Afternoon Matinee: Protest - (Nothing But) Flowers

Performed by Talking Heads

Here we stand

Like an Adam and an Eve

Waterfalls

The Garden of Eden

Two fools in love

So beautiful and strong

The birds in the trees

Are smiling upon them

From the age of the dinosaurs

Cars have run on gasoline

Where, where have they gone?

Now, it's nothing but flowers

There was a factory

Now there are mountains and rivers

You got it, you got it

We caught a rattlesnake

Now we got something for dinner

We got it, we got it

There was a shopping mall

Now it's all covered with flowers

You've got it, you've got it

If this is paradise

I wish I had a lawnmower

You've got it, you've got it

Years ago

I was an angry young man

I'd pretend

That I was a billboard

Standing tall

By the side of the road

I fell in love

With a beautiful highway

This used to be real estate

Now it's only fields and trees

Where, where is the town

Now, it's nothing but flowers

The highways and cars

Were sacrificed for agriculture

I thought that we'd start over

But I guess I was wrong

Once there were parking lots

Now it's a peaceful oasis

You got it, you got it

This was a Pizza Hut

Now it's all covered with daisies

You got it, you got it

I miss the honky tonks,

Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens

You got it, you got it

And as things fell apart

Nobody paid much attention

You got it, you got it

I dream of cherry pies,

Candy bars, and chocolate chip cookies

You got it, you got it

We used to microwave

Now we just eat nuts and berries

You got it, you got it

This was a discount store,

Now it's turned into a cornfield

You got it, you got it

Don't leave me stranded here

I can't get used to this lifestyle

~ from Lyrics Mode ~

DN - Remembering Folk Icon, Activist Pete Seeger in His Own Words & Songs 3 of 3

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Money

Performed by Laura Nyro

She said, "I'm young enough

I'm old enough to paint a smile

I tasted heaven and hell

Heaven stay awhile"

Good friend is rare find

Their straight talk can ease your mind

A good pimp's gonna rob you blind

Money, money, money

I feel like a pawn in my own world

I found the system and I lost the pearl

It's breaking me down

Well, you don't wake, you don't shake

You just make the sound

Go round and round and round and round

Round and round and round and round

Bleed a little, bleed a little, bleed a little, bleed a little

Oh, 'til your freedom calls you

Somewhere out children laugh

Like meteors rolling down the grass

Mothers pull the night time in

Calling their children with spoons in the wind

Calling their children with spoons in the wind

Calling their children with spoons in the wind

But not for me

She said, "I'm young enough

I'm old enough in the city machine

Where industries fill the fish full of mercury"

She said, "My struggle hurt but it turned me on

When my revolution came, the chain was gone

On my feet 'til the sound of my heartbeat"

Money, money, money

Do you feel like a pawn in your own world?

Found the system and you lost the pearl

Like leaves coming down, you've got to wake, shake

Make your vibe go round and round and round and round

Round and round and round and round

Bleed a little, bleed a little, bleed a little, bleed a little, oh

Bleed a little, bleed a little, bleed a little, bleed a little, oh

Money, money

Make you crazy

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Ziporyn on Yin-Yang VI: One Plus Words Makes Two

Scott Bradley

So far, we've seen the Yin lines (broken) and Yang lines (unbroken) together as representing No and Yes respectively. Next they are combined to make four possible dyadic combinations, and this introduces a structural representation of temporal transition; nothing is quite so simple as Yes/No, Right/Wrong, or Fortunate/Unfortunate.

Next come the trigrams, the combining of three lines, resulting in eight possible combinations. After this, come the hexagrams, the combing of the trigrams into sixty-four possible six line combinations. "Going on from here," Zhuangzi might say, "even a master mathematician would get lost." Personally, I get lost at eight, by which I mean, not only are the meanings of the various permutations beyond my ability to comprehend, but more importantly, interpretations at this point begin to tend suspiciously toward the quasi-"spiritual", or as I like to say, they descend into the realm of hocus-pocus. I learned my lesson in the four dyads: Things get too complicated to "know" real fast.

Still, there's much of interest and value in the whole, for those willing to spend their time with it. Regarding the eight trigrams, one curiosity is in their interpretive groupings. There is, of course, the pure Yang (three Yangs=Father) and the pure Yin (three Yins=Mother), but then there are the "children"; of the six remaining, the three "Yang" trigrams are the "sons", and the three "Yin" trigrams are the "daughters". What's curious is that two Yins and one Yang make a "Yang trigram", while two Yangs and one Yin make a "Yin trigram". Thus, the minority element defines the whole. Why is this so?

Ziporyn explains this as exemplifying the socio-politically representative character of the trigrams themselves. Their socially qualitative character takes precedence over the quantitative. One Yang rules over two Yins, whatever their arrangement, and this is as it should be. Two Yangs ruling over one Yin is decidedly disharmonious and inauspicious, and is thus Yin. The bias is decidedly for the Yang. (Daughters are inauspicious and sons auspicious, and however much one may attempt to abstract this deep-rooted philosophical sentiment from actual sons and daughters, it is difficult to see how it does not affect real-world behavior.)

Here we begin to get sucked into the essential Confucian conservatism. The hierarchical, pyramidal status quo is mandated by Heaven and since harmony is the good, taking one's place in that structure, however benighted one's circumstances might be, is the harmonious thing to do. (Admittedly, Confucianism does allow for regime-change if the current Emperor is not delivering harmony, but one Emperor is just swapped for another.)

Still, there are other (more beneficial) ways in which these interpretations might inform our practical living. We might consider, for example, how two Yangs and one Yin might speak to how being of “two minds” is harmful. The reader might explore further, if so inclined.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

DN - Remembering Folk Icon, Activist Pete Seeger in His Own Words & Songs 2 of 3

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - No More Weapons

Performed by Steel Pulse

Ouch! We don't really need x 2

Yeah! No No

There's no time to beat around the BUSH

Now all the world is living in fear

The consequence a great disaster zone

The thought alone I cannot bear

And now that war has raised its ugly head

And all I can predict is woe yeah!

This claim for power paints the city red

I isolate the Status Quo.

We no want no weapons of mass destruction

We no want no weapons of mass destruction

No we no really need

No no weapons no

No, no

This has got to be the final conflict

Bestowed upon humanity

So much for a global coalition

A false sense of security

We are just pawns in the scheme of things

No matter what our race or creed

Survivors of this holocaust

We international refugees

We no want no weapons of mass destruction

We no want no weapons of mass destruction

No no no lethal weapons

No no lethal weapons

No weapons no weapons

This crave for power

Is one disaster, destruction's in the air

These ego trips, by heads of states, who giveth not a care

For all your children and all my children

The future's in despair

No no no No no no

We do want no weapons no

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Ziporyn on Yin-Yang V: Nothing Lasts

Scott Bradley

The Yin-Yang paradigm is applicable in absolutely every conceivable context. I have been mostly using it in contrasting existence to non-existence, suggesting that to live is to Yang, and to be dead is to Yin (though a verbal Yin seems an unlikely possibility, as is the possibility of "being dead" — is anyone ever there to be dead?). This is simply the application of the Being (Yang) versus Non-Being (Yin) paradigm, the penultimate contrast possible, but certainly not the final word on Reality, a word that must always escape us. (Might we not say that the ultimate contrast is between coherence (intelligibility) and incoherence (unintelligibility)?) But we are forever Yin-ing and Yang-ing, giving and taking, asserting and yielding, living and dying.

Our favorite coat is Yin-ing and Yang-ing; our beloved cat in Yin-ing and Yang-ing (mine Yin-ed years ago); nothing lasts for long. Thus, just as we are well advised to embed our sense of Yang-ing (life) in the context of Yin (death), so too are we encouraged in our relationship to things to hold them loosely. To imbue them with a sense of non-transience is to become dependent on them.

When a "thing" is seen as Yang without Yin, we are "thing-ed by things"; the moment we make of any thing or any idea something fixed, we fix ourselves. To be fixed is to be poised to break, to be disappointed, to depend on the undependable. To depend on nothing (by depending on everything without dependence) is to "not be thing-ed by things".

It is not only our selves that are best enjoyed when unfixed, but also when everything is understood as such.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Translator's Summary, Part 4

If the life-energy flows downward, that is, without let or hindrance into the outer world, the anima is victorious over the animus; no spirit-body or Golden Flower is developed, and at death the ego is lost. If the life-energy is led through the backward-flowing process, that is, conserved, and made to rise instead of allowed to dissipate, the animus has been victorious, and the ego persists after death. It then becomes shen, a spirit or god. A man who holds to the way of conservation all through life may reach the stage of the Golden Flower, which then frees the ego from the conflict of the opposites, and it again becomes part of the Tao, the undivided, great One.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

DN - Remembering Folk Icon, Activist Pete Seeger in His Own Words & Songs 1 of 3

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Drowning

Performed by Hootie and The Blowfish

Trouble with the world is we're too busy to think about it, all right

Why is there a rebel flag hanging from the state house walls?

Tired of hearin' this shit about heritage not hate

Time to make the world a better place

Why must we hate one another?

Well, no matter what we gotta live together

Just that you don't look like me, tell me what do you see

When we pass on the street what do you wanna see

P.E.'s coming is all I gotta say

Wanna turn and run away

They're just telling you how they see it

Right or wrong they don't care, you wish that they would quit

Drowning in a sea of tears

Hatred trying to hide your fears

Living only for yourself

Hating everybody else

'Cause they don't look like you

Nanci singing it's a hard life wherever you go

About some fat racist living in Chicago

Trying to teach his kids to hate everyone

Well, tell me why is that something you wanna teach your son?

Why must we hate one another?

When the people in the church, they tell me you're my brother

You don't walk like me, I said that, you don't talk like me, saying

Go back to Africa, I just don't understand

Drowning in a sea of tears

Hatred trying to hide your fears

Living only for yourself

Hating everybody else

'Cause they don't look like you, don't look like you

I'm trying to be someone that he could look up to, but

When I walk down the street, tell me what do you see

I'm a man, well, I'm a man, I'm a man

No I'm not like you

Why do you hate me so

I don't know, well, I don't know, I don't know

Hating everybody else

'Cause they don't look like you

Oh drowning

Hating everybody else

'Cause they don't look like you

Drowning

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Ziporyn on Yin-Yang IV: Cyclic Transformation

Scott Bradley

Combining the lines of Yin (broken) and Yang (unbroken) into pairs, we have cyclic transition in a structural form. Two Yangs, representing maturity, corresponds to summer, and has been called "Old Yang". This transforms into a Yin over Yang (a Yang to Yin transition; reading up), corresponds to autumn, and is called "Young Yin". Two Yins corresponds to winter, the time of death and dormancy, and is called "Old Yin". This transforms into Yang over Yin (a Yin to Yang transition), corresponds to Spring, and is called "New Yang". Such is life . . . and death; the cyclic nature of existence.

Zhuangzi's philosophical Daoism suggests our present Yang-ing will be disharmonious when we don't take into account its emergence from and return to Yin. He calls this "seeing life and death as a single thread". This entails no guarantee of the perpetuation of a specific identity, and thus he recommends the surrender of a fixed-identity, something we fear to lose, into no-fixed-identity, something that we enjoy and use, but do not grasp and allow to morph even in the temporal sphere ("now a horse, now a cow").

How do we do this? Ah, well, there's the rub. Is it experienced as some form of enlightenment — something that happens to us — as might seem to be the case with Ziqi, who entered a trance and lost his "me", or Yan Hui who, after practicing "fasting of the heart-mind" (becoming empty), realized 'he' "had not yet begun to exist"? Or is it through the contemplation of our existential circumstance ("The Illumination of the Obvious") whereby we gradually transform our life-interpretive paradigm? Perhaps the latter also leads to the former. Or perhaps nothing of the sort can (or is likely to) occur in either case. Entertaining that possibility, are we not well advised to engage in either as an end in itself? Perhaps that's the real point after all — to enjoy the process, whatever one we choose. Then "success" would be of no great importance.

I close with the great heresy, but one with which I believe Zhuangzi would enthusiastically concur: None of it matters in any ultimate sense. All is well. Rejoice and be glad.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Translator's Summary, Part 3

In the personal bodily existence of the individual they are represented by two other polarities, a p’o soul (or anima) and a hun soul (animus). All during the life of the individual these two are in conflict, each striving for mastery. At death they separate and go different ways. The anima sinks to earth as kuei, a ghost-being. The anima rises and becomes shen, a spirit or god, Shen may in time return to the Tao.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Signs

Performed by the Five Man Electric Band

And the sign said

"Long-haired freaky people

Need not apply"

So I tucked my hair up under my hat

And I went in to ask him why

He said, "You look like a fine upstandin' young man

I think you'll do"

So I took off my hat and said, "Imagine that

Huh, me workin' for you"

Whoa

Sign, sign

Everywhere a sign

Blockin' out the scenery

Breakin' my mind

Do this, don't do that

Can't you read the sign?

And the sign said

"Anybody caught trespassin'

Will be shot on sight"

So I jumped on the fence and I yelled at the house

"Hey! What gives you the right

To put up a fence to keep me out

But to keep Mother Nature in?

If God was here, he'd tell you to your face

'Man, you're some kind of sinner'"

Sign, sign

Everywhere a sign

Blockin' out the scenery

Breakin' my mind

Do this, don't do that

Can't you read the sign?

Now, hey you, mister, can't you read?

You got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat

You can't even watch, no, you can't eat

You ain't supposed to be here

The sign said, "You've got to have a membership card

To get inside"

Uh!

And the sign said

"Everybody welcome

Come in, kneel down and pray"

But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all

I didn't have a penny to pay

So I got me a pen and a paper

And I made up my own little sign

I said, "Thank you, Lord, for thinkin' 'bout me

I'm alive and doin' fine"

Woo!

Sign, sign

Everywhere a sign

Blockin' out the scenery

Breakin' my mind

Do this, don't do that

Can't you read the sign?

Sign, sign

Everywhere a sign

Sign

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Ziporyn on Yin-Yang III: A Nod to Transformation

Scott Bradley

The Zhouyi (Book of Changes) has its roots in ancient attempts at prognostication, but we need not subscribe to any superstitious hocus-pocus to discover helpful insights within it. What it can provide is a structural means by which to understand the dynamics of change so as to make better informed decisions which do affect our future. According to Ziporyn, the original two lines, the unbroken (Yang/Yes) and the broken (Yin/No), rendered a Yes/No answer to questions posed about the future. "Will my endeavor succeed?" With the combining of these two lines, this developed into a structural representation of the more dynamic character of events. Rather than a straight-forward Yes/No, the answer might be "possibly yes, but" or "possibly no, but."

The first level of combining the lines is in pairs, of which there are four possibilities: Two Yangs is Yes. Two Yins is No. A Yin over a Yang is a Yang-to-Yin transition. A Yang over Yin is a Yin-to-Yang transition. In answer to the question whether my endeavor will succeed, disregarding any attempts to predict the future through the chance occurrence of one of these four, I might instead consider my decision in the light of all four. Success might lead to a larger failure (Yang-to-Yin). I may win the contract, but then my competitors will unite to destroy my company. Or it may not succeed, but this will enable a still greater success (Yin-to-Yang). I may lose the contract, but being uncommitted, be able to obtain a much better one.

We can see then how such a structural representation of the dynamics of transformation can open us up to a more dynamic interface with our being in time. Yet this is, from the Daoist point of view, still largely Yang-ish (seeking to know) if unaccompanied by, and indeed not subsumed under Yin, in this case understood as not-knowing, or more simply, Doubt. We do not know what will happen. We apply our understanding to our decision making to the fullest extent possible — and then "hand it all over to the unavoidable", namely, what actually happens. And whatever happens is ultimately of no great consequence since we have hid the world in the world so that nothing can get lost. This is the value of the non-value Yin, the usefulness of the useless, the empty space (window) that fills the room with light, the hole at the center that makes the wheel work.

There is the old Chinese parable of the farmer who lost his horse and his neighbors who said, Bad fortune! He replied, Who knows? The horse returned with several friends. Good fortune! Who knows? His son was thrown from one and badly injured. Bad fortune! Who knows? The military came to draft new cannon-fodder and his son was passed over. Good fortune! Who knows? And so it goes. This demonstrates the truly unpredictable nature of the unfolding of events and suggests an attitude of non-attachment to any particular outcome. But still the farmer and his neighbors seem to believe that there is 'good' and 'bad' fortune, despite our inability to know which is which. And although philosophical Daoism would concur that such is the case on one level, it also suggests another sense in which there is no such distinction at all. This is the view from Dao.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Translator's Summary, Part 2

Each individual contains a central monad, which, at the moment of conception, splits into life and human nature, ming and hsing. These two are supra-individual principles, and so can be related to eros and logos.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - We Want Peace

Performed by Lenny Kravitz

Come on people

It's time to get together

It's time for the revolution

Here is once again in our face

Why haven't we learn from our past

We're at the crossroads of our human race

Why are we kicking our own ass

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

And we want it fast

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

And we want it fast

We're on the eve of destruction my friends

We are about to go to far

Politicians think that war is the way

But we know that love has the power

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

And we want it fast

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

And we want it fast

The solution is simple and fame

There won't be peace if we don't try

In a war there is nothing to gain

When so many people will die

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

And we want it fast

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

We want it yes

We want peace

And we want it fast

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Ziporyn on Yin-Yang II: Who Was on Top?

Scott Bradley

It might be remembered from our discussion on the Laozi that at least one version previous to our received version was clearly more favorably disposed to the Confucian virtues and might be said to have evinced a form of "pre-ironic proto-Daoism". The irony of philosophical Daoism consists in its prioritization of Mystery — it suggests a way to most happily live as honestly admitting that life does not admit to any fixed and sure explanations. Its knowing is not-knowing; its dao is not-Dao.

We find a similar, but opposite, reversal of priority in the hexagrams of the Zhouyi (The Book of Changes). The present edition begins with the six unbroken lines of Yang; this is call Qian, and represents pure Yang, Heaven. Ziporyn points out that both tradition and archeology tell us that there was a much older version in which the first hexagram was the six broken lines of Yin; this is called Kun, and represents pure Yin, Earth.

This reversal of priority might, Ziporyn suggests, have been a conscious attempt to counter the influence of the ironic tradition "which places the source of all being in the hyper-motherliness of Dao, a la Laozi."

Archeology reveals that the earliest religious expressions focused on the mystery of our emergence from nowhere as represented by images of the pregnant female. Primitive humanity was in awe of the Mysterious Female, the Earth-Mother, just like Laozi. But then God showed up, and he explained it, told us that he Yang-ed it all, and we should follow his example and go into all the earth and Yang it all up. And we have.

Yang is not evil, needless to say. We are Yang. Existence is Yang. But existence arises from and returns to non-existence, Yin. The most honest and fulfilling way to live our Yang is thus in the context of our embedding in Yin. Shenzi, who suggested we be as passive as a rock, might be said to have gone overboard on Yin. Most conceptions of God make of him pure Yang and thus leave us with nothing else. The Yin-Yang construct addresses the need for balance. Philosophical Daoism suggests the most authentic and fulfilling way to do our Yang-ing, that is our living, is as informed by Yin, and this helps us avoid Yang-ing everything — ourselves, others, and the very Earth — up.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Translator's Summary, Part 1

The Tao, the undivided, great One, gives rise to two opposite reality principles, the dark and the light, yin and yang. These are at first thought of only as forces of nature apart from man. Later, the sexual polarities and others as well are derived from them. From yin comes K’un, the receptive feminine principle; from yin come Ch’ien, the creative masculine principle; from yin comes ming, life; from yang, hsing or human nature.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Resolution Greed

Performed by Bathory

Independence, terrorism

A hail of pebbles and stones

Poverty and racism

The wheel of conflict rolls on

Dictatorship, fanaticism

The battle lines drawn in mind and soil

A drop of fucking human blood

For every gallon of oil

Hightech death and Disneyland

Censorship and Jesus Christ

Dual moraled Uncle Sam

World police and fucking apple pie

The crescent and the endless

Ever changing dunes

The sun and precious black gold

A different culture language

Creed and tune

A different God I have been told

Pushed into corners hunted down

Observed, surveyed and chained

Religious fundamentalism

Prosper as pressure is sustained

Hightech death and Disneyland

Censorship and Jesus Christ

Dual moraled Uncle Sam

World police and fucking apple pie

Resolution Greed

Resolution Greed

Resolution Greed

Resolution Greed

Resolution Greed

Resolution Greed

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Whether it is understood or not, it still is as it is.

Ta-Wan

The fascinating truth is that, whatever this is: call it; life, universe, mystery or scientific fact - Can only be just as it currently is.

There is no alternative to right now. You couldn't have done anything differently, you can't influence the present state. It is automatic with no controller. It just is.

Understanding all, or being completely ignorant are both perfectly valid. Being apparently successful or an apparent failure are perfectly valid. The universe is forever changing state. We attach to passing forms. Your mind can become trapped.

Conflict in the mind is due to what the mind sees and what it wishes to see being different. Zen, Taoism and so on would have you see that what the mind wishes to see may as well be what it does see. And thus no conflict.

Even that is if you see great horror, that's what it appears to be. The desire for an alternative is where the mind foolishly, egotistically, places itself as sole actor and creator of reality, and convinces itself it could, should or can have an alternative.

The old "acceptance" - "yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery" cliche.

Que Sera Sera, Whatever will be will be, the futures not ours to see. Que Sera Sera!

You can check out Ta-Wan's other musings here.

Ziporyn on Yin-Yang I: Who's on Top?

Scott Bradley

Yin-Yang is a philosophical construct to which I make occasional reference, but have failed to explore in any depth. Speaking of one of the "Wings" (the Shuogua commentary) to the Book of Changes, the core of the Yin-Yang development, Legge calls it "silliness" and "drivel". I admit that I would like to take refuge in his dismissal, but Ziporyn (Ironies of Oneness and Difference) demonstrates not only how important "The Yin-Yang Compromise" (his chapter heading on the subject) is to understanding the course of Chinese philosophical development, but also to illuminating some of the implications of the ironic Dao of Daoism.

Ziporyn begins by dispelling some of our (Western) superficial understandings about Yin-Yang. Perhaps most important among these is the belief that they are co-equal; they are not. One is inevitably prioritized over the other. This is probably in part due to the fact that they are not intended to summarize the ultimate coherence of Reality, but only to point in that direction. They are not the final word, but are seen as a means to approach that coherence.

So, who gets to be on top, Yin (the "female") or Yang (the "male")? Not surprisingly, in the Book of Changes and subsequent philosophical adaptations, it is Yang. Yang (represented by a solid line) is Heaven or father. Yin (represented by a broken line) is Earth or mother. Yang on top (a tri- or hexagram assembly of Yin-Yang lines is read from the bottom up) is most auspicious. (Yet, the cognitive versatility of the images also allows for auspicious Yin on top.)

Staying with this imagery (which has, I hope, materialized in your mind), we can allow that a good tumble may involve a high degree of shuffling of relative positions; this is the interplay of Yin and Yang, the one merging into and transforming the other, so that the Yang that was is not the Yang that is — yet it remains Yang still. (As does Yin.) In our contingent world, Yin and Yang are mutually dependent and define each other, and on this level appear as if co-equal, but the final bias is toward Yang.

The prioritization of Yang can be seen as an insistence on the ultimate intelligibility of Reality. Yang is knowing, initiating, doing. Yin is not-knowing, letting things happen, not-doing. Yang is making one's mark, being somebody. Yin is attaching to no 'merit', being no one. We can see then how the ironic Dao of Daoism with its advocacy of Yin prioritization was incorporated into a Yin-Yang system where it is given its due, yet at the end of the day Yang is made to come out on top.

A parallel might be drawn here with Jesus, who in some respects was very much an advocate for Yin ("Blessed are the meek . . ., etc.), yet this being found incompatible with the acquisition of worldly power (Christianity became the Roman Empire and many believe it to now be the American Empire), was reworked into a warrior King. Thus, we have American fighter pilots praising God for protection as they drop bombs on the innocent.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 8, Part 17

Emptiness comes as the first of the three contemplations. All things are looked upon as empty. Then follows delusion. Although it is known that they are empty, things are not destroyed, but one attends to one’s affairs in the midst of the emptiness. But though one does not destroy things, neither does one pay attention to them; this is contemplation of the center. While practicing contemplation of the empty, one also knows that one cannot destroy the ten thousand things, and still one does not notice them. In this way the three contemplations fall together. But after all, strength is in envisioning the empty. Therefore, when one practices contemplation of emptiness, emptiness is certainly empty, but delusion is empty too. Being on the way of the center, one also creates images of the emptiness; they are not called empty, but are called central. One practices also contemplation of delusion, but one does not call it delusion, one calls it central. As to what has to do with the center, more need not be said.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

BP - I Have a Politician in My Vagina!

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Vigilante Man

Performed by Woody Guthrie

Have you seen that vigilante man?

Have you seen that vigilante man?

Have you seen that vigilante man?

I been hearin' his name all over the land.

Well, what is a vigilante man?

Tell me, what is a vigilante man?

Has he got a gun and a club in his hand?

Is that is a vigilante man?

Rainy night down in the engine house,

Sleepin' just as still as a mouse,

Man come along an' he chased us out in the rain.

Was that a vigilante man?

Stormy days we passed the time away,

Sleepin' in some good warm place.

Man come along an' we give him a little race.

Was that a vigilante man?

Preacher Casey was just a workin' man,

And he said, "Unite all you working men."

Killed him in the river some strange man.

Was that a vigilante man?

Oh, why does a vigilante man,

Why does a vigilante man

Carry that sawed-off shot-gun in his hand?

Would he shoot his brother and sister down?

I rambled 'round from town to town,

I rambled 'round from town to town,

And they herded us around like a wild herd of cattle.

Was that the vigilante men?

Have you seen that vigilante man?

Have you seen that vigilante man?

I've heard his name all over this land.

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Jed McKenna's Theory Of Everything XV

Scott Bradley

"Lord I believe! Help Thou my unbelief!" — some guy in the Bible
“Thou almost convinceth me to be a Christian.” — some other guy in the Bible
"No amount of skepticism could ever be too extreme." — Jed McKenna

I have finished this book and repent of my unbelief; yet still I can't bring myself to believe. Truly McKenna seems to have gone somewhere quite remarkable and wonderful (though he calls 'enlightenment' a "booby prize"), and I would gladly go there myself were not the price of admission so high and the gate-keeper so fickle. I am, no doubt, my own gate-keeper, but there is also the empirical fact of one's bio-chemical and contextual destiny. For this reason, Zhuangzi's unenlightened 'Confucius' is described as "punished by Heaven" and is made to say that he is fated to live "within the lines" however much he would prefer the freedom of the alternative. To say this is available to all is pure religious idealism — there is absolutely nothing apart from fabricated, feel-good, speculative metaphysics that gives proof to this sentiment. The Bodhisattva's are spiritual wankers. (How am I doing, Jed?)

This being the case, we might want to consider a path to freedom that allows things to be as they actually appear to be, one that allows us to be free in our bondage and delusions; one in which there are no conditions to meet and no one different to become.

McKenna concludes with "Ten Suggestions", all but one of which (within my paradigm) are constructive means to the deconstruction that is self-cultivation. My responses are in parentheses.

• THINK (Just know where to stop, and what to do when you do.)
• BELIEVE NOTHING (Not even "Consciousness is All".)
• DOUBT EVERYTHING (And never stop.)
• FLY TO FEAR (To, not from. Fear reveals our delusions. Fear of loss of self, life, meaning.)
• GET REAL (Occupy yourself. Know and affirm yourself. Be authentically delusional.)
• HATE THY EGO (Only ego hates ego. War brings no peace. Ego is an evolutionary development, not a fall from grace; it is natural, which doesn’t mean we can’t further evolve.)
• LOVE THY DEATH (Yes, as much as you love thy life.)
• KILL ALL BUDDHAS (Starting with Jed.)
• BURN IT ALL (Follow only those paradigms that are ever-self-negating, which Jed's isn't.)
• FURTHER (Let the process be an end in itself; let “Done” take care of itself.)

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 8, Part 16

If you are not yet clear as to how far all three sections can be present in one section, I will make it clear to you through the threefold Buddhist contemplation of emptiness, delusion, and the center.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

BP - Time For a New WPA?

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Fresh Garbage

Performed by Spirit

Fresh garbage

Fresh garbage.

Look beneath your lid some morning

See those things you didn't quite consume

The world's a can for your fresh garbage.

Look beneath your lid some morning

See those things you didn't quite consume

Your fresh garbage.

Fresh garbage

Fresh garbage.

Look beneath your lid some morning

See those things you didn't quite consume

The world's a can for your fresh garbage.

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

I Think, Therefore...

Ta-Wan

...I am not Zen.

This post originally appeared on Ta-Wan's blog, Tao Wow.

Jed McKenna's Theory Of Everything XIV

Scott Bradley

I (possibly) conclude this series with a comparison between McKenna's Only Way and the Simple Way. The latter is my own concoction, completely unrealized, and thus merely a working-paradigm aware of itself as such. In this sense, it cannot be compared on the same level with McKenna's Truth. It does, however, allow him to have his Truth and for that Truth to even be true. This is because it affirms the entirety of human expression and apparent reality, the 'true' as well as the 'false', maya as well as nirvana.

The Simple Way is simply the experiential realization that All Is Well. Realizing this, we are in a position to make things better. When our "not-One is also One" we are able to walk Zhuangzi's Two Roads without contradiction. Thus, one abides in self-affirmation even while at work with a self-cultivation that ends in a sense of a no-self self (no-self knowing itself as such).

The thing about McKenna's way is that it requires a great deal of mental anguish; 'enlightenment' has to be fought for; it's a bloody affair. The Simple Way laughs and asks, "What's the problem?" No one needs to be 'saved'; why then all this self-torture to be so? No Truth is required for the heart to be thankful in whatever delusional paradigm it finds itself. Whatever our delusion, the Truth is true of us now, not as a Something Other to be realized, but as the realization that it is true of us now in our delusions; our delusions are as much the Truth as is 'enlightenment'. There really is nothing we need do or become. All Is Well. Period. This realization is the Simple Way's 'enlightenment'. And thus it is a way of smiles and laughter and play. Yes! Thankfulness arises!

McKenna's way is in this sense just more of the same, a treadmill; and unfortunately for those who tread it, more likely than not, a futile one. No matter; the Simple Way applies just as well here as anywhere else: Right now, just as you are, without need to change or become something else, with no need to arrive anywhere, done or undone, you are perfect by virtue of your being perfectly who you are (and that is not some idealistic, ‘true’ you, but the actual you). Messed up? So what? “Done”? So what? We are not in school; no grades are given; there's no pass/fail; there's no 'need for improvement'. The trauma of potty-training is behind us.

Zhuangzi seems to live in a different Universe than does McKenna: "The Radiance of Drift and Doubt is the sage's only map." At root, McKenna is all-in with Yang; Zhuangzi is all-in with Yin. Both call for surrender and entrusting of oneself, but for McKenna it must be to Truth which lies on the other side of Doubt, not-knowing and Mystery, and its discovery requires a long path of pain. For Zhuangzi, the Illumination of the Obvious reveals, not Truth, but Mystery, and to allow that sense of Mystery to transform our way of being in the world is to entrust ourselves utterly to it, in this instant, just as we are. Whether there is Truth or no, it is not required that we know it.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 8, Part 15

The Buddha speaks of the transient, the creator of consciousness, as being the fundamental truth of religion. And the whole work of completing life and human nature in our Taoism lies in the expression "to bring about emptiness". All three religions agree in the one proposition, the finding of the spiritual Elixir in order to pass from death to life. In what does this spiritual Elixir consist? It means forever dwelling in purposelessness. The deepest secret of the bath that is to be found in our teaching is thus confined to the work of making the heart empty. Therewith the matter is settled. What I have revealed here in a word is the fruit of a decade of effort.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

BP - John McAfee vs.The NSA

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Religious Vomit

Performed by Dead Kennedys

All religions make me wanna throw up

All religions make me sick

All religions make me wanna throw up

All religions suck

They all claim that they have the truth

That'll set you free

Just give them all your money and they'll set you free

Free for a fee

They all claim that they have the answer

When they don't even know the question

They're just a bunch of liars

They just want your money

They just want your consciousness

All religions make me wanna throw up

All religions make me sick

All religions make me wanna throw up

All religions suck

All religions suck

All religions make me wanna throw up

All religions suck

All religions make me wanna bleah

They all claim that they have the truth

That'll set you free

Just give them all your money and they'll set you free

Free for a fee

They all claim that they have the answer

When they don't even know the question

They're just a bunch of liars

They just want your money

They just want your consciousness

All religions make me wanna throw up

All religions make me sick

All religions make me wanna throw up

All religions suck

All religions suck

All religions make me wanna throw up

All religions suck

All religions make me wanna bleah

They really make me sick

They really make me sick

They really make me sick

They really make me sick

They really make me sick

They really make me ill

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Nothing to Negate

Ta-Wan

No meditator

No meditation

No where to meditate

Nothing to meditate on

No one who could meditate

No thing to be meditated

No thing to meditate it

No seeing, no source, no seen, no end; a cycle of no linear nature and no dual nature. No Om. No ommer, no omming, no noer, no knower, no known and no.

This post originally appeared on Ta-Wan's blog, Tao Wow.

Jed McKenna's Theory Of Everything XIII

Scott Bradley

I think this series is winding down despite my not having finished this book (embedded in the title above). I don't usually make 'recommendations' — I have no realized authority for doing so — but I can recommend this book for its entertainment value, if for nothing else. McKenna gives the whole enlightenment game a novel and often irreverent spin, something quite refreshing in this era of New Age spiritual syrup. His iconoclasm is both mind-opening and good for many a chuckle.

Still, though it seems very likely that he is where he says he is, his presentation leaves me (at least) flat-footed and uninspired. There are others who have had his experience, and it is my guess that they might give the whole thing a very different spin than he, and among these, perhaps there is one who does not feel obliged to tell me where my journey must lead.

McKenna has jumped in and shouts, “Come on in, the water's warm”, but he has already pissed in the pool. BYOFT, he tells us. My guess is that this means Be Your Own Fucking Teacher. This, his exhortation to "dig", and his personal testimony are his true contributions to our assisted journeys; all the rationalistic apologetics about where that journey must end are a hindrance, not a help. If he knew when to shut up, we would be better assisted to BYOFT.

McKenna invokes Socrates; his method, however, is not Socratic, but Platonic. Socrates saw himself as a spiritual midwife, and through the irony of not-knowing hoped to instill the spirit of inquiry in his companions; to his thinking this was the best and only thing he could do. Plato, on the other hand, provided the "Answer". No truly adventurous journey 'knows' where it is supposed to lead, nor can authentic inquiry begin with a priori conclusions.

I am reminded of the Zen mondo in which a bunch of masters meet at an inn. Among them is one thought to be the 'most' realized (?), but he remains in his room and has nothing to say. Another complains that he could at least, "Say one word." Hearing of this, the most-realized says, "That would be one word too many." But the cook, overhearing this, remarks, "Now there are two rat turds in the rice!" Or is it three?

Jed McKenna might have "perfect knowledge", but this does not mean that his presentation of that experience is also perfect. For my part, there are far too many rat turds in this bowl of rice for me to accept and munch; to do so would be to perform the inquiry-deadening and essentially religious act of belief.

As does Zen, McKenna exhorts us to kill our buddhas. Ironically, his is the first head we need to put on the block.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 8, Part 14

Finally, the two last lines point to the deepest secret, which cannot be dispensed with from the beginning to the end. This is the washing of the heart and the purification of the thoughts; this is the bath. The holy science takes as a beginning the knowledge of where to stop, and as an end, stopping at the highest good. Its beginning is beyond polarity.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

BP - America's Real Welfare Queens...

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Screaming For the Poor

Performed by Lutan Fyah

Yes JAH give thanks

And i have seen many homeless walk the streets

Yes with out shelter nuh clothes upon their back no food to eat

Then hear mi out

Oh yes

I have heard screaming from the poor oh yes

Someone please call the police

I have heard screaming from the poor

1-1-9 alert then it's a state of emergency

Awright den coo-yah now

Den check di condition di yutes dem living in

Ransackle board house,zinc fence and pit latrine

Hey poverty stress dem out some have dem big gun slinging

Uptown and living large dem neva cease from di killing

Den momma ban har belly and bawl

Upon di death toll shi hear har one son name guh call

Try some hustling guh put up a one stall

Here comes metro police awright oh yes

I have heard screaming from the poor oh yes

Someone please call the police

I have heard screaming from the poor

1-1-9 alert we living in a state of emergency

Hear mi out

Den ghetto yutes be careful of dem pencil neck trickster

Hey fi a spit inna di bucket dem wi sell yuh fi di length a di dollar

Mouth full a lies dem a failure

RASTA burn out dem free paper

Den all dem good fa is to enslave the poor for cheap wages

Hey man son toiling for length of dayses

Education is so good but so expensive

Oh mi cyaant even find di monthly bills

I have heard screaming from the poor oh yes

Someone please call the police

I have heard screaming from the poor

1-1-9 alert living in a state of emergency

Den tell mi a who boost di yutes and tun dem inna ruff neck

Gi dem big gun fi buss and mek dem a beat dem chest

Big house pretty cyar and nuff fanciness

Yuh gi dem drugs fi sell and den gi feds dem address

I see dat yuh nuh care about the homeless

Ghetto living is a day to day stress

Nuff yutes walk di streets confuse and perplex

They never know what coming up next

Yes yes

I have heard screaming from the poor oh yes

Someone please call the police

I have heard screaming from the poor

1-1-9 alert then it's a state of emergency

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Zero Is Infinity

Ta-Wan

I had some long winded path to a beautiful conclusion but forgetting both leaves me with just this one remanence that emerged mid flow someway towards the early middle.

This post originally appeared on Ta-Wan's blog, Tao Wow.

Jed McKenna's Theory Of Everything XII

Scott Bradley

"I do what I do because I exist in a co-operative partnership with some higher thingamajiggy to which I am completely surrendered and entrusted." Thus does McKenna explain both his writing and, more generally, his version of following the flow. Sound familiar? Well, it does to me, since I frequently say basically the same thing, though admittedly only as a way of being to which I aspire. What is different, however, is the "co-operative partnership" bit. I mentioned previously that, as I recalled from his previous books, he sees himself as somehow directed. Though I am in no position to disagree with this assertion, it does make me wonder. According to McKenna, nothing is real and Brahman "has no skin in the game"; how then can we, or why would we, be directed? There's some purposiveness lurking in here somewhere. Is there no escape? Does that without content have purpose? Isn't purpose content?

Lest we think this is merely semantics, that this directedness is simply a realization that what 'is' is right and thus what happens directs us, McKenna's dog, through a "look", is a vehicle by which the "higher thingamajiggy" communicates its intentions (?) to him. For bibliologists this should come as no surprise since God himself similarly spoke to one of his prophets through an ass. But then, McKenna has already said, "Adios, Dios".

When I say that I am in no position to argue, I mean it. It's just more than I, personally, can believe. McKenna says that every belief, without exception, is false. Agreed. But he also seems to think that spinning this rationalistic apologetic for his experience should somehow induce us to "try it". On what basis? On the basis that we believe it to be true, or true enough, or possibly true?

Admittedly, I have ‘faith’-issues that border on the entirely unjustifiable tendency toward disbelief. One thing I find very difficult to believe, for instance, is that I am I AM, and not believing it, I don’t pursue it. Thank God (I AM that I AM) it doesn't matter!

There is the directedness of life itself, of course. Life is living. Life would have us live. We require no reason to do so. Surrendering into and entrusting oneself to life is accepting this direction. But then life does not have some special mission for any one living thing that would inspire it to purposely speak through dogs and asses; at least not in my experience.

Though it may be heretical in the context of McKenna’s truth-realization, I would suggest that surrender into the life experience itself is no different than surrendering into the thingamajiggy — surely these are not two? The only difference is that life is what I most immediately ‘am’; there’s no need to for anything else; and it need not be capitalized.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

The Secret of the Golden Flower, Chapter 8, Part 13

The following two lines have to do with the activity of the pole of the Great Wain, the rise and fall of the whole release of polarity. Water is the trigram of the Abysmal; the eye is the wind of the Gentle (Sun). The light of the eyes illumines the house of the Abysmal, and controls there the seed of the great light. "In heaven" means the house of the Creative (Ch’ien). "Wandering in heaven, one eats the spirit-energy of the Receptive". This shows how the spirit penetrates the energy, how heaven penetrates the earth; this happens so that the fire can be nourished.

Translators of The Secret of the Golden Flower are Richard Wilhelm and Cary F. Baynes. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Golden Flower label below.

BP - Is Congress Guilty of Torture?

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Colors of the Wind

Performed by Vanessa Williams

You think you own whatever land you land on

The earth is just a dead thing you can claim

But I know every rock and tree and creature

Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

You think the only people who are people

Are the people who look and think like you

But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger

You'll learn things you never knew, you never knew

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?

Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?

Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest

Come taste the sun sweet berries of the earth

Come roll in all the riches all around you

And for once never wonder what they're worth

The rainstorm and the river are my brothers

The heron and the otter are my friends

And we are all connected to each other

In a circle, in a hoop that never ends

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?

Or let the eagle tell you where he's been?

Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain?

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

How high does the sycamore grow?

If you cut it down, then you'll never know

And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon

For whether we are white or copper skinned

We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains

We need to paint with all the colors of the wind

You can own the earth and still

All you'll own is earth until

You can paint with all the colors of the wind

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

A Note From Self to Ego

Ta-Wan

So you think you are analytical - I think you are staring at the wall.

So you think you are spiritual - I think you speak mumbo-jumbo.

So you think you are religious - I think you have a closed off mind.

So you think you are happy - I say stop thinking and you will be.

So you think I have it all worked out - I know for sure you can't.

And this is why I exist in bliss,

knowing the only certainty,

is this.

This post originally appeared on Ta-Wan's blog, Tao Wow.

Jed McKenna's Theory Of Everything XI

Scott Bradley

McKenna uses a couple of cute kids as a foil to make some of his points. (I am assuming his story-line to be fictional, though it need not be, nor does it matter one way or the other.) This pair tell him they have a Zen "coin" for him: "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" "I don't know," he replies; "What is the sound of two hands clapping?"

His point is a poignant one: "We don't have to be so clever about our questions that we leave our assumptions unmolested. . . . Get to the bottom of anything and you'll get to the bottom of everything. Just pick a spot and start digging." (p. 31) If we think we need koans in order to challenge our everyday interpretive reality, then we are already making an erroneous assumption. There is nothing that it is not a koan.

The "digging" is the growing awareness of our erroneous assumptions vis-a-vis our interface with experienced 'reality'. McKenna tells us that when we reach the bottom we will meet Truth and will be "Done". Benighted soul that I am, I think we will meet Mystery. (Can we meet Mystery and be Done? Probably not.) Need we contend? Not really. If what we are about is a genuine inquiry, then how could we arrive at different destinations — unless, of course, our inquiry is really just a biased justification of our a priori beliefs?

Though McKenna dismisses Mystery as merely a perpetuation of mental delusion, there is a sense in which it can overlap with his Truth; it, too, requires a crossing over, a movement from bondage to one narrow view to one that sees the narrowness of every view — only it suggests no ‘true view’.

Mystery most certainly can be merely a product of mental delusion (just like 'enlightenment'); everything is delusional — until it's not. As long as we practice not-knowing because in all our trying to know we cannot, it is just a function of "the understanding consciousness". The experience of Mystery is not a conclusion.

I speak only theoretically, of course. McKenna claims to speak from Experience. Things are clearly weighted in his favor. However you speak — or seek — or don’t seek — is your own business.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.