ernobe

I'm now getting emails per post when it is posted, at least for the recent posts to https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/44988-nietzsche-quotes !    I've changed the options for this thread to "a notification and an email when new content is posted" to see if it works for this thread as well.

18 hours ago, Marblehead said:

Nietzsche's father was a Pastor and Nietzsche even started studying to follow in his father's footsteps but Nietzsche just couldn't deal with it.  Likely because he saw too many lies.

Some interesting facts there I didn't know.  Thanks for sharing.  Reminds me of going to a Catholic theological seminary here in Costa Rica, before going off on my own into the woods.  I expected to be reading some of the outstanding Christian theologians down the centuries, but instead, a priest would preach and then have us write an essay for homework.   At university I had studied St. Anselm in the philosophy class, but here they had someone sent in from the local public university for a regular philosophy class on the moderns.  I suspect Nietzsche got some of the same rap.

15 hours ago, Marblehead said:

Better to know you don't know than to think you know when the concepts went right over your head.

 

It's kind of hard to imagine what sort of a bubble these people have been living in for more than a thousand years to imagine that Christiians and what passes for Christian morality has been unimpeachable.  Especially in the realm of politics.  Nietzsche was not only critical of the herd like Christian morality¸ but also of the general state of European aristocratic civilization.  Seeing that both criticisms have a well meaning and reasonable basis in fact, it is not hard to assume that putting both together actually serve to point a way forward for the Christian faith, to undo its wrongs and head in the right direction.   Regardless of what is normally said of his philosophy being irreligious.

According to Thomas Cleary in page 437 of "The Taoist Classics, Volume 4", the River Diagrams' four outer points correspond to the qualities of fire or spirit, water or vitality, metal or sense, and wood, nature or essence.  The center is earth or energy.  Then on page 443 he says that Liu I-Ming relates these to the trigrams as follows: Heaven stands for the movement of sense, Lake for the stillness of sense; Fire stands for the movement of spirit, Earth for the stillness of spirit; Thunder stands for the movement of nature, Wind for the stillness of nature; and Water stands for the movement of vitality, Mountain for the stillness of vitality.

If a woman has manly virtues, one feels like running away; and if she has no manly virtues, she herself runs away.

A few days ago I posted a link to this thread at Rubaphilos' Yahoo group, offering to relay any message he may have.  So, we may be certain that not all the intelligences, but at least those concerned have been contacted.    

One aspect of Rubas' video presentations that seems to be absent is that pertaining to magic, considering how fundamental magic is to his hermetic world view.  For him magic and alchemy are like the two opposite poles, or yin-yang of Hermetism.

@FraterUFA

If I remember correctly, Heredom was a group created by Rubaphilos based on what he calls a third generation Rosicrucian model, both of which however are nowadays equally defunct.

23 minutes ago, ernobe said:

he has no excuse saying that they were unknown to him

By "saying" I meant "thinking".

25 minutes ago, ernobe said:

the student doesn't just magically become aware

By "become aware" I also meant "think".

His motives may have been hidden from you at the beginning, but he has no excuse saying that they were unknown to him and that he was unconscious and not aware of them.   Did he become aware of them because you did?   I don't think so.  Likewise with regard to so-called esoteric training: the student doesn't just magically become aware of things about himself because the teacher pointed them out to him.  They were his all along.

@Nungali If you watch more than few minutes you will get to Rubaphilos speaking.  As for the subject or intent, if you want it in the form of a question for discussion, it could be the following:  Why does Rubaphilos first affirm the validity of a physical process of alchemy, and then say that the alchemists' belief in or rejection of transmutation depends on his own personal motives in making such a claim?

Rubaphilos makes the case for practical, laboratory alchemy, against those who might think there could never be anything of spiritual significance to it:

His videos are pretty cool for the format: music and nature scenes at the beginning and end, so even if you don't agree with everything he says, you can't fail to get in the mood.

EDITT: Oops I got the videos mixed up.  The one in which he makes the apology for practical alchemy is No. 18:

Daily email digests are working: just got my Dao Bums digest for yesterday this morning.

Today, in "Account Settings" I'm now opting for "A notification when new content is posted".  The setting for this topic remains daily emails. So I'll see if I get notifications for this topic, and if I get this post in the digest tomorrow.

I received a "Dao Bums digest" with my previous post to this topic after opting to receive daily emails.  But now I no longer receive notifications at the site.   Can I not receive emails and notifications?

I'll try receiving email once a day instead of when it is posted.

1 hour ago, Phoenix3 said:

When metal overcomes/destroys wood, what element is the result?

It just means that it is the nature of wood to be overcome by metal, and the resultant element is metal.  It is also its nature to resist being overcome by metal, so it stands and the metal is "injured".  Which one remains depends on which is stronger.  So much for the cycle of destruction.  For generation something similar happens: water produces wood and the result is wood, or wood exhausts water and the result is water, because what we mean by "exhaust" is that it was "exhausting" it, not using it all up to its limit.  In this case which one remains depends on which we had a more unlimited (or inexhaustable) supply of.

Yes Kar3n, where it says "Change how the notification is sent" I chose email, and my problem is that the email is not sent, despite it then saying "An email when new content is posted" (instead of "A notification when new content is posted").

The only automatic settings I could find were "Automatically follow new content I post" and "Automatically follow content I reply to". I switched both of them off, and still got no emails.  I have currently switched them back on, and have live notifications (at the site) turned off and only email turned on.  In "Manage Followed Content" I can see that I'm set to receive email only as soon as it happens (not daily or weekly).  We'll see what happens.

What is Qi anyway?  Sounds like some watered down version of Tao.  Best to just read your Tao Te Ching and shut up.

1 hour ago, wandelaar said:

If I remember well it is said that natural disasters will happen as a result of immoral acts by a ruler.

That's the view Jing Fang, according to http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Han/personsjingfang.html :

Quote

His main subject of research were natural disasters, about which he also loved to talk in memorials to the emperor. According to his view, natural disasters were an expression of failings in government.

16 hours ago, ThreeLeaf said:

I know the ideal age to start internal alchemy is before 9. Is there any hope for me a man whose 30?

Abel, what makes you think that you haven't been practicing internal alchemy?  Is the practice of internal alchemy synonymous with formal instruction in a school?  Making ones' finger tingle at will doesn't mean one can make someone else feel their fingers tingle.

First question is, I opted to receive email notifications when new content appears in content I follow.  It's not happening.

Second question is, I recently noticed my status change from "Junior Bum" to a "Dao Bum".  How many points do I need to be a "Senior Bum"? 

If it was bright enough to colour everything around, how could you tell that it was a sphere?

11 hours ago, Raindancer said:

Thank you both for the warning. If he is so unclear/confusing in his translation, is there a point in getting his translation?

I suppose Cleary would say that his translation includes the commentary from the Ten Wings (which he calls the image), which helps clarify the meaning.  The complete text he gives for 14.1 is:

"Do not get involved with what is harmful, and you will be blameless. You will be blameless if you struggle.  Image. Great possession is positive at first; there is no involvement with what is harmful."

One gets the idea that great possessions can get one involved with difficulties, which can be avoided at the beginning if one takes precautions.

Wilhelm also translates the commentary from the Ten Wings, which I find to be very bizarre in this case:

"If the nine at the beginning in POSSESSION IN GREAT MEASURE has no relationships, this is harmful."

It seems to be saying the opposite of what his own commentary on the line says.

2 hours ago, Apech said:

If it's by Cleary then treat it with caution.

Yes, if it is Clearys' own translation of the I Ching, it can be very difficult to understand unless you compare with a translation like Richters' and the Taoist and Buddhist versions.

For example 14.1 in Clearys' translation reads:

"Do not get involved with what is harmful, and you will be blameless. You will be blameless if you struggle."

In Clearys' "The Buddhist I Ching" the same line is:

"As long as there is none of the harm that comes from association, this is not blameworthy.  If one struggles, there will be no blame."

In Richters' translation it reads:

"NO MUTUAL INJURY or HARM. DIFFICULTIES, BUT NO HARM."

As we can see, there is a steady progression from meaningless drivel to the bright clarity of truth in Richters' version.

1 hour ago, Raindancer said:

Okay, I've been able to find some opinions on different translations, and it seems like it might be beneficial to read a few different ones. For I Ching I've found translations by Richard Wilhelm (Cary F Baynes) and Alfred Huang available where I'm at, maybe that's an alright start.

 

Trying to find the translations mentioned for Chuang Tzu now.

The problem with all the modern interpretations of the I Ching is that they don't approach it as a spiritual classic on the same level as the Tao Te Ching.  For that you need to go back to the commentaries of Liu Yiming, Chih-hsu Ou-i, and Cheng-I, available as "The Taoist I Ching", "The Buddhist I Ching", and "The Tao of Organization" in translations by Thomas Cleary.  Then again, Gregory Richter has a word-for-word translation that is fortunately available at  http://grichter.sites.truman.edu/files/2012/01/yjnew.pdf.