK).
It's amazing what a difference small changes to your practice can make. Just a small change in how I do my toryu's and my poor old knee went most of the day without complaining (much). In the past, I used to fence (swords, not wooden panels) and I've dislocated my kneecap twice. This meant that I could only do so many toryu's before the knee started to complain.
All that happened was that I was shown/told 2 small pieces of information. This was the "softest thing in the world" that "rides roughshod over the strongest". My determination to 'tough' things out sometimes got in the way of my practice. Small changes meant that I spent most of the day doing toryu's and I'm still OK. Very, very tired - but OK and my knee has behaved itself.
Not forcing, going with the flow - a lesson to remember.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Trying to control the world?
Today I was reading a new (to me) translation of the TTC by Addiss and Lombardo. Opening the text at random, I discovered Ch. 29:
"Trying to control the world?
I see you won't succeed."
......
"Those who control, fail.
Those who grasp, lose."
We live today in what is called the "Information Age". The fact that I am writing this blog is down to the development of technology that has led to the World Wide Web. The Web is a nebulous entity that contains a great deal of information; some of that information is good, some of it is bad and some, merely mediocre.
The original idea behind the web was for a boundless world, where information could be shared and it might be possible to bypass censorship, allowing individuals to access information that they might not have been able to get elsewhere.
Constant technological progress is always viewed as a good thing and, generally, I would agree with this point - usually because developments in information technology often benefit the general public before governments or other large organisations. Take the blogosphere - a lot of blogs have been set up for the exchange of information in an unedited, rapid fashion, that gets ahead of the 'official' line.
However, it has been reported that governments and companies are now attempting to use the blogosphere to sway public opinion on policies or on products. Generally, these attempts have been rather clumsy and easily spotted. Others have been more sophisticated, but often something about them has drawn the attention of the online community and they have been after those inconsistencies like a ferret down a trouser leg.
Governments and big business will always try to control, or manage, the information that is available to the general public - it is in their interests to make that attempt. I believe that we (the general public) are now in the fortunate position of being able to fight back. It seems, so far, that we are roughly even, in this modern technological world. But even in the past the attempts at control have ultimately failed. You only need to look at what happened during, and at the end of, the McCarthy era, to see how attempts at control ultimately are doomed to failure.
Perhaps if the Tao Te Ching were required reading at all levels of government, politicians might learn to be more tuned in to what is really necessary. As it says in Ch. 30:
"The most fruitful outcome
Does not depend on force,
But succeeds without arrogance
Without hostility
Without pride
Without resistance
Without violence."
Tag Taoism control
"Trying to control the world?
I see you won't succeed."
......
"Those who control, fail.
Those who grasp, lose."
We live today in what is called the "Information Age". The fact that I am writing this blog is down to the development of technology that has led to the World Wide Web. The Web is a nebulous entity that contains a great deal of information; some of that information is good, some of it is bad and some, merely mediocre.
The original idea behind the web was for a boundless world, where information could be shared and it might be possible to bypass censorship, allowing individuals to access information that they might not have been able to get elsewhere.
Constant technological progress is always viewed as a good thing and, generally, I would agree with this point - usually because developments in information technology often benefit the general public before governments or other large organisations. Take the blogosphere - a lot of blogs have been set up for the exchange of information in an unedited, rapid fashion, that gets ahead of the 'official' line.
However, it has been reported that governments and companies are now attempting to use the blogosphere to sway public opinion on policies or on products. Generally, these attempts have been rather clumsy and easily spotted. Others have been more sophisticated, but often something about them has drawn the attention of the online community and they have been after those inconsistencies like a ferret down a trouser leg.
Governments and big business will always try to control, or manage, the information that is available to the general public - it is in their interests to make that attempt. I believe that we (the general public) are now in the fortunate position of being able to fight back. It seems, so far, that we are roughly even, in this modern technological world. But even in the past the attempts at control have ultimately failed. You only need to look at what happened during, and at the end of, the McCarthy era, to see how attempts at control ultimately are doomed to failure.
Perhaps if the Tao Te Ching were required reading at all levels of government, politicians might learn to be more tuned in to what is really necessary. As it says in Ch. 30:
"The most fruitful outcome
Does not depend on force,
But succeeds without arrogance
Without hostility
Without pride
Without resistance
Without violence."
Tag Taoism control
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Watching the clouds
Earlier today, whilst waiting for my son to finish his karate class, I had the opportunity to just sit and stare at the clouds drifting by above me. I admired the way they drifted effortlessly; they were fascinating. This fascination is not a new one, it started early on in life with me. I'm sure that we can all remember days as children when we lay on our backs in the fields, or our gardens, seeing pictures in the clouds, creating patterns where there were none.
Thinking about this cloud watching episode, I was reminded of the story in Lieh-Tzu entitled "Riding on the wind, floating with the clouds". In this story, we learn something about Lieh-Tzu himself; apparently he was able to ride on the wind and float with the clouds. His student, Yin-Sheng, wanted to be taught how to do this (and how many of us have not wondered what it would be like to be able to fly like the birds?), but he was impatient - he wanted to be taught NOW, he was not prepared to wait. He appears to have been sure that there was just a trick to it and that all he needed was the lessons.
What Lieh-Tzu told his student, after he returned, was that there was a lot of self-cultivation involved in this process - it was not a quick fix or easy set of lessons. He worked hard to discipline his mind and body; becoming more aware of his body and his mind, allowed him to, eventually, realise that there is no difference between the outside and the inside, and it was at this point that he became able to float through the sky.
Taoism discusses, in many different texts and stories, the interdependence of all things; there is no difference between my body and the world around me, except in the external form that I perceive. Modern physicists would agree with that perspective - there really is no such thing as a solid object.
So why aren't we all floating around the sky? Perhaps, after many years of self-cultivation and discipline, we will. But we need to be able to realise fully, that there is no difference between the outside and the inside. We must not just recognise this intellectually, we must know it with every fibre of our body, instinctively. Then, and only then, will we be able to join those clouds we have been watching.
Tag Taoism Clouds Lieh-Tzu
Thinking about this cloud watching episode, I was reminded of the story in Lieh-Tzu entitled "Riding on the wind, floating with the clouds". In this story, we learn something about Lieh-Tzu himself; apparently he was able to ride on the wind and float with the clouds. His student, Yin-Sheng, wanted to be taught how to do this (and how many of us have not wondered what it would be like to be able to fly like the birds?), but he was impatient - he wanted to be taught NOW, he was not prepared to wait. He appears to have been sure that there was just a trick to it and that all he needed was the lessons.
What Lieh-Tzu told his student, after he returned, was that there was a lot of self-cultivation involved in this process - it was not a quick fix or easy set of lessons. He worked hard to discipline his mind and body; becoming more aware of his body and his mind, allowed him to, eventually, realise that there is no difference between the outside and the inside, and it was at this point that he became able to float through the sky.
Taoism discusses, in many different texts and stories, the interdependence of all things; there is no difference between my body and the world around me, except in the external form that I perceive. Modern physicists would agree with that perspective - there really is no such thing as a solid object.
So why aren't we all floating around the sky? Perhaps, after many years of self-cultivation and discipline, we will. But we need to be able to realise fully, that there is no difference between the outside and the inside. We must not just recognise this intellectually, we must know it with every fibre of our body, instinctively. Then, and only then, will we be able to join those clouds we have been watching.
Tag Taoism Clouds Lieh-Tzu
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