Throughout the annals of history, people have thought about, discussed, debated, written and philosophized about the human condition. The questions we have sought/seek answers to haven't changed all that much. Why are we here? What is the essence of life? Is there something greater than all of us? What is the meaning of life itself?
Various religions and philosophies have sprung up throughout the years to try to quell the uncertainty that our species faces in a world of unknown proportions. When these stabs at answering the unanswerable questions have been committed to the written form, they thus create foundational texts -- works revered by many in our contemporary times.
As discussed briefly in the previous post, modern humankind lands itself in trouble again and again when we think we understand the various references, perspectives and nuances of bygone days and conflate our understanding of the world around us with the understanding of those who came hundreds or thousands of years before us.
There is no way we can take what was written historically in ancient times at face value. We simply do not understand all the references. We simply do not understand all the geopolitical forces at play. We simply do not understand the specific thought processes of a person who lived, worked, played and died in an ancient civilization. We can in no way genuinely envision what it would be like to be Moses, Mohammad, Jesus, the Buddha or Lao Tzu. It simply is beyond our frame of reference!
What we can take away from these ancient volumes, however, is the common thread that joins humanity throughout the millennia -- those basic questions that we each seek answers to. As we read various authors theorizing and philosophizing about the essence of life, it should spur us to travel down similar paths. The truths that ancient thinkers uncovered aren't that much different from the contemporary truths we discover daily.
As I have often written, I make use of the Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi NOT because they offer divine or static representations of some ultimate truth, but because they can serve as springboards as we wrestle with the same issues that Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu wrestled with in their day.
In many ways, these revered foundational texts should be viewed as nothing more than kindling. We each need to build a fire to warm our hearts and minds. Kindling serves the purpose of helping to get the fire going, but in order to maintain the heat, we each have to collect our own wood.
Various religions and philosophies have sprung up throughout the years to try to quell the uncertainty that our species faces in a world of unknown proportions. When these stabs at answering the unanswerable questions have been committed to the written form, they thus create foundational texts -- works revered by many in our contemporary times.
As discussed briefly in the previous post, modern humankind lands itself in trouble again and again when we think we understand the various references, perspectives and nuances of bygone days and conflate our understanding of the world around us with the understanding of those who came hundreds or thousands of years before us.
There is no way we can take what was written historically in ancient times at face value. We simply do not understand all the references. We simply do not understand all the geopolitical forces at play. We simply do not understand the specific thought processes of a person who lived, worked, played and died in an ancient civilization. We can in no way genuinely envision what it would be like to be Moses, Mohammad, Jesus, the Buddha or Lao Tzu. It simply is beyond our frame of reference!
What we can take away from these ancient volumes, however, is the common thread that joins humanity throughout the millennia -- those basic questions that we each seek answers to. As we read various authors theorizing and philosophizing about the essence of life, it should spur us to travel down similar paths. The truths that ancient thinkers uncovered aren't that much different from the contemporary truths we discover daily.
As I have often written, I make use of the Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi NOT because they offer divine or static representations of some ultimate truth, but because they can serve as springboards as we wrestle with the same issues that Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu wrestled with in their day.
In many ways, these revered foundational texts should be viewed as nothing more than kindling. We each need to build a fire to warm our hearts and minds. Kindling serves the purpose of helping to get the fire going, but in order to maintain the heat, we each have to collect our own wood.
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