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The Rambling Taoist
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The predominant perspective in the western world is derived from a Judeo-Christian viewpoint. This has led to dualism; people have become estranged from the environment, each other and themselves. This blog is written by a Taoist. See if you can discern a
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Real Life Tao - Knowing the Difference
In a response to Wen Tzu - Verse 61, Part II, C. Om paraphrased the Serenity Prayer written by Reinhold Niebuhr. In its original form, it goes like this:God, Grant me the serenity,To accept the things I cannot change;The courage, to change the things...
Real Life Tao - The Sage and the Buddha
I think most people are familiar with the line from the Zen koan, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." It relays much the same message as the first line of the Tao Te Ching: "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao."Basically, wha...
Real Life Tao - Who Does He Think He Is?
I realize that some people who stop by this blog to read my musings on the Tao Te Ching, Hua Hu Ching and Wen Tzu may think I'm really full of myself. Each day I pen a number of posts that utilize a specific verse or passage as a springboard. Some ...
Real Life Tao - Expectations
We can never know about the days to comeBut we think about them anyway, yayAnd I wonder if I'm really with you nowOr just chasin' after some finer dayAnticipation, anticipationIs makin' me lateIs keepin' me waitin'~ from the song Anticipation by Carl...
Real Life Tao - Against the Grain
I'm sure almost everyone is familiar with the saying "going against the grain." Its meaning is derived from the idea that planing a piece of wood against its grain leaves a ragged finish and is far more labor-intensive that planing with the grain. ...
Real Life Tao - Flirtin\' With Disaster
Flirtin' with disaster, baby,Ya'll know what I mean.You know the way we run our lives,It makes no sense to me.I don't know about yourself or,What you plan to be - Yea!!When we gamble with our time,We choose our destiny.~ lyrics from the song, Flirtin...
Real Life Tao - Trees in the Wind
As I've indicated over the past few days, we've been dealing with some stormy weather here. This weather, however, has provided me with an abject lesson in Taoist principles. Such lessons are available to each of us in the routine mundaneness of ev...
Real Life Tao -- Too Much
In discussing Verse 33 of the Wen Tzu, I focused on the passages that spoke of profit or seeking an advantage as being adverse to Tao. It's rather easy to see this principle at work in the sphere of economics. It's also easy when we talk of the cap...
Real Life Tao - What\'s the Answer?
A great deal of our lives concerns seeking answers. How are you today? What movie should we go see? How should I tackle this problem? Which dress do you think I look best in? Do you think he's going to live? Italian or French salad dressing? D...
Real Life Tao - Look in the Mirror
In my last post, Wen Tzu - Verse 22, I wrote:If nothing else, it would be the grandest of experiments -- a nation in which the elected leaders governed in a transparent, just and virtuous manner.In response, Donna at DQ's Windmill stated, "which brin...
Real Life Tao - Fighting Fire with Fire
In the discussion of "Wen Tzu, Verse 19, Part II", I provided the example of how war and/or violence doesn't beget peace, only more war or violence. I'm now going to walk through an even stickier wicket -- spanking.Years ago in Mad Magazine, one of ...
Real Life Tao - Living Within Your Nature
For me, one of the great tragedies of human life is that so many of us live against our own unique individual natures. There are certain things about each of us -- traits, preferences, attributes -- that we turn our backs on time and time again. We...
Real Life Tao - Too High or Too Low
While most people would agree that getting too low is not conducive to good health or the ability to be productive in modern life, I would argue that being too high produces similar results. Anytime one emotion is out of proportion to all the others...
