Mair 20:3

[Stosh]

1 hour ago, wandelaar said:

 

ch for an acceptable inteion of ancient Taoism is not finished yet, and so I see the appearance of fallacies and tricks in otherwise serious topics as a serious obstruction. It takes almost no time to post tons of nonsense but it takes inordinate amounts of time and energy to post well reasoned refutations. So the "gamesmaysch discussions is almost cerltain to "win". That's why I consider it best to not get sucked into those silly games at all.

 

Maybe your ideas about Taoist philosophy have already taken a definite shape and so you can better appreciate playing some tricks and having some fun?

Yep, mine are shaped. I spoke for myself. I understand that having ones chain yanked    Is potentially very annoying. It is by far the most common response for people to defend the view they have rather than embrace another one. Did you expect to have impact or to learn some important tidbit? As time goes on I suspect those goals wiil prove elusive , and you will have reaped either warm experiences or cool ones... thats it. So one wisely plays with those who play. Imo

Like the guy collecting from those wish to contribute, and allowing the others not to.

Edited November 14, 2018 by Stosh

[Marblehead]

I'm glad I stayed out of this.  I would have ended up arguing with myself.

 

[silent thunder]

1 hour ago, Marblehead said:

I'm glad I stayed out of this.  I would have ended up arguing with myself.

 

well said my friend!  An example of discretion being the better part of valor.

[Stosh]

Did I gainsay myself ? 

[wandelaar]

Let's return to the text. Was Prodigal Northpalace also the guy who made the altar with bells?

[OldDog]

What makes you think he might not have been? 

 

As I read it, he was both the collector of the funds and builder of the bell alter.

[wandelaar]

It's a strange combination, but on the other hand it could also be meant as an example of supreme sageliness to be able to find ones way in all kinds of environments whether it is dealing with wood, metal, stone (?), money or people...

[Taoist Texts]

25 minutes ago, OldDog said:

and builder of the bell alter.

depends what is meant by builder. he was not a craftsman or architect, but a tax collector and an administrator of the works.

[OldDog]

Sure enough. As I read it, he was adept with people and recognized at an intuitive level the kinds of people he was soliciting from and was thus able to obtain the funding he needed. Sounds like a real politician. Able to grip and grin with the best of them.

[OldDog]

4 minutes ago, Taoist Texts said:

he was not a craftsman or architect

 

Well, not builder in a literal sense but he certainly had some degree of oversight ... sounded like it was his project.