Big Think

Musycks on August 25, 2008, 1:36 AM

hz… nice work.. all I’ve seen from the Tao is pretty cool. I would add to intuition that as long as it does not necessarily involve the suspension of rigorous critical thinking then it has it’s place in the puzzle. Like most things, there’s not one thing that solves our dilemma, no magic bullet, but many elements can be applied to find a direction that satisfies.
no map required.

dennis ilic on August 25, 2008, 7:56 AM

muse, I think it is saying suspend critical thinking. As an artist, allow yourself to get into the art, without your mind over analyzing it.

Jesse Akers on August 25, 2008, 8:10 PM

“A good traveler has no fixed plans

and is not intent upon arriving”
Youtube “wayfaring stranger” and find someone who does it justice, here is one link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BljNw_lYHm0

the song reminds me of those one-night cheap motels that you always imagine has a couple flickering or burnt out letters in their name and a flashing “no vacancy” sign…
….for nothing is better for a man than to eat, drink, and be merry, and then joy will accompany him all the days of his life that God has given him under the sun…

Musycks on August 25, 2008, 9:01 PM

great art comes from a mystical place sometimes HZ? I’m sure science can reduce it to firing synapses and cognition and process, but it’s nice to think it’s more dimensional than that…
but in the real world usefulness stakes, great artists tend to suffer a little too much and not have the common sense needed to smooth out the ride day to day? is this a corollary of letting go too much of critical thinking? of living too much in the etherial world?

pokój! on August 25, 2008, 9:55 PM

“…we wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.”

dennis ilic on August 26, 2008, 7:30 AM

muse, I’m sure science could reduce it something it would understand.
There’s a lot of art out there, let’s speak of music in particular, because I would consider you an expert in that area…. Let’s just say there is a lot of music out there, only a small percentage of it is art. I’d say 10% when I am being crusty, and 20% when I’m feeling generous. Art could possibly come from emotions and to convert into a medium through the brain might ruin it.
I agree with your other points of an almost egotistical suffering and learning to balance the day to day things. Or balance the heart with the mind. Or balance the spirit with the mind. Or balance the carrot with the stick. And so it goes.

dennis ilic on August 26, 2008, 7:36 AM

pokoj,

‘can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep it on the original oneness’?

-chapter 10

dennis ilic on August 26, 2008, 7:38 AM

Jesse, don’t we all travel through time without having to take a step?

HerbieP on August 27, 2008, 2:46 AM

Not that you meant this HZ but I don’t think that we do ‘travel in time’. There are moments in which there are events. The flow of time linking up these events is an illusion of consciousness. There is no ‘I’ traveling in time, merely a series of similar ’I’s rather like indivdiual images in a film that are so close together we have the impression of continuity.

There that should appeal to mystical, and particularly budhist, sensibilities.

Musycks on August 27, 2008, 3:14 AM

quite Herbie… except the copies keep getting fatter and greyer and slower!!
D’oh!
ch, ch, ch ,changes!!

HerbieP on August 27, 2008, 4:02 AM

Kurt Vonnegut made the point much clearer with Billy Christian.

dennis ilic on August 27, 2008, 12:14 PM

Point taken HP, what else is an illusion of consciousness?
And Billy Christian?

pokój! on August 29, 2008, 9:23 PM

HZ:
from 52-53

In the beginning was the Tao.
All things issue from it;
all things return to it.

To find the origin,
trace back the manifestations.
When you recognize the children
and find the mother,
you will be free of sorrow.

If you close your mind in judgements
and traffic with desires,
your heart will be troubled.
If you keep your mind from judging
and aren’t led by the senses,
your heart will find peace.

Seeing into darkness is clarity.
Knowing how to yield is strength.
Use your own light
and return to the source of light.
This is called practicing eternity.
53
The great Way is easy,
yet people prefer the side paths.
Be aware when things are out of balance.
Stay centered within the Tao.

dennis ilic on August 30, 2008, 10:44 AM

Yes, pokoj, that is beautiful. I’m still on chpt 27.
Personal question, which text speaks (louder, clearer, warmer), to your (being, heart, soul), the bible or the Tao te ching, or something not yet mentioned by you or heard by me?

pokój! on September 3, 2008, 3:14 PM

hz: Love is Love, Truth is Truth wherever it lives… it all depends on the circumstance… though I’ll always find something to soothe my soul in the Bible, and at the same time something to upset my quiet little cocoon… as far as spiritual learnings, they are all intertwined, though the Bible is the foundation…

Musycks on September 4, 2008, 2:14 AM

Billy Christian is the central character in his masterpiece ‘Slaughterhouse 5’… he also loved the George Roy Hill film of it as he said ‘only 2 authors need be indebted to the american film system, me and Margaret Mitchell’… high praise.. it’s a great film.

Musycks on September 4, 2008, 2:15 AM

sorry… that should read Billy Pilgrim…

HerbieP on September 4, 2008, 11:01 AM

Sorry too musycks, I haven’t read it since the 70s.

Christian/Pilgrim strange Freudian mixup?

dennis ilic on September 4, 2008, 7:24 PM

pokoj, well said, I understand.

What I don’t understand is where do all my books go? It’s worse than socks in the dryer.

pokój! on September 7, 2008, 4:44 PM

If I loose a beloved book, I just assume that someone else needed it more… you can always pick up another one…

hz if you get a chance, check out “everything is spiritual”, its a dvd put out by Rob Bell…

dennis ilic on September 7, 2008, 8:39 PM

pokoj, as far as assumptions go, that is a very positive one.

In fact, I never lend something to someone unless I am willing never to see that thing again.

Heal the spirit and the mind and body will follow.