Taomeow Posted 19 hours ago 5 minutes ago, liminal_luke said: Great point about the all-too-often forgotten yin side and the importance of darkness. I take it on faith that the word "enlightenment" refers to a real phenomenon, but I´ve never much liked the word -- or the endless fractious discussions that spring up around it -- perhaps because the emphasis on light feels so one sided to me. In a similar vein, what´s with our cultural overemphasis with going up? Seems to me it´s just as important to go down. Like yin and yang, I think one begets the other. If you wanna go up ya gotta go down; wanna go to the light, find the darkness. Very true. Also... In taiji, we always go slightly back before any move forward -- it sort of helps gain the correct vector, along with "stitching together" the move forward with the previous one -- which was also forward so if you "stitch" forward to forward you can't get a seamless move! And after a turn to the left, a turn to the right follows, and then if you still need to keep going to the left you go slightly to the right first. And of course opening and closing alternate -- opening is akin to light/yang/expansion, closing, to dark/yin/contraction... and they interchange continuously. (One hallmark of bad taiji is when they don't, and the practitioner remains "too open" or "too closed" without minding this rhythm.) Sorry... couldn't resist a taiji example -- "everything" philosophy is therein, it so happens that all questions are answered there... including those one hasn't thought of asking. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted 19 hours ago An action that takes us away from the light ; Constructing 'migrant cages ' 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BigSkyDiamond Posted 19 hours ago (edited) non-duality goes beyond both light and dark. it is before any polarity. polarized thinking is unbalanced, just as mood swings are unbalanced. black and white thinking is problematic. Edited 19 hours ago by BigSkyDiamond Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
old3bob Posted 6 hours ago 12 hours ago, BigSkyDiamond said: non-duality goes beyond both light and dark. it is before any polarity. polarized thinking is unbalanced, just as mood swings are unbalanced. black and white thinking is problematic. duality has a valid place in the grand scheme, I'd say the unmanifest is better left to the unmanifest. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stirling Posted 2 hours ago Some of the posts on this thread are pretty thinly veiled references. If it continues we'll be locking this thread. Deep thanks to those of you who are refraining. - Mods 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cobie Posted 1 hour ago (edited) Takes away from the light: 為 (wei2) stage-acting (i.e. going against myself e.g. to be socially acceptable). Brings closer to the light: 無為 (wu2 wei2) not stage-acting (i.e. being myself, which is equal to being one with the Dao). Edited 54 minutes ago by Cobie Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
