Lost in Translation

I really don't see any relationship between being a Taoist and financial comfort. Taoism is not about wealth or poverty, at least not in a material sense. One can be rich and a Taoist. One can be poor and a Taoist. One can live surrounded by many people in a bustling community and be a Taoist. One can live as a hermit, sequestered in the mountains and be a Taoist. The defining character of a Taoist is relation to Tao - nothing more, and nothing less. Beyond that are all personal preferences.

I did give my younger self advise, in the form of older and wiser men who took it upon themselves to mentor me. Some of them I listened to. The rest I ignored.

Excellent treatise. Very well written and enjoyable to read. Thank you!

Ideas can reproduce and spread throughout the mind, or walk to another mind? or Ideas can poop all over the place and unbalance an ecosystem? or Ideas wander about doing what they do and really don't care about other ideas or the mind they live in? Hmm... I'm starting to like this metaphor.

Best. Quote. Ever. I like the songs of the birds in the trees of my back yard. I enjoy statements that seem like, "duh, of course!" when I first hear them but then transform into "Oh... my... Gawd!" after a revisit or two. I like the feeling when fear or pain reach that exact point when they begin transforming into wisdom and relief. I don't like that point when knowledge and wisdom transform into ignorance and pain. But I do like that point when ignorance and pain reveal a deeper knowledge and wisdom. So I guess I really do like when knowledge and wisdom transform into ignorance and pain. I just don't like it when it's happening. You know?

Awesome! Can you share an example or two?

I read this topic as "Dao and Batman - They are non-different" and got really excited to hear your thesis...

I like this description. Is this something you have experienced? I ask because the human experience of time is linear and if you have experienced time-as-one, even if only briefly, then that is something worth reading about.

In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching By P. D. Ouspensky, Petr Demʹi︠a︡novich Uspenskiĭ

Agreed, but we must acknowledge this to be a subjective measure. I am sure that a trail of ants in my yard can cross reference their perceptions and build an accurate model of reality, but that does not mean they any concept of mathematics or metaphysics, much less the ability calculate algebraic equations or realize non duality. Similarly, we have a model that works, but is certainly contains many holes of which we are unaware of our ignorance.

I think that it isn't reality that is paradoxical, it's the way the human mind works that makes it seem paradoxical, but thinking is way over rated so in fact I don't know. Well put! We humans assume that our observations/thoughts are correct. Perhaps that assumption is wrong?

We need a Star Wars as metaphor for Tao thread...

In other words, our humanity is tied to our struggle? To cease struggling is to lose our humanity? The Sage has no need to struggle, has moved beyond our conventional human experience and lives life as a force of nature, as it were?

I follow. I do not follow. Can you please elucidate, perhaps with an example specific to the sage?

Only Sith deal in absolutes. Therefore thoughts are not binary. Error: division by zero

Timey wimey stuff. This is why I stick to Doctor Who and don't stress over "reality" unless I really need to.

I tried to be a Taoist for twenty five years and have failed miserably. I give up. I'm just gonna sit here and watch everyone go about their business for a while.

Hi, B.o.t.! Welcome to TDB. I really enjoyed reading your introduction. I like when you wrote "I'm practising now, period". That's good stuff! People train for many reasons. Some go just for the sangha community. Don't be too hard on them. They have their path, you have yours. This is true for so very many people. Everyone and everything can teach you, if learning is what you want to do.

I am not a physicist, nor even a mathematician. I am sure there are bums who can explain it better than me. The gist of it is as follows: Imagine movement as a quantifiable number. For example: 0.05. Now image the subjective experience of time as a number. For example: 0.95. According to relativity, space-time is a combination of both space and time such that if you add up these numbers they will always equal 1.0. In this case 0.05 + 0.95 = 1.0. Now, let's imagine you get in a rocket ship and you go very, very fast. In this case your movement increases to 0.08. OK, according to our calculus the subjective experience of time will now equal 0.92, since we need both numbers to add up to 1.0. And if we go even faster, say 0.35, the the experience of time becomes 0.65. This is the layman's way of understanding it. To get more details you can read "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking, or you can study math at a PHD level.

"It's amazing how much "mature wisdom" resembles being too tired." -- Robert Heinlein via Lazarus Long

Michael Valentine Smith approves of this!

I don't sing. The folks at the Karaoke bar groan when it's my turn. That said, when I do sing I very often feel chills running along my skin, particularly my arms, neck, and spine. I suppose that's as close as I get to feeling chi, but it's consistent, repeatable, and enjoyable.

I read an article about this recently. It totally blew my mind. Gaaaa! My mind can't take it anymore!!!! https://www.sciencenews.org/article/speed-light-not-so-constant-after-all

I always read this as let bygones be bygone and eat a good meal.