Verse SevenThe teaching of the Integral Way will go on as long as there is a Tao and someone who wishes to embody it; What is painted in these scrolls today will appear in different forms in many generations to come...~ Translated by Brian Walker ~
I decided I only wanted to address the first two lines of this verse. To read the rest of it, use the link above.
It's interesting how modern humankind believes itself to be so superior to early versions, yet we still find ourselves mired in the past. We look at primitive civilizations and marvel at their lack of knowledge about science, medicine, theology, philosophy and technology. We laugh at their many superstitions and odd descriptions of the world they lived in. We have moved so far beyond their limited capabilities, we tell ourselves.
However, despite all our supposed modernity, almost every religion and philosophic tradition looks backwards to establish its foundation. This is just as true for Christianity and Islam as it is for Hinduism or philosophical Taoism. Our thematic worldviews are tied to texts thousands of years old!
For Christians, the world of divine revelation ended in the first century or two of the common era. For Jews, it ended hundreds of years earlier. The main texts utilized by philosophical Taoists today hearken back to oral traditions thousands of years old and even the HHC is thought to be 1500 - 2000 years old.
Why do we always look to the ancients for wisdom? Why do we think they knew things that we can't know today? (I think I'll thresh this out more in a later post. For now, I ask you to ponder these two questions.)
This post is part of a "miniseries". For an introduction, go here.
However, despite all our supposed modernity, almost every religion and philosophic tradition looks backwards to establish its foundation. This is just as true for Christianity and Islam as it is for Hinduism or philosophical Taoism. Our thematic worldviews are tied to texts thousands of years old!
For Christians, the world of divine revelation ended in the first century or two of the common era. For Jews, it ended hundreds of years earlier. The main texts utilized by philosophical Taoists today hearken back to oral traditions thousands of years old and even the HHC is thought to be 1500 - 2000 years old.
Why do we always look to the ancients for wisdom? Why do we think they knew things that we can't know today? (I think I'll thresh this out more in a later post. For now, I ask you to ponder these two questions.)
This post is part of a "miniseries". For an introduction, go here.
people either tend to idealize the past, or the future. the right longs for "how it used to be" and the left longs for "how it will be someday." people forget that there were a lot of hardships and wrongness in the past, and there will also be in the future. either way, "right now" seems to be the worst age yet, in many people's minds!
ReplyDeletei think idealizing both the past and the future holds some value. if we remember the good things about the past, we can strive for them. and if we see a good future, we will do our part to try and make that happen. the danger lies in moping about the present and feeling sorry for this generation. in reality, the past or future probably holds just as much "good and bad" as the present. "good" and "bad" are illusions, anyway. people just are, and society just is. we change, adapt, but we are not becoming any "better" or "worse" (overall. in some aspects we are) than our predicessors.
Well stated!
ReplyDeleteHmm I dunno. Ancient? present? future?... I really never thought about it, for me time is not linear, so past-present-future are just mere perceptions like some 'huge' koan :D, may we call it illusions or not, at the end it doesn't really matter. We are not sure about the antients 'cause we're not there, and to be completely honest with ourselves, not even in the present, not even in the future. We wish.. the ego is tricky, but we can't.
ReplyDeleteWe use experience to achive wisdom but wisdom itself is not attached to an specific experience/time; is not attached to anything at all.