Verse Forty-OneGood and bad, self and others, life and death: Why affirm these concepts? Why deny them? To do either is to exercise the mind, and the integral being knows that the manipulations of the mind are dreams, delusions, and shadows. Hold one idea, and another competes with it. Soon the two will be in conflict with a third, and in time your life is all chatter and contradiction. Seek instead to keep your mind undivided. Dissolve all ideas into the Tao.~ Translated by Brian Walker ~
Here's a verse that should not be taken literally. If you or I never held an idea, we wouldn't be able to function very well in society. It would be next too impossible to attend school, hold a job or do most anything else. So, it might seem like I think this verse is a crock.
Not so! The underlying message is a powerful one as long as we don't employ it to the extreme.
The point that I believe the author is trying to get across is to be more open. Too often, we latch onto particular ideas and no amount of new information nor new insight will move us to reevaluate our position. We behave as if to say, "This is what I've always thunk and I ain't gonna think on it no more."
Of course, many of our thoughts and ideas are far off base and simply don't flow with the given situation. It's like we're paddling against the current, yet we can't figure out why we're not getting anyplace!
It can be difficult not to enter situations and circumstances without preconceived notions, but when we approach things in this way, we're setting ourselves up for problems -- sometimes really big problems. It's not infrequent that the facts of the situation don't match up with what we believe to be true and these differing perspectives give rise to conflict.
The wise person greets every situation in life anew and forms their opinion based on the specific circumstances at hand.
Needless to say, this is far easier said than done. ;-)
This post is part of a "miniseries". For an introduction, go here.
Not so! The underlying message is a powerful one as long as we don't employ it to the extreme.
The point that I believe the author is trying to get across is to be more open. Too often, we latch onto particular ideas and no amount of new information nor new insight will move us to reevaluate our position. We behave as if to say, "This is what I've always thunk and I ain't gonna think on it no more."
Of course, many of our thoughts and ideas are far off base and simply don't flow with the given situation. It's like we're paddling against the current, yet we can't figure out why we're not getting anyplace!
It can be difficult not to enter situations and circumstances without preconceived notions, but when we approach things in this way, we're setting ourselves up for problems -- sometimes really big problems. It's not infrequent that the facts of the situation don't match up with what we believe to be true and these differing perspectives give rise to conflict.
The wise person greets every situation in life anew and forms their opinion based on the specific circumstances at hand.
Needless to say, this is far easier said than done. ;-)
This post is part of a "miniseries". For an introduction, go here.
And think it's just about not to get attached to any idea, they are intangible after all; if you get attached to your preconceptions, deep comprehension never come just endless prejudice. Learn and let go, in order to learn something new, and then let it go again.
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