Thursday, December 8, 2011

The One-Dimensional Mind

Shawn Tedrow


Mind thinks in one-dimensional terms. It thinks in an either/or reaction, always with dividing lines of separation. It struggles with two dimensions, as it can't accept two pointing fingers of words that are seemingly going in separate directions. It chooses one over the other.
When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly.
Lao Tzu
Tao dwells in no dimensions;
The Tao can’t be perceived. Smaller than an electron, it contains uncountable galaxies.
Lao Tzu
How difficult indeed it is, if mind can't live in harmony with two dimensions, does it have with the no-dimensional Tao!

You can check out Shawn's other musings here.

3 comments:

  1. I like that. my related thoughts are these. In snippets:

    That when reading something a little mystical, two people will draw different conclusions. (obvious)

    That when faced with one of these texts where meaning could go one way or another. I love when my mind just falls away into emptiness.

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  2. It is typically Chinese to resolve contradiction with "and". (Often with odd percentages...e.g., Mao is 70% right and 30% wrong.) It is the dynamic principle of yin AND yang.

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  3. My point is, that the Western (Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian) mind has an either/or tendency. This is not the case in a Chinese (Taoist-Buddhist-Confucian) mind.

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