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Re: And now some Lao Tzu? :-)

Posted by noa on September 26, 2003, at 9:21:38

In reply to And now some Lao Tzu? :-) » jay, posted by DSCH on September 25, 2003, at 1:01:30

The action required to sustain human life is primarily intellectual,
everything man needs has to be discovered by his mind and produced
by his effort.

*Ayn Rand
*******
"Philosophy is like trying to open a safe with a combination lock: each little adjustment of the dials seems to achieve nothing, only when everything is in place does the door open."

-Ludwig Wittgenstein

*******
Everything requires the right combination. ;-)

*******
Or to keep more in the vein of Wittgenstein, does a safecracker crank up a boom box while on the job? No. He seeks silence and solitude and brings a stethoscope so as to better hear the responses the mechanism makes to his work which is hidden from his eyes. :-) It is dispassionate, delicate, and unhurried activity.

*******
When you finally get the combo right and open the door, you discover that inside the safe, in addition to some new and hopefully meaningful discovery, is another safe with a new combination to figure out. Life is essentially a series of safes within safes, a series that only ends when life does. One of the tricks is to learn to accept the process and maybe even learn to enjoy it some.

*******
Tao Te Ching, from Verse 64...

The Sage desires that which has no desires
_and teaches that which cannot be taught

He does not value the objects held by few
_but only that which is held by everyone

He guides men back to their own treasure
_and helps all things come to know
_the truth they have forgotten

All this he does without a stir

*********************************************

I like this thread, too. It is thought-provoking.

I guess I think that a *balance* is key--a little Ayn Rand, a little Wittgenstein, a little Lao Tzu, etc.

The Rand quote makes me think of intense pursuit of "Truth"--a chase of it, like a detective intently putting the puzzle peices together, thinking, thinking, thinking, with a lot of confidence in our ability to use reason to get 'there'. This quote feels very linear to me--we have the power to reason from one clue to the next until we reach our target. It feels like it implies lots of confidence in our individual intellectual power.

The Wittgenstein quote makes me think of the detective coming to accept that getting all the pieces of the puzzle together requires patience and perhaps the detective acknowledges that it isn't always a chase but sometimes one has to rest from the pursuit and wait for the other puzzle peices to make themselves available. It is kind of a letting go. I don't know why, but I imagine this process as somewhat less linear than what the Rand quote evokes for me. It seems to acknowledge the mystery of the world, beyond the individual. Perhaps it also lends itself to more teamwork--a system of parts that must all work together to accomplish a goal. In this team/system, the detective is the team leader/captain.

Then, the Lao Tzu quote brings in the eastern approach that maybe is not about getting our reason in gear for a chase of "Truth", but about quieting down and opening up to what "Truths" are all around us if we can be calm and open enough to let them in. This is more of a 'just being' in the moment, as opposed to focusing on that thing we are pursuing and hope to find in the future. This is far from linear. It feels like a complex system and the person is not the team leader/captain, but just a part of the larger system. It feels like more acceptance of the mysteries of the universe and a letting go of the idea that we can achieve control, but must learn to sort of go with the flow.

I see value in the whole continuum, I guess. I think our brains are kind of wired for he 'quest' and it is hard to slow down and accept and appreciate the now and the process and the journey, etc. And this is probably reinforced by culture. So, for me, it helps to be reminded to let go and appreciate the process and the moment and the reality of not having control over my universe.

Hey---I bet there are a million quotes that attempt to remind us to appreciate the moment. Here are two--please add yours:

"Stop and smell the roses."

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
John Lennon



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