Thursday, November 11, 2010

Tao Wow Wisdom


My good friend Chris at the TaoWow blog has been a continual source of ideas and inspiration for me. Have a look at some of his excellent recent entries:

The Next Phase

As we globally simplify so too the worlds greedy will be forced to do so, their ways of strangle holding markets for their gain will be weakened by unwilling markets and less profitable ventures - gradually we will all move the way of simplicity. As this occurs the poor of the world will move up to meet the rich in a state of balance and all will be richer in spirit. Information carried by the oldest of traditions will become highly important as we, more in-tune with nature, feel new direction in our hearts. More in-tune with nature our ideas will be to live at one and from this there will be great rewards. Natural fruits taste better, natural lands allow species to flourish and diversify, nature will shine with a billion colours. After this move back to nature we will discover nature based technologies, qualities of stone, plants, land, peace in our hearts and minds and we will move in directions unseen by our self-centered materialist past. All of this is just a dream as is reality right now. One way or another we dream a reality and sleep-walk the dream, convinced we can not alter it. We are though the root to the dream, we are not the sleep-walker. This life of me and you is the dream we the unified root are manifesting. Time to dream a little deeper, a dream less self-centered, a dream where love is the law.



End Times 2012

Christian cosmology supposedly has end times, apparent ends of days, ends of lives, and so on. What happens at the end of one era though is the beginning of another. Taoist, Hindu, Mayan and Egyptian cosmologies all have cyclic time and not linear time, we alter form one era to another and on until repetition. The Hindu cosmology is the most adventurous and pictorial, it has a golden age of perfection followed by the seed of imperfection which gives rise to the silver age, as man worsens and becomes more self centered we have a bronze age and finally iron, the worst, yet also shortest time-frame where there is nothing but bad. People say we are there now. This cosmology and epic time-frame is also mirrored by Mayan and Egyptian ideas which may well have shaped the Hindu thought via the Vedas. Taoism is a little different, we are all aware of the great Tai Chi, often referred to as the Yin Yang and the two small dots that live within the signature. These dots are the seeds signifying that when one thing is at its peak then the seed of the opposite is set, so in times of total Yang -the seed of Yin is set to burst through - what we have here is a cyclic version of time which does not signify time-frames or that one end of the spectrum is any better or worse than the other. It is all change one way or another and that is the life and beauty of the universe, not something to fear or to egotistically feel one should take control over. So these end times supposedly seen by the Mayan civilization and now feared and theorized over by many are certainly nothing to worry about. After all midsummer and midwinter are far more of a big deal than the subtle transition of spring to summer and in all of these there is gradual change, not chaos. Nature and the universe operate on time scales we don't fathom and they don't jump and start, they smoothly and regularly rotate. If we are convinced that 2012 is a turning point then we must accept that 2014 will be very similar to 2010 and that 2012 is just the middle of this minor shift. Large differences will be seen between years 1800 and 2200 but the differences come about gradually and not in a big jump. Just watch the seasons rotate, also look at the difference between 23:59 tonight and 00:01 or even the wheel of a bicycle - note how cyclic motion is smooth, it has no jumps or catastrophe, it continues on and on because it is smooth and free from the binary and linear traps of the human mind. As one thing reaches climax so the seed of the opposite is set to return. No part of the rotation is better or worse than any other and this particular cyclic motion, that where 2012 is a supposed turning point, is one far and beyond the limited human life span, so nothing to fret over.



I Care Because You Do

The only worth in humanity is the peace of all humanity and all else I do not care for. We are well aware as humans that the mind is a tricky tool to have at our disposal. Very often we become fixated on one thing, we project 'what-if's' and we induce stress in our system. Stress is a part of the human condition and so then the only medicine worth making is one which combats this stress, leaving peace. The only form that medicine can come in is no-form as to have a medicine made of TV shows, alcohol, beliefs, and other releases and veils only forms new dependences. Stress is the upset in our system, it is the ageing agent, the ill-health agent, the grease to the slippery slope and the wax to the candle of burning out. Stress is part of the human condition and we can all imagine a world free from it. It sits for us in the realm of idealism and wishful thinking yet it is a condition required, the only condition required by humanity - so then the only thing worth time and effort. What does the world put effort into? Producing food, medicine for the sick, support for the needy, education for the youth, fashion for the flamboyant, protection for the rich, toys for the boys, statues to the dead, war on the poor, division on religion, politics, laws, controlling control, patrolling borders, making orders, TV for release, drugs for the obese, and ways to gain and take power. As a travelling monk in India I stood in a small Himalayan village at perfect peace realizing fully how all we need is good air, water, shelter, medicine when needed and a little good food. That was peace and happiness and to give that to the world would take far less effort than it does to make all the mischief we do make, all the excess and wasteful crap that makes for a world where the rich exist on a blanket of suffering poor. The nature of stress that is a condition of humanity has forced out another human condition, one of greed. The idea behind greed is that you have so much at your disposal that you may never need be stressed, you can have all you need forever and not have to worry. So the idea is that you have a place to live that is yours, you have savings in excess that you could never quite spend, you are free to do as you please never concerned for tomorrows bread. The desire for this condition is almost epidemic. From the initial stress over tomorrow and personal protection comes the greed and from this the need to control all who are not you. To form laws that protect you and weaken all others, to take more than can be given so that in making your wealth you make the other poor. This is a disease, not a human disease but the disease infecting humanity as a whole. All of the politics, the material excesses, the TV, the operations of banks, the control of nations and people I can not care for one bit as it does nothing for the happiness of all. Only those who choose a simple life so that in reducing their desire they free up enough for everyone else to have the same are doing right. And only they can be truly happy in their heart. If there is one thing worth time it is peace for all. Obtained simply by realizing your true needs and living there and not living in control caused by desire induced by stress.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very relaxing read, if only more people thought like this.