meg

Im not quite sure that there is any definite interpretation. As you already know this journey is yours, so define heaven as you may. Listen to many different views without prejudice, without resistance caused by your current convictions, and absorb each peice without choosing one as the answer. You will probably realize that your unrefined outlook, your initial outlook that is, was more precise than any other. Go with that deep down feeling. Use your eyes to study, but after gathering the input, do not resort to reasoning or words. It is very dificult not to contaminate those intial feelings, those feelings that are characteristic of awareness. We allow are thoughts and lodged emotions to interfere with that process of inborne truth, but do not worry, inevitably we will harness the truth, if we havent already. Well, I kinda went off the deep end here and ended up giving advice, maybe it will help, maybe it wont, but either way it will. Back to Lao:

 

" There are ways but the way is uncharted,

there are names but not nature in words"

oh i love you! (ok, a bit dramatic lol), but that is just what i needed to hear I may have posted something similar to this a while back, but I've been taught since I was little, that Jesus was It. that you had to believe in Him in order to go to heaven. So now that i am older (41), i sometimes feel, "ugh, it's just all too confusing, fine, i believe........." you know? Or i get afraid that i will be a fraud and on my death bed be scared and admit (?) that Jesus is the answer. Do you follow me? I NEED to have confidence in my inner feelings. you are so right that "it is difficult not to contaminate those initial feelings". Jesus/the new testament has many many similarities to the tao te ching. i just have a hard time swallowing the idea that you HAVE to believe "In Him"...or else. It just doesnt seem right. But i dont mind if others believe that. I just need to find a place that i am confortable with. i found taoism a long time ago, and i believe it is my Home :)

Thanks (everyone)

its important to remember that heaven is a term used to describe the universe.

EX. "god created the heavens and the earth"

heavens refers to space and the bodies within space.

 

ive always thought that this is the way that heaven is used in taoist literature.

 

when practicing chikung and gathering heaven qi it means to gather the qi in the universe.

 

the planets can sometimes be refered to as angels or dieties.

astral deva, planetar, solar angel.

 

so heaven in this sense could have a symbolic meaning.

 

the quoted post seems to be a good explanation.

yah yah...that's it!

wow! thanks everyone. i'm still not sure where i stand with the whole thing, but that's ok

i read this last night:

"There was a man who was so worried that heaven and earth might collapse, and that he would have nowhere to go, that he forgot to eat and sleep. He had a friend who was greatly worried about him, and went to reassure him.

The friend said: 'Heaven is nothing but air; it cannot collapse.' The man said: 'If heaven is air, then the sun, the moon and the stars are liable to fall out of heaven, and hit people on earth.' The friend replied: 'The sun, the moon and the stars are simply lights inside air; they cannot fall down.'"

But really i suppose, what does it all matter, right? but even as i say that, i'm anxious about the answer. but following the Way does not involve anxiety. so.........yah, i guess you know what im getting at lol.

thank you all for your imput

meg

hi everyone. could you tell me what "heaven" means in this quote?

People conform to

the Laws of the Earth.

The Earth conforms to

the Law of Heaven.

Heaven conforms to

the Way (Tao)

The Tao conforms to

its own nature.

-Lao Tzu

I'm never quite sure what taoists/ism mean by "heaven".

thanks

meg

what is "heaven" to a taoist? enlightment?

hey thanks everyone. btw, the "child" isnt real. just an example. i didnt want anyone worrying

i understand what you all are saying. i'm just taking it all in and weighing it all. im sure i'll be back with more questions lol

meg

Then you would still be better off trying to get the steak knife away from him... : ) If you really think about it, there are few if any real world emergencies in which you are better off praying than trying to handle things in a more mundane way.

But she is everywhere, just like HH the FSM, you can't leave her out.. : )

hmm, yes, i see what you are saying...

sorry if i'm being irritating but what if your child is in the hospital dying. I guess (I'll try to answer my own question...) then, you basically "go with the flow" and, as much as you want your child to live of course, you simply trust it to The Way Things Are... ??

do you agree?

....well, one would hope the Taoist, or anyone else for that matter, would be trying to find a way out of the dangerous situation rather than praying to an invisible man/woman/spaghetti monster/pink unicorn to magically teleport them from the situation. Jumping out a window would be much more effective in most cases.

hahaha, no, i know that! but, ok, say you are in a closet and a psycho with an unusually large steak knife is coming at you............ ?

hi yoda! hi shontonga!

hi everyone. this is a very interesting post and something i have had a difficult time figuring out also. i just have this one question (so far ) ... if a taoist finds him or herself in a dangerous situation, say in a burning building, what goes through the taoists head? of course we are all different and we dont always know how we would react in a situation like that. but i know for myself, right now, at this point in my life, i would be praying like crazy for God to help me lol. Now a taoist?...what might he/she be thinking/praying/etc?

meg

hi, my name is meg. ive been interested in taoism for a long time and am here to learn and listen See ya 'round