sean

The Way of the Living Ghost

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The Way of the Living Ghost is a cautionary treatise. It is a work about being hollow and overfull, and about seeing “now” and “then” through darkened eyes. It is about hunger, need, loss, violence, and injustice. It is a meditation on paradox and inertia. All of these are hallmarks of ghosts, but the living ghost can change its fate.

This enigmatic work by Dr Anderson combs through the Daodejing, line by line, in new translation giving robust commentary to the dark side of the Dao. It is a direct response to the pronounced current in Daoist literature which recognizes some form of “cultivated” or “perfected” person, but awards scant recognition of the “unwhole” or “imperfect” parts of a lived life. We invite you to delve into this work and explore the necromantic philosophy espoused herein and learn the ways of the living ghost.

 

My copy of The Way of the Living Ghost arrived today. 👻 Stoked to dive into this one.

 


Sean

 

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$36 to $131?  Holy moly.  I hope you enjoy it :)

 

Just reading the little description you posted, sounds awesome.  My current practice is to try and shed thoughts of yesterday and tomorrow.  The ghost can change its fate.

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1 minute ago, manitou said:

$36 to $131?  Holy moly.  I hope you enjoy it :)

 

Just reading the little description you posted, sounds awesome.  My current practice is to try and shed thoughts of yesterday and tomorrow.  The ghost can change its fate.

 

Yeah, pricey even for the paperback, I like supporting small publishing companies when I can though.

 

Sean

 

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18 hours ago, sean said:

 

Yeah, pricey even for the paperback, I like supporting small publishing companies when I can though.

 

Sean

 

 

 

Funny you should say that.  I'm about to buy a whole gaggle of watercolor supplies - my first thought was Amazon.  And then I thought, no - pay a little extra and support one of the local folks in town.  Actually, probably a lot extra.

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43 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

Have you started it yet? Any thoughts?

 

Yeah, it's quite fascinating. The premise is that many of us living humans are effectively already ghosts. It then proceeds with a kind of haunted version of the Daodejing, a Daodejing written by a hungry ghost , the "Dao of the Living Ghost" 生命鬼道.

 

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Ticking a lot of boxes for me because I love Daoism, ghosts and horror. 😄 Was also pleasantly surprised to see my late teacher Liu Ming mentioned as a source in the first chapter.

 

Sean

 

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5 hours ago, sean said:

 

Yeah, it's quite fascinating. The premise is that many of us living humans are effectively already ghosts. It then proceeds with a kind of haunted version of the Daodejing, a Daodejing written by a hungry ghost , the "Dao of the Living Ghost" 生命鬼道.

 

IMG_0147.jpg

 

Ticking a lot of boxes for me because I love Daoism, ghosts and horror. 😄 Was also pleasantly surprised to see my late teacher Liu Ming mentioned as a source in the first chapter.

 

Sean

 

 

Ticks all the same boxes as I love those too. It also sounds like something out of an old RPG I played called Kindred of The East. 

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The strict rules of the Sabbath, no work, no buying or selling, cooking, lifting, lighting.. a day of rest, study.. family.. contemplation..meditation.  24 hours of it.  Mystically you get an 'extra soul'.

 

I bring up the concept of Sabbath because I remember someone saying 'If you can't deal with the Sabbath.  How you going to deal with eternity?'   Are such restrictions heaven or hell?   Maybe its ghost training.  Living without physical desire, once a week 24/1 . 

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Even in a physical sense, we are ghosts.  The dimension of an atom is 99.99999999999% space.  That means that ratio applies to us as well.

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1 hour ago, manitou said:

Even in a physical sense, we are ghosts.  The dimension of an atom is 99.99999999999% space.  That means that ratio applies to us as well.

 

Even ”worse” i’d say! We’re all those percents of nothing.

For some reason that still escapes understanding for me is the tension or whatever the correct terminology is still makes possibility of interaction between stuff on a physical plane.

Whats bugging me even more, liquids and gases are made up of the same ratio of stuff:nothing. Wtf, srsly physics, how?! :)

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3 hours ago, Rocky Lionmouth said:

 

Even ”worse” i’d say! We’re all those percents of nothing.

For some reason that still escapes understanding for me is the tension or whatever the correct terminology is still makes possibility of interaction between stuff on a physical plane.

Whats bugging me even more, liquids and gases are made up of the same ratio of stuff:nothing. Wtf, srsly physics, how?! :)

 

I think it boils down to Thought.  Who's thought?  The intelligence within everything.

 

I think the fact that time is an illusion plays into this as well.  It's really all happening Now.  That may explain the interaction you speak of.

 

I too wonder how it is that objects maintain their shape.  Why don't the atoms and components fly apart?  (Okay, I know....electromagnetics).  But that's just a definition, a word.  Does the 'idea' of a lamp keep it intact throughout time?  Or is it the space outside of the lamp that defines and maintains its shape?

 

We should have this figured out by tomorrow.

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