from Verse Eighty-OneWhen life is granted as it is by springtime, and life is taken away as it is in autumn, so that those who are granted life are not grateful and those who are killed are not resentful, this is near the Way.~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~
To those used to hearing that "God" has a plan for each of us, this may sound a bit cold and heartless. I suppose it's nice to feel as if each of us has a special purpose and that someone important is looking out for us.However, as we gaze upon the natural world, we quickly realize that everything around us is born, lives and dies or, put another way, everything is formless, develops a form and then gives it back. There is no reason to believe -- at least in my mind -- that humans are any different.
I used to think that each of us should be thankful for our lives and cherish every breath. But what does it mean to be thankful for the reality of being? Some ungrateful folks live to a ripe old age, while some thankful folks die at a very young age.
In the end, being grateful doesn't matter one way or the other. It doesn't impact the process of life or death at all.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
Sadly that is why many people's lives don't work.
ReplyDeleteIt is the very act of giving thanks that changes how we perceive life.
I don't care if there is a god or not. I choose to give thanks to it anyway.
Somebody once wrote:
"If god did not exist, it would be necessary to create him".
Well each one of us can do that, if we wish. And if we can create god, then who are we?
I am nothing but a toaster: unplugged, I am still a toaster.
But plugged in, I have purpose.
I perform to design specification.
By the way: I should thank you: I no longer label myself "taoist".
I am nothing like you.
The words have changed me.
You have changed the words.
A thought I had:
Have you ever considered that we might be more than just "receptors"? By that I mean, the end point in the food chain: born only to consume?
Maybe we are transmitters too.
Designed to observe, to experience, and then to report...
New insights into the world of quantum physics would seem to indicate that.
We may - indeed - be able to "change the world". Without the unpleasantness of turning half the people against the other half and opening fire on them.
As long as there are leftists, there will be rightists.
It might be in everyone's interests to resist the urge to politicize the tao. It is - if it is anything - about travelling the middle path.
I don't understand the following part: "By the way: I should thank you: I no longer label myself "taoist". I am nothing like you. The words have changed me. You have changed the words. "
ReplyDeleteFor starters, you shouldn't be like me; you should be like you.
Secondly, each of us interprets words in our own way and just because I don't interpret some words the way you might happen to doesn't mean that I changed the words any more than you have.
In Tao there is no left or right.
ReplyDelete(Which sort of echoes the old hymn, "In Christ there is no esst or west...").
The universe doesn't require one to be grateful.I think that's something one does well to require of oneself.