And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.Here we find another huge difference between the Judeo-Christian perspective and that of philosophical Taoism.
~ King James version ~
The myriad things included many entities and beings, including humans.
~ possible Taoist alternative ~
From the viewpoint of the former, humankind -- particularly males -- are on the top rung of the ladder. Every other creature is to be subservient to our kind. By making such stark distinctions -- humans over here and everything else over there -- it sets up a worldview that stresses separateness over interconnection.
Taoists, on the other hand, don't rank the various beings of this realm. Since Tao is impartial, a slug or a pebble in a river is just as important to the overall scheme of things as the president of the United States or Lady Gaga! Because all substance and non-substance plays an equal role, Taoism stresses interconnection over separateness.
If you're interesting reading more from this experimental series, go to the Tao Bible Index page.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.