Afternoon Matinee: A People's History, Part 28

Looking Back to 2009: Variations on The Green Mile

Trey Smith
Original Post Date: 1/16/09

For a slow, plodding reader, I just set a personal record of sorts. I began reading The Green Mile by Stephen King at around 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday and finished the entire 538 page paperback at 11:00 p.m. on Thursday. Needless to say, it was a book I simply couldn't seem to put down!! I kept saying to myself that I needed to use the facilities or get something to eat or go to sleep; an hour later though, I was still reading away.

Of course, as I noted previously, my interest in reading the novel was piqued by the movie of the same name. So, I already knew the general arc of the storyline. I also understood there would be differences -- some major, some slight. Knowing the basic story premise helped to spur me along as I anticipated several key events.

If you haven't read the book or viewed the film, then a lot of what I will write below may not make as much sense as it might otherwise. I'm not going to provide a book report either. I'm just going to assume that those of you who are reading this know the story as King laid it out.

While the author made several references to God in the book, the all mighty doesn't figure prominently in what I got out it. In fact, I think the story could have been told just the same by referencing Tao, nature or nothing at all.

In fact, I'll go even a bit further. One of the key themes of the story illustrates what led me away from Christianity and the very concept of a personified supreme being.

The hero of the story is man named John Coffey (like the drink, only spelt different). He possesses unknown powers to heal the sick and to feel all the pain and misery this world has to offer. At one juncture, he describes the latter ability as being like tiny shards of glass poking him in his eyes and head.

If there was a personified God, then he would be John Coffey to the nth degree 100 trillion times over. Every time any one of his creatures screamed out in pain, misery or agony, he would feel it and, since there are billions upon billions of creatures (animal, plant and mineral), it would feel like trillions upon trillions of shards of glass cutting into his very soul.

His existence would be nothing like nirvana; it would be more like an oozing open sore. In essence, heaven would become hell with no end. What supreme being -- regardless of its omnipotence and omnipresence -- could survive such a torturous existence? Why would it want to?

The ONLY way it could ever hope to survive would be to become absolutely apathetic toward the evils of humankind -- to have the ability to see utter pain and agony with a casual disinterest. That is, of course, possible, but it immediately contradicts the notion of a personified being; a being that cares for each of us as unique individuals.

When I realized this back in my 30s (though, I think I realized this from the very beginning), it dawned on me that no one was up there listening to my prayers. There was no great old geezer in the sky keeping tabs on me or anyone else. Whatever it is had to be wholly impersonal. And this brought me to Taoism.

Line by Line - Verse 55, Line 1

He who has in himself abundantly the attributes (of the Tao) is like an infant.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

He who is filled with Virtue is like a newborn child.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Those who hold an abundance of virtue
Are similar to newborn infants
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

A person filled with the power of Tao
is like a baby boy:
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

Have you ever noticed how most of the world's religions and philosophies makes use of the metaphor of an infant to signify pureness? John Lash has this to say about this line.

To the child, the world is Oneness. The child sees no separation between himself and his mother or between himself and the toy he holds in his hand. Everything he touches becomes an extension of himself.

When we feel at one with the world, how can we not be filled with supreme virtue?

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.

Looking Back to 2009: So Blissfully Blissful

Trey Smith
Original Post Date: 1/12/09

For most humans, death is a difficult concept to grasp completely. We understand that it means removal from our worldly dimension, but, beyond that, it's anybody's guess. While adults understand the effects of death somewhat better, for children it's a real conundrum. Why is this person (or animal) gone and when will they be back?

Religions try to comfort us all with visions of a heavenly destination, a place where the soul goes to live out a blissful existence free from the stress of worldly life.

I remember being told such things as a child. In Sunday School, we had books with beautiful pictures of the kindly God -- a grandfatherly sort -- welcoming loved ones into the pearly gates high in the sky beyond the clouds. It was an idyllic image and, for a brief time when I was very young, made me feel a lot better about death and its consequences.

Maybe I would have stayed in the fold a little longer IF they hadn't fused this picture with another one. Since the various authorities (church, school, parents, etc.) wished to create perfect little beings, we were constantly warned against impure thoughts. Such thoughts, I was told, were as heinous as impure actions.

To drive home this point, I was told numerous times that my dead loved ones were watching me from heaven. If an impure thought just happened to pop into me little noggin, they would see it and I certainly wouldn't want to embarrass myself in that way. So, I needed to be on my best behavior at ALL times -- even in the deep recesses of my mind.

But these two images -- a blissful existence in heaven versus celestial peeping toms -- contradict each other and I recognized this, even as a 7 or 8 year old. How can souls look down on the world below and remain blissful?

Put another way, how could a spiritual being watch incessant human misery, angst and suffering, yet not be affected in the least? "Oh Marge, look. There's a group of people being slaughtered by an army. Would you like more tea and crumpets?"

Even if you don't subscribe to the imagery of spiritual voyeurism, how could any soul be at rest knowing the trials and tribulations of their former residence?

Finally, how could any soul be blissful if there wasn't stress to counter it? We only know what things are by understanding their antithesis. If "heaven" is a place free of all stress, then me thinks it would be very, very boring. Under such conditions, blissfulness would be the same as nothingness.

And nothingness -- in the Christian sense -- doesn't sound like a lot to look forward to.

Chapter 9, Part 10 - Confucius

Yen Yuan, in admiration of the Master's doctrines, sighed and said, "I looked up to them, and they seemed to become more high; I tried to penetrate them, and they seemed to become more firm; I looked at them before me, and suddenly they seemed to be behind.

"The Master, by orderly method, skillfully leads men on. He enlarged my mind with learning, and taught me the restraints of propriety.

"When I wish to give over the study of his doctrines, I cannot do so, and having exerted all my ability, there seems something to stand right up before me; but though I wish to follow and lay hold of it, I really find no way to do so."
~ James Legge translation via The Internet Classics Archive ~

Go here to read the introductory post to this serialized version of the Analects of Confucius.

Daily Tao - Gaining EveryNothing

So now you have seen truth. You have achieved nothing!

Well done! As if you had something you could lose it.

So be safe in the absence and dwell in the bliss of it!

span >Daily Tao is a reprint from Ta-Wan's blog, Daily Cup of Tao, which offers one post per day for an entire year. You also can read these posts in an ebook.

No Conditions to Meet

Scott Bradley

If I have a 'message', it is this: All is well and there are no conditions which have to be met to make this true. No redemption is required; all is embraced and affirmed within the Entirety. The world, you and I — all that is, is affirmed. This can be experienced. Freedom and joy ensue.

These are words. And I can only offer them to you as words. Yet, the sense I now have in sharing them is not one of conveying words, but of baring my heart. To open oneself to Mystery is to somehow open oneself to every expression of Mystery. There is a sense of vulnerability outside the constraints of fear.

I suppose there are all manner of metaphysical presuppositions implied in these words, yet none are intended. They are a denial of important assumptions within every religious tradition I know (even those which might protest otherwise), yet they do not intend to be so. They make no claim to truth; they would only suggest an experience.

It is here that the dialectics of reason and ethics usually get addressed. They arise in me but less than in my anticipation of their arising in many of you. What about what is wrong in the world? What about what is wrong in me?

My response is simple: Out of affirmation the heart is enabled to do the work the world and our own selves require as it was never able before. No longer are the means other than the ends themselves; no longer is war the imagined path to peace; no longer is the sense of injustice rooted in personal, egoic issues. It is a function of the 'understanding consciousness' to render reality to a realm of either/or, of A negates not-A. Yet to understand the utter affirmation of the Totality, is to be able to both embrace all things and to act upon them. All is well — and we can make it better.

And it is here that my disclaimer usually gets expressed. Here it is: I look out over the wonderful mess of me, thankfully and joyfully roll up my sleeves, and get to work.

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

3W 38

A myriad bubbles were floating on the surface of a stream.
'What are you?' I cried to them as they drifted by.
'I am a bubble, of course' nearly a myriad bubbles answered,
and there was surprise and indignation in their voices as they passed.
But, here and there, a lonely bubble answered,
'We are this stream', and there was neither surprise nor indignation in their voices,
but just a quiet certitude.
~ A selection from Ask The Awakened by Wei Wu Wei. Click here for more from this book. ~

Nothing To Say on the Subject

Ta-Wan

We wish to know things, we follow; news, gossip, sport, science, philosophies, and in these subjective pursuits we maintain our minds, as with foods we maintain our bellies - that is that we forever top-up something that we know will become empty again.

What we need to know is the subject. This is a very unique form of knowledge as it is not known by our subjective self but by that which is also the answer to the inquiry. This knowledge will not become empty again, it will fulfill.

That which we seek is infinite and unchanging. We know this to be the case as that which is complete truth cannot alter with the tides, weather or fashions, but it can, does and forever will be rendered differently by each and every person who comes to know it.

Take a friend, enemy and someone you don't know and you'll find that you are not alike. You may have more similarities with the stranger than the friend, or not, but for sure you will not be precisely alike anyone who is here now, has lived or will live. It is right then that while we have one true similarity, that we are all Tao dancing, we will never all sing to the same tune, hold hands and live in peace.

A man knowing Tao can love animals while his neighbor, also a person of Tao, eats flesh. A woman of Tao can have babies while her friend, a person of Tao also, cannot. A child of Tao can be in love and at peace with the world while her friend, also dancing Tao, can scream all day in suffering of illness incurable.

All may know the absolute truth and, even if they do not, they can be nothing but its expression. In this way we as people can, in knowing truth, realize that our explanations will never be 100% shared. Two Taoists can draw blood over differences, a man on a mountain can argue with a man on an island over best diet, an educated person may interpret something quite differently to even their closest peers on the very same subject. Embracing the one truth we share is the same as truly accepting that we will never unify its description and we will never be able, nor should we wish to, have even our closest neighbor accept our version.

Difference is our unity, we will never be anything but that which we seek.

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

Chapter 9, Part 9 - Confucius

When the Master saw a person in a mourning dress, or any one with the cap and upper and lower garments of full dress, or a blind person, on observing them approaching, though they were younger than himself, he would rise up, and if he had to pass by them, he would do so hastily.
~ James Legge translation via The Internet Classics Archive ~

Go here to read the introductory post to this serialized version of the Analects of Confucius.

Give to Receive

Trey Smith

Unsurprisingly, the 99% are much more generous than the 1%. Households earning less than $25,000 give away twice as much as richer households as a fraction of their income. The disparity is even greater given that many if not most of the 99% do not itemize their tax returns and therefore do not take a tax deduction for charitable contributions.
~ from The Giving Season: Why the 99% Are Actually More Philanthropic Than the 1% by David Morris ~

In his writings, Lao Tzu talks about the concept of contrivance -- to plan with cleverness or ingenuity -- a lot. In my mind's eye, a lot of the "giving" by the well-to-do falls under this definition.

As Morris points out above, when poor folks like me make a donation, it is without the expectation of receiving any personal benefit. We give because we realize that there are others in worse situations than we are. We may not have a lot of disposable income, but we have enough to help someone else, a little here and a little there.

When most rich people make a donation, they have an eye on their tax return. Throughout my life I have known of many individuals and families who ONLY make donations near the end of the tax year for the SOLE purpose of lessening their tax bill. If the deduction for charitable giving was removed from the tax code, they wouldn't make any donations. There would be no [ulterior] purpose in doing so.

Long ago, I co-managed a nonprofit Thrift Store. You could easily tell a person's financial standing by the interaction you had with them when they came to donate items. When people of limited financial means brought clothes and household goods, they either dropped them off after hours anonymously or, if they came during working hours, almost none of them was interested in receiving a receipt of donation.

People of financial means behaved quite differently. They were very pushy about the receipt. They wanted everything -- and I mean every single doodad -- listed and they would haggle with us over the estimated value of each donated item. If we marked something down for, say, $25, it wasn't uncommon at all for them to demand that we change it to $50 or $100.

At the time -- I was much younger then -- I didn't understand WHY these folks were so pushy and meticulous. Why was it so damn important that a shirt or a set of bowls be valued at $10 instead of $5?

As I got older, I came to understand that, the more that items were estimated at higher values, the less taxes these folks had to pay! Consequently, I came to understand that their so-called giving was more about what they would receive later -- the reduced tax bill -- than helping someone less fortunate.

It was little more than a game of contrivance. They sought to give as little as possible in order to reap the greatest benefit for themselves.

Afternoon Matinee: A People's History, Part 27

Looking Back to 2009: Straw Dogs

Trey Smith
Original Post Date: 1/5/09

Heaven and earth are impartial;
They see the ten thousand things as straw dogs.
The wise are impartial;
They see the people as straw dogs.
~ Tao Te Ching, a portion of Five ~

For me, these 4 lines typify one of the prime differences between monotheistic religion and Taoism. Under the former, there is this belief that the supreme being personalizes everything and is orchestrating the world for its own purposes. For the Taoist, there is no personalization whatsoever -- things occur due to cause and effect.

I must admit that I've never understood why so many people find comfort in the belief that their God has taken a loved one for divine reasons. A baby dies and we so often hear friends and family exclaim, "God had a reason for taking him/her from us. We don't know what that reason is, but we must have faith that it's for a good reason."

Since some babies die and some babies live, it makes one's God seem rather capricious! What's he doing up there? Rolling dice or utilizing a celestial dartboard to decide who lives and who dies? Besides, what could this ulterior purpose be? Since God is supposedly omnipotent, he doesn't need any helpers as his world is perfect.

When I hear of or experience (second or third person) a tragic death -- be it a baby, an adult, a group of people or even my own dog -- I understand that there was obviously a cause and effect that led to this outcome. I realize that, because of an infinite number of variables, I most likely will be incapable of isolating all of these variables to be able to see the precise progression of circumstance that led to the result, but this progression exists nonetheless.

Because I don't believe in a personified being, I don't have the need to look to the heavens to ask, "Why God? Why?" I understand that it's nothing personal. I understand that all of the ten thousand things eventually die -- some sooner and some later.

Line by Line - Verse 54, Lines 19-20

How do I know that this effect is sure to hold thus all under the sky? By this (method of observation).
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

How do I know the universe is like this?
By looking!
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

With what do I know the world?
With this
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

How can I know this?
I just do.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

I really like the way John Heider sums up not only this section of the verse but the entirety of it as well.

Remember that your influence begins with you and ripples outward. So be sure your influence is both potent and wholesome.

How do I know that this works?

All growth spreads outward from a fertile and potent nucleus. You are a nucleus.

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.

I Feel My Yang Arisin'

Scott Bradley

I feel my yang arisin'
for all the world to see.

I feel my yang arisin'
'cause I've found the yin in me.

Ain't no use in lyin'
seems clear enough you see,
that when the yang's arisin'
yin's had her way with me.
— anonymous

It is thought by many sinologists that this recently discovered fragment of a bawdy poem is the work of a Chin era (fourth century) Neo-Taoist, perhaps even one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. It certainly evinces the spirit of feng lui, that zany sense of spiritual iconoclasm which so typified these free-spirited sages. Though referenced by Bruce Lee (fl. 645) as a poem of 27 stanzas, he unfortunately does not tell us who the author was or when he believed it written. He does, nevertheless, provide us with significant insight into what inspired it.

"The sage has realized the unity of Yin and Yang", wrote Lee, "and it is for this reason he can express Yang without fear of contamination. Through the remedial purging of the Yin, he has realized the emptiness of no-self and thus can give full expression to his humanity." His point, it seems, is that though the sage is he who follows the yielding way of Yin, the net result is that he is enabled to also follow the asserting way of Yang without it being an expression of egoic identity. He is free to be himself fully because he has lost himself.

We find a similar viewpoint expressed, if not in word, at least in deed, in the behavior of the early Zen master. When angry he expresses anger. When joyful he expresses joy. When murdered he yells as loud as he can. When faced with ignorance he strikes with his stick.

We might stumble at the behavior of these sages, but they do not care. They care nothing for the opinion of others, having transcended their own opinions of themselves. We might question their motivations, say they have wandered from the path of spirituality as we would have it, but they give us no heed. They recognize no one they are obliged to please.

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

Chapter 9, Part 8 - Confucius

The Master said, "The Fang bird does not come; the river sends forth no map: it is all over with me!"
~ James Legge translation via The Internet Classics Archive ~

Go here to read the introductory post to this serialized version of the Analects of Confucius.

Daily Tao - Solid Foundations

That something (call it a universe or any other name) has come about and produced forms, some of which feel separate and the various emotions, you can only feel a deep compassion. Most of all to yourself, as you too are as illusory conceived as the rest.

Any negative must be put aside as to attempt to form a better way whilst being a suffering part can neither benefit you or the whole.

Never make a choice whilst sad. All decisions must arise from happiness and so the future will be based on this.

~~
Sad: Separate. Happy: True being whole.

Daily Tao is a reprint from Ta-Wan's blog, Daily Cup of Tao, which offers one post per day for an entire year. You also can read these posts in an ebook.

Getting It

Scott Bradley

“You don’t have to get it right to get it.” — me

Maybe things are getting out of hand when I start quoting myself without the ruse of a pseudonym (Chen Jen, Zhouzi). But since everything I say is derived in any case, I suppose it doesn’t matter.

I am often tempted, believe it or not, to just offer up a single sentence and leave it at that. There are so many sentences which, though they may not say all that much, say all that need be said. The one quoted above, for instance, if considered deeply enough, could bring the mind to that fathomless void which invites a final leap. At least, it does it for me.

I’ve been here before, of course; I seldom have anything ‘new’ to say. But some things seem well worth repeating for my own sake. I am, after all, just teaching myself.

You don’t need to get it (in the sense of understanding ‘truth’) to get it (truthful experience). Genuine experience of our human potential is not contingent upon our having found the ‘right’ way or the ‘true’ way. As I am fond of saying, life does not resolve itself to the categories which the understanding consciousness requires. There is more than one way to skin a cat (or woo one). What works for you is the ‘right’ way.

I spoke of a void because the understanding consciousness essentially rules our interface with the world, and to suggest that it does not here hold sway turns its world upside down. It is a very difficult thing indeed to stop believing we must find truth to realize what is true of us. And yet to do so, is to leap into a radically new way of being in the world.

This perspective is the one espoused by Zhuangzi when he suggests that all our contradictory theories about the right way to live, all the many taos, cancel each other out into a sameness. He does not declare any one of them, including his own, to be right and the others wrong, but that all of them are ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ according to one’s perspective. This perspectival relativism allows him to affirm them all. It may very well be that we must commit ourselves to a particular tao. Zhuangzi chooses a tao of inclusiveness and finds his freedom there.

It is not that every tao is equally able to lead us to freedom; many probably lead us into greater bondage. And yet this discriminatory judgment, if understood as we understand getting it without getting it, likewise brings us to the fathomless void. One man’s bondage is another’s freedom. Let all the flowers bloom just as they bloom. This is what makes the woodland meadow what it is and the world what it is. The stakes are not high; there are no stakes at all. When we can say “So what?” to all our differences we are well on our way to realizing that “All is well”.

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

3W 37

One must know that one is not in order to be able to understand that we are.
~ A selection from Ask The Awakened by Wei Wu Wei. Click here for more from this book. ~

Atheism on Christmas Day

Ta-Wan

I woke up to a completely normal Sunday yesterday (Australia). I sat, read, listened to a little music and had a sandwich. Later in the day, I had an Indian curry my wife had left me when she went out.

By the afternoon a friend had contacted me asking me to pop round and share his celebrations. But for his Santa hat there was nothing christmassy there either, just a bunch of people, a murdered bird carcass and plenty of empty beer bottles. I arrived with a full belly and with the good timing so as to avoid their eating of the unfortunate bird, they handed me a beer and we headed out to the front of the house.

Out front we chatted and neighbors from all sides came and shared with the conversation and beer when out of the blue an old man wandered by with some leaflets. "Hello" he said, "Have you heard of Jesus?"

"Oh bad choice mate, you better move on" said my friend "You've approached the worst group of people you could imagine on this subject."

Another person there said "I have no time to talk to you about this as I'm not even an Atheist, to be an Atheist I'd have to believe there was something to not believe in."

After the thirty or so second barrage from us, the man left with as many leaflets as he arrived with.

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