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I suggest that anything has real being that is so constituted as to possess any sort of power either to affect anything else or to be affected, in however a small a degree, by the most insignificant agent, though it be only once. I am proposing as a mark to distinguish real things that they are nothing but power.
Plato – The Sophist
1.
An inherent theme of common-place spirituality is the idea of effortless action, letting go, the dao of not trying, and letting faith decide. The end result of this paradox is the effort that effortless action requires, the holding on to letting go, and constantly trying not to try. It becomes their religion. We should also let go of of letting go. We should also not try not trying. We should also have faith in no faith. It’s effortless. But we cannot. Happiness requires that we live in paradox and happiness we desire. Happiness requires that we go to great lengths to numb our cognitive control, numb our very nature, our senses, our entire body, and all capacities that might throw us into self-conflict—our worry, our desire for the past and future, our pessimism, our negativity, our criticism, our seeking, our want and words—for these are the capacities most proven to cause suffering. They are correct in this assertion. These tools aren’t meant for discovering happiness. But they tell us that for happiness, their greatest god, one must be without these human capacities, and to achieve this, they sacrifice themselves.2.
What is their intellect but another fancy word for themselves? For their power? It is the word for the entire sense of the human body, where the senses, the emotions, and the instincts converge so that the entirety can witness, feel, imagine and ultimately take care in the moment. It is the human itself. It is power. What is impressed in the human is expressed out of it in thought and words and memories in a sort of wave, all of it a continuing flowering process, all of it happening now, intertwined and bundled up with everything else, never stopping even in sleep, beautiful in its intricacies, magnanimity and even its flaws. But happiness requires that we silence it, so that we can numb ourselves to its suffering. How do we do this?3.
Monks always sit in the darkest caves, but the darkest cave they could ever find was themselves, which at present, sits motionless, silent, barely breathing, self-hibernation, sleep. Such is all escapism, and everyone tries to escape. People watch television, striving for the same forgetting of oneself and the world, as monks meditate. People worship money, worship ideas, as people worship idols. People focus on their loved ones, on their jobs, on their phones, just as people focus on nothing. Silencing oneself is just that: silencing oneself. It’s satiation. It’s cowering from what’s outside. It’s not thinking about it. It’s sacrificing the intellect, and thus to run from one’s own nature and vitality, for fear of the pain it might cause. All of it a part of the quest for “happiness”.4.
Such an orientation to the world is a testament to humanity’s insatiability—always striving for happiness but never quite happy, willing to go so far as to sacrifice the flesh for it. But there is a reason we are never satisfied with happiness. Happiness comes after satisfaction; and there is work still to be done. More important things require our undivided attention, our focus, our sacrifice and our worship. Come out of the cave. Leave your idols for now. We need your help. How can we unite if you divide even yourselves? You give up your power? Great and powerful full-bodied individuals, vulnerable yet unlike anything the universe has ever seen. And they sit, doing nothing, talking to themselves, bowing before symbols, humming strange tunes. There is a world of chance and riddle outside, and we can influence it. The spiritless have made power into position, wealth, and fame, as for too long we have employed them to feed us happiness. Their power is an illusion. But we can change. We are real things, and nothing but power.
originally posted by: Aphorism
I suggest that anything has real being that is so constituted as to possess any sort of power either to affect anything else or to be affected, in however a small a degree, by the most insignificant agent, though it be only once. I am proposing as a mark to distinguish real things that they are nothing but power.
Plato – The Sophist
1.
An inherent theme of common-place spirituality is the idea of effortless action, letting go, the dao of not trying, and letting faith decide. The end result of this paradox is the effort that effortless action requires, the holding on to letting go, and constantly trying not to try. It becomes their religion. We should also let go of of letting go. We should also not try not trying. We should also have faith in no faith. It’s effortless. But we cannot. Happiness requires that we live in paradox and happiness we desire. Happiness requires that we go to great lengths to numb our cognitive control, numb our very nature, our senses, our entire body, and all capacities that might throw us into self-conflict—our worry, our desire for the past and future, our pessimism, our negativity, our criticism, our seeking, our want and words—for these are the capacities most proven to cause suffering. They are correct in this assertion. These tools aren’t meant for discovering happiness. But they tell us that for happiness, their greatest god, one must be without these human capacities, and to achieve this, they sacrifice themselves.
2.
What is their intellect but another fancy word for themselves? For their power? It is the word for the entire sense of the human body, where the senses, the emotions, and the instincts converge so that the entirety can witness, feel, imagine and ultimately take care in the moment. It is the human itself. It is power. What is impressed in the human is expressed out of it in thought and words and memories in a sort of wave, all of it a continuing flowering process, all of it happening now, intertwined and bundled up with everything else, never stopping even in sleep, beautiful in its intricacies, magnanimity and even its flaws. But happiness requires that we silence it, so that we can numb ourselves to its suffering. How do we do this?
According to age old doctrine, first, as effortlessly as possible, we must deceive ourselves, a sort of mental evisceration. We must reduce ourselves to paradoxes that never actualize. For no other reason than to attempt to escape the suffering and changing world, we must divide ourselves from it into two parts: the body, and whatever is left over, an entity which has taken countless names. We must hold this as a presupposition, as given, as law. For the sake of whatever is left over, and to further create a chasm between oneself, one must see one’s body as an illusion, and what is left over, as reality. This involves a simple switch in terminology, which is the basis of all religion. We honor certain ideas with certain honorific terms, and have done so throughout history. Reality is what we call “reality”. But for a species superstitious of their words, and idolaters of their symbols, this technique works wonders on one’s own self-deception. All one needs to do to convert another (for one likes to share his happiness) like a snake charmer with such empty words as “transcendence”, “bliss” or “divinity”, a lovely tune and smoke and mirrors, to have him willing to try anything to receive these rewards.
Under the spell of this delusion, it becomes easy to imagine that whatever was left over can be convinced in such a way that it is no longer attached to the suffering body, and hence, detached from material necessity—the impending doom of their mortality and the insatiability of their livelihood. They say this not about just themselves, but about everyone, and relinquish everyone’s power. Nonetheless, in order to do away with their own suffering, which is a condition of everyone’s life, they shelter their bodies, silence it, drug it, deprive it, put it to sleep, so that it is protected from the world and entombed—in order to explore with what’s left over, the only thing immune to physical harm.
3.
Monks always sit in the darkest caves, but the darkest cave they could ever find was themselves, which at present, sits motionless, silent, barely breathing, self-hibernation, sleep. Such is all escapism, and everyone tries to escape. People watch television, striving for the same forgetting of oneself and the world, as monks meditate. People worship money, worship ideas, as people worship idols. People focus on their loved ones, on their jobs, on their phones, just as people focus on nothing. Silencing oneself is just that: silencing oneself. It’s satiation. It’s cowering from what’s outside. It’s not thinking about it. It’s sacrificing the intellect, and thus to run from one’s own nature and vitality, for fear of the pain it might cause. All of it a part of the quest for “happiness”.
4.
Such an orientation to the world is a testament to humanity’s insatiability—always striving for happiness but never quite happy, willing to go so far as to sacrifice the flesh for it. But there is a reason we are never satisfied with happiness. Happiness comes after satisfaction; and there is work still to be done. More important things require our undivided attention, our focus, our sacrifice and our worship. Come out of the cave. Leave your idols for now. We need your help. How can we unite if you divide even yourselves? You give up your power? Great and powerful full-bodied individuals, vulnerable yet unlike anything the universe has ever seen. And they sit, doing nothing, talking to themselves, bowing before symbols, humming strange tunes. There is a world of chance and riddle outside, and we can influence it. The spiritless have made power into position, wealth, and fame, as for too long we have employed them to feed us happiness. Their power is an illusion. But we can change. We are real things, and nothing but power.
originally posted by: Aphorism
...an entity which has taken countless names.
originally posted by: Aphorism
We are real things, and nothing but power.
Nothing evil, nothing sacred
Just a power that's been created
-Ronnie James Dio
originally posted by: EviLCHiMP
Perceptive my friend, but why must you end your post with "We can change" when you have just explained to not try to try to be anything. By stating such knowledge then concluding with opposite ideologies any perceptive eye would catch that you are spreading knowledge that you do not understand properly.
The point in spirituality and meditation is to just be, in wisdom and in silence. Under no circumstances does a true spiritual practitioner call people in to action or demand they toss aside their spiritual paths (leave their caves) to unite against oppressors. That is extremely ignorant thinking my friend and I apologize for the blatant honesty, but it is necessary.
Everything is as it should be, there is a grand lesson being learned in these chaotic times and it will be understood in due time.
Peace be with you.
We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.
-Lau Tzu
Perceptive my friend, but why must you end your post with "We can change" when you have just explained to not try to try to be anything. By stating such knowledge then concluding with opposite ideologies any perceptive eye would catch that you are spreading knowledge that you do not understand properly.
The point in spirituality and meditation is to just be, in wisdom and in silence. Under no circumstances does a true spiritual practitioner call people in to action or demand they toss aside their spiritual paths (leave their caves) to unite against oppressors. That is extremely ignorant thinking my friend and I apologize for the blatant honesty, but it is necessary.
Everything is as it should be, there is a grand lesson being learned in these chaotic times and it will be understood in due time.
Peace be with you.
originally posted by: Aphorism
We should also let go of of letting go. We should also not try not trying. We should also have faith in no faith. It’s effortless. But we cannot. Happiness requires that we live in paradox and happiness we desire. Happiness requires that we go to great lengths to numb our cognitive control, numb our very nature, our senses, our entire body, and all capacities that might throw us into self-conflict—our worry, our desire for the past and future, our pessimism, our negativity, our criticism, our seeking, our want and words—for these are the capacities most proven to cause suffering. They are correct in this assertion. These tools aren’t meant for discovering happiness. But they tell us that for happiness, their greatest god, one must be without these human capacities, and to achieve this, they sacrifice themselves.
Their power is an illusion. But we can change. We are real things, and nothing but power.
An inherent theme of common-place spirituality is the idea of effortless action, letting go, the dao of not trying, and letting faith decide.
..
The end result of this paradox is the effort that effortless action requires, the holding on to letting go, and constantly trying not to try. It becomes their religion.
You greatly misunderstand these paths and teachings. There is no such thing as the 'Doism of effortless effort'. If you knew anything about the subject, you would know that Doism (or Taosim) has nothing to do with faith, nothing to do with letting go or decision making, it's not a teaching, it's not a state of being, state of mind, a set of behaviors, a thing, a concept, or idea nor a religion or path to achieving anything whatsoever. The futile and 100% illusory pursuit of permanent happiness, bliss or whatever people are after, has nothing to do with Tao. - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...
What's the point of taoism and wu wei? Why make an effort to be one with the Tao, if we already are one with the Tao by default?
We work with being, but non-being is what we use. -Lau Tzu
We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.
We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.
We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.
What is the point of existence?
So the only way to know the Tao...is to not know it. Which basically means get on with your life and don't worry about it...? I'm guessing here. I'm not well versed in Orwellian logic, although times like this teach me how it might be used to sidle in some common sense on the coattails of dry humor. - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...
originally posted by: Aphorism
Points and purpose and meaning are generated by human beings. Only human beings can give points and meanings and purposes to existence, just like they give points, purposes and meanings to taoism. Saying there isn't points and purposes and meanings of existence is no different. It is always an evaluation.
Without words is there any thing at all?
What or which 'human being' (in your opinion) gives points, purposes or meaning to Taoism? - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...