Thread: Skepticism
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Old 20-05-2017, 04:14 AM
FallingLeaves FallingLeaves is online now
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Join Date: Mar 2014
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Originally Posted by Sonolil
So I have not shared this with anyone as of yet, but I finally decided it's time to bounce this idea off of the net.
well i will waste my time answering!
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I have an extremely serious ambivalent relationship towards Taoism.
how daoist of you!
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I have little idea where to start so I'll just start off with some of the questions bugging the mind.
1. If Tao cannot be spoken of, why speak?
why do birds sing?
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If Tao that can be named is not Tao, then is Tao really Tao?
is my TV the word TV?
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And anything that is written in Tao-de-ching, what of it?
why do birds sing?
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If it's meaningless then what are the poems for?
who said tao had to lack meaning?
and who said poems had to be there for some reason?
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2. What is natural?Is the world really separate into natural and unnatural?
there was an observation that some things seem 'easier' than others and we are stuck doing very hard things that we often 'say' we don't like. That is really all there is to it.
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Isn't the universe nature itself?
Isn't everything in the world, all materials and concepts, all spirits and desires, all part of nature itself no matter how ugly it seems?
exactly the point of tao
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Are humans and civilization not part of nature?
Are grey cubes worthless against green fractals? 3. But then why no good and evil?
it is a 'miss' of taoism to believe you can wish it away.
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Is it bad to pursue good over evil?
Isn't it inevitable?
yeah, but as a result so is 'death'
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Is darkness darkness or light?
Is light light or darkness?
depends on what you want to see
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Does music really dull the senses?
Is going down really going up?
depends on what you want to do
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4. Yin and Yang?Is life really dual?
I'm not sure where this came from. Maybe I am too old now...
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Conversely, is duality actually bad?
very daoist of you
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Are all dichotomies equal?Do they all need to be balanced?Isn't good good and evil evil?
Isn't purity just as important as balance?
Sometimes isn't it important that
one force dominates and destroys the other?
you can call a mouse a cat if you want, but that doesn't change the fact that it is a mouse.
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Do all things really fall neatly into yin and yang categories?
Are they all related?
male = put things out, female = take things in. Most things can be looked at one way, the other, or both at the same time :) But there is a third place talked about as well, the place between.
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Does left and right have anything to do with evil and good?
left is often called evil and right good... as left is often called female and right male, but really they are unrelated other than what people want to call them.
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In color schemes, can CMYK fall into yin-yang categories?
I dunno. That is beyond my knowing. I do know that the connotations we put with the colors can.
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If red fire is yang and blue water yin, then why is hot fire blue?
why do you think there has to be a clear separation between things?
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Why do we divide sexless things and spirit into male and female?
Is mountain male or female? Is sky? Is the sun?
Aren't these mere symbols?
Do they reflect reality?
aren't words mere symbols?Do they reflect reality?
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5. Why?
What led the old one to write such things?
supposedly, someone bothered him enough that it was easier to write on the way out the door, than not.
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Why do we hold onto it as true?
it is like a mirror, people see themselves and sometimes more
people like to see themselves and sometimes more
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Why did he try to explain the inexplicable?
maybe it was more like... pointing the finger.
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Is the book always true? Is it always false?
is anything always something other than what it is?
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Is it virtue to follow what is in the poems?
As opposed to vice?
But then that divides virtue and vice..?
virtue doesn't mean 'doing the right thing according to what people think'. Virtue means finding the path to the way and walking it until you are ready to get tired of paths and strike off through the jungle on your own.
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Why explain what can't be explained?
why not?
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Am why am I asking this?
why not?
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What do I possibly gain from asking these unanswerable questions?
Why am I doing this? What leads me to do this?
Is it necessary? Is it laziness? Is it futility? Is this part of my path?
sometimes, it is enough just to do things and see what comes of them
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Am I for Tao or against it?
are you for 'air' or against it? Or something else entirely?
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Am I still part of Tao despite all this thinking?
well how could you not be?
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Actually why am I not thinking?
Why don't I really care?
Do I care?
Do I care if any of you answer? Do I care if none?
Do I care if this is evil or good?
If I don't need the answers then why am I asking these?
why do birds sing?
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And why am I finally at peace?...
lucky you. I'm so very envious!
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