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Dao de Jing / Tao te Ching

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Naming a thing is an act of violence against the whole thing. There are no things. Thingness is a product of your naming.

When we name things, we gain the ability to interact with them. The name allows for an assignment of cause and effect. Assigning causes and effects allows us to build technology. But no amount of names or models or repeatability can tell us **_why_** the thing is the thing and does things. We can chain causes and effects back in infinite regression, but it can never make contact with the true cause, the true essence, the Thing Itself. Because the error is in our own eyes, the naming.

In a previous chapter, I missed a possible explanation. In chapter 25, its possible that the king represents God, and maybe Laozi makes a distinction between God and Dao. Maybe. Using "king" to represent God occurs in Jewish and Persian literature. Obviously, those are different cultures, but its a possibility.

#Philosophy #daoism #taoism

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Discussion

Yuri Yerofeyev 10mo ago

My view is that the Way is available only to princes and kings (not necessarily actual royalty, but the top of the hierarchy on Earth in terms of spiritual development). That’s why if the true natural elite lives by the Way, they will surely organize the life of the rabble in harmoniously.

Comte de Sats Germain 10mo ago

Maybe... You can see that some people have some sort of harmony going on, where it seems like the world rewards their endeavors more than it does for others (me included). The world organizes around these people, like iron filings around a magnet. Is it merely talent? Is talent a conversation with some spiritual element? Idk.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 10mo ago

we live in a world that the Tao Te Ching warns about, where power, and cleverness and fame are worshiped, and flexibility, innocence and humility are deprecated

it is not always this way, but if you read the writings of Chuang Tzu, during the time he was inspired to create the system of Taoism (he's a documentary-proven person, a contemporary of Confucious, unlike Lao Tzu) he even talks about how when those in charge are evil that goodness struggles

we are in a dark age, and have been since at least the time he wrote that, probably this entire 6000 year period, about 3 of the 12 ages of the Yuga, that is said to end soon, specifically in june this year marks a transition point

anyway, do we really want extravagance and luxury and power? nope, just would like peace please, and bad guys to actually get put in their place, which is small and uncomfortable and dark