Jim D. Posted June 11, 2016 About 3 or 4 posts back I talked about 'The Way.' I described my internal life before the moment I consciously as chatter and noise of my perceptions, judgements...thoughts about my environment, goings on that day, the roses I was looking at, my internal life. As I pushed those thoughts aside I was in the moment...truly present. As a practioner of the healy arts, there have been times when I have offered to take my client(s) through a guided meditation in order to help them calm down their overly active and pre-occupied minds. They either were rumminating about someone, something, the past, or the future. The results of this exercise was a feeling of the abscense of self...a oneness...no fragmentation...just peace. Lao Tzu tells us "the name that can be named is not the universal name." Taking it a little further, I would say from my own experiences that Dao or Great Integrity transcends the material and reveals itself as an awareness. And therefore, since we are aware of this at some level, we too are the Dao For example, light a stick match and watch it burn down. What does it become? How does its form change into ash? What happens in between? We see the change occuring, but are aware of something transcendent happening...indescribable! JD Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted June 11, 2016 Yeah, I agree that Dao cannot be described. But it can be experienced. Your first paragraph speaks to this. (Even though I didn't care for the way you phrased your last sentence in that paragraph. You were in the state of Wu Wei but then you "pushed". No more Wu Wei. You took intentional action.) Second paragraph: This is why I value "empty-minded meditation". Yin/Yang, Wu/Yu, Mystery/Manifest, Spiritual/ Physical. Some say to strive for balance between the two. I prefer the concept of harmony. Yes, what was the physicalness of the match has returned to the Mystery. (Energy potential. Potential to become some thing else.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawei Posted June 12, 2016 Yeah, I agree that Dao cannot be described. But it can be experienced. Your first paragraph speaks to this. (Even though I didn't care for the way you phrased your last sentence in that paragraph. You were in the state of Wu Wei but then you "pushed". No more Wu Wei. You took intentional action.) Second paragraph: This is why I value "empty-minded meditation". Yin/Yang, Wu/Yu, Mystery/Manifest, Spiritual/ Physical. Some say to strive for balance between the two. I prefer the concept of harmony. Yes, what was the physicalness of the match has returned to the Mystery. (Energy potential. Potential to become some thing else.) If it can be experienced then it can be described In both cases, you are just operating in Manifest aspect. The bigger question may be whether the mystery can be experienced and described... and Yes to that too... because that is till yet a part of our understanding. I would generally say, the part that we cannot describe is the part we cannot experience... so does that mean experience and description must follow suit? In my experience... this is the wrong question How repeatable is the experience seems to be an issue. Descriptions can be similar but the experience can vary. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted June 12, 2016 Well, come on Dawei, give me a break. I am, after all, a Materialist. Okay, I'll give you this: Yes, one's experience of Wu can be described. But we are only describing our experience, not Wu itself. I think that our Wu experiences are uncontrolled and spontaneous. Therefore I would suggest that they are not individually repeatable. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
