8. Our life is a journey, then, from a) the relative to the absolute; from b) time to eternity; from c) the changing, sensuous world of becoming to the realm of pure timeless intelligible Being; from d) the particular to the universal; from e) the mediated, discursive, through-a-glass-darkly sort of knowledge, to pure face-to-face unmistakable vision.
This dichotomy is difficult to discuss because, from a Taoist perspective, no dichotomy exists. For one thing, the first part of each couplet merely is the subjective perspective of each self-conscious being. It is the ego making distinctions where none actually exist. The second part of each couplet is even more troublesome because each can only be understood in light of its opposite and yet, as previously written, Tao is not definable.
For example, taking a look at part b, both words hinge on an understanding of the word, time. If time is an artificial construct of the human mind -- it doesn't really exist -- then eternity holds no meaning because there's nothing its really in opposition to. The same line of reasoning can be used in the other parts as well.
While Taoists speak of our lives following paths, in my mind, that's not the same thing as a journey. In common parlance, one undertakes a journey to arrive at a specific destination. In Taoist thought, life itself is a destination -- The underlying mean of life is living.
That is to say that life is not the training wheels version of something else. It's merely one step in a never-ending three step cycle: birth, life, death, birth, life, death, birth..........
This post is part of a "miniseries". For an introduction, go here.
For example, taking a look at part b, both words hinge on an understanding of the word, time. If time is an artificial construct of the human mind -- it doesn't really exist -- then eternity holds no meaning because there's nothing its really in opposition to. The same line of reasoning can be used in the other parts as well.
While Taoists speak of our lives following paths, in my mind, that's not the same thing as a journey. In common parlance, one undertakes a journey to arrive at a specific destination. In Taoist thought, life itself is a destination -- The underlying mean of life is living.
That is to say that life is not the training wheels version of something else. It's merely one step in a never-ending three step cycle: birth, life, death, birth, life, death, birth..........
This post is part of a "miniseries". For an introduction, go here.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.