Tao Te Ching, Chapter One

Wow. I has been a long time since I last wrote something for you guys.  Well, here goes my attempt at something new.  I'm going to start sporadically write my thoughts, chapter by chapter of the Tao Te Ching by Lau Tzu.  Enjoy :)

(Disclaimer: I am not Taoist, and I am not a qualified philosopher, I am just a guy trying to find his place in the world. I have no intention of insulting anyone with this, I just want to try and share my thoughts on it.)



"The Tao that can be followed is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the origin of heaven and earth
While naming is the origin of myriad things.
Thus, constantly without desire, one observes its essence
Therefore, always desireless, you see the mystery.
Ever desiring, you see the manifestations.
These two are the same  ̶
When they appear they are named differently.

The sameness is the mystery,
Mystery within mystery;

The door to all marvels."


This chapter of the Tao Te Ching is looking at names and desire and their relation to the eternal Tao.

Lao Tzu teaches that by giving something a name, we set it apart and make it different than the rest of the world.  "...naming is the origin of myriad things."  Because the eternal Tao is nameless, that makes it everything at once.  As human beings, the easiest way we separate things is through giving them names, making apples different from oranges, for example.  We name things because of the form we see them in.  The eternal Tao has no form, and so it has no finite name.  It is in everything.

Desire is an ugly thing.  It goes hand in hand with envy, and as far as I know, nobody likes an envious person.  When we desire something, we separate the world into what we desire and what we don't desire.  But when we are without desire, we can see the mystery behind the eternal Tao.  By giving our desires up, we can catch glimpses into the heart of the Tao and gain some small part of understanding.

To sum up, the first chapter of the Tao Te Ching teaches us to not focus on the names of things, but the form of them, and to give up our desires to see into the mystery of the eternal Tao more clearly.

I hope you take these lessons to heart and reflect on this passage yourself to find your own meaning behind it. And as always, thank you for reading.

Musical Nirvana

We walk into the unexpected cathedral

The ceiling towers over us,

Appearing to disappear into inky depths.

Our footsteps echo dully into the endless space.

With sudden inspiration,

I snap my fingers:

SNAP!

                snap!

                            snap

                                                 snap

                                                                 snap

                                                                                                                        snap

A shiver runs down my spine.

We get into a mixed arrangement

And begin.

We sing the fortissimo opening chord…

It’s perfectly in tune.

The director cuts us off.

Our sound does not hang in the air,

It rings throughout the church.

The sound peals forth from the stone walls,

It is almost as if the multitude

Of stained glass images are

Holding the harmonies for us…

An eternity later the reverb dies out.

A single, shining tear

Crawls down my cheek.

Something to Think About

"I constantly get out of my comfort zone. Looking cool is the easiest way to mediocrity. The coolest guy in my high school ended up working at a car wash. Once you push yourself into something new, and whole new world of opportunities opens up. But you might get hurt. In fact you WILL get hurt. But amazingly when you heal-- you are somewhere youve never been." - Terry Crews

Truth

I want you to think. I mean really think about one thing. I want you to ask yourself, "What is truth?"

Merriam-Webster will tell you that truth is: sincerity in action and character; the state of being the case; the body of real events, things, and facts; the property of being in accord with reality.  This defines truth, but it doesn't tell you what it actually is.  Let's ask another source about truth.

In Metaphysics, Aristotle and Plato said, "p is true if and only if p corresponds to a fact." Closer than Webster, but still not quite right. A fact is generally considered something that is true, which causes the original Greek to become recursive, and therefore not helpful.  Let's take a look at a different interpretation.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in words, and guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy."  Again, we find another circular definition about truth.

Now, my thoughts about all this. Truth is frequently defined vaguely or circularly because it is actually a hard concept to grasp. I know that I don't fully understand it, but I best know what it means to me from a song in the musical Jesus Christ, Superstar. In the trial before Pilate, Jesus is asked, "But what is truth, is it unchanging law? We both have truths, are mine the same as yours?"  And that one line got me thinking really hard about truth. And my current conclusion is that no one can tell you what is true. You have to go out and experience truth. I can't tell you what that means. You need to find it for yourself. People will discover their own truth in their own way and place. I won't tell you where I found my truth, as I believe that finding it is one of the most personal and private experiences that anyone will ever have. It is not something to be taken lightly.

So with that, I challenge you: go out and find your truth. Do it often enough, and you might find that even something as solid as truth can change. Live your life, and discover your truth.

English

Today I was called a grammar Nazi, which got me thinking about why I am a stickler about grammar and spelling. And I finally discovered that I want English to go back to being a beautiful language. Think about it, English used to be a graceful, thought-provoking language, for example, in almost all of Shakespeare's works (not just his plays, but his poems as well) the language flows, and smoothly transitions among ideas. 

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages." (As You Like It)

This one quote is a wonderful example of my point. Poetry notwithstanding, this is basically how the common man spoke in that era. Nowadays, this beauty is corrupted by a conglomeration of abbreviations, contractions, and ignorant people abusing the grammar of our language

I take a stand for English because if I don't, then no one will protect our language. I fear that eventually, English will devolve into pidgin; so please, for the love of English, stop killing our language!

I've learned.

Some of this I learned myself, some I learned by watching my surroundings. I hope you learn something today.


I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in. 
I've learned that one good turn gets most of the blankets. 
I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just jackasses. 
I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it. 
I've learned that whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed. 
I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to others - they are more screwed up than you think. 
I've learned that depression is merely anger without enthusiasm. 
I've learned that it is not what you wear; it is how you take it off. 
I've learned that you can keep vomiting long after you think you're finished. 
I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things. 
I've learned that ex's are like fungus, and keep coming back. 
I've learned age is a very high price to pay for maturity. 
I've learned that I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it. 
I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities. 
I've learned that artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity. 
I've learned that 99% of the time when something isn't working in your house, one of your kids did it. 
I've learned that there is a fine line between genius and insanity. 
I've learned that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon and all the less important ones just never go away. And the real pains in the ass are permanent. 

conversation

Instead of small talk,

tell me one little thing,

why do you smile when others are serious and sitting with heavy glasses?

why does that one hymn in Church always make you giggle?

which voices do you imitate most often because

they are so damn funny?

tell me about your joy.

Instead of a casual conversation,

just let me know,

what do you crave when you're feeling anxious or curious?

flirting, peanut butter cookies, that one kind of music you promise your friends you hate,

cement on your feet and exhaustion in your lungs?

Tell me, I'm not interested in your job or even what you do,

unless you would do it every day of your life, as often,

with a quarter of the pay,

but tell me,

where do your wings take you

when you're soaring down the road off to anywhere?

Because I know you take out your wings every so often.

To what country or person or building do you fly

and ache to embrace, feel comfort, be fed?

Let's talk real talk,

get into the stuff that makes you laugh at yourself,

like the passing thoughts and scenarios

you've chosen to actually play out,

the sounds and faces you make only to your family,

the times youve blushed

when you really shouldnt have,

the people you've fancied yourself holding hands with,

shedding tears with,

loving, even.

Tell me,

are we going to get to know each other

through the weather and prepared anecdotes?

Let's take a risk,

I'll ask the questions.