T_Clark

If you're interested, you can read it in about an hour. Tell me what other philosophy or religion can you say that about.

Are you talking about the "Tao Te Ching" or the "I Ching?"

I don't understand. Can you give an example? And how is that mysticism?

That's the question I'm trying to answer when I ask "What is mysticism." People use the word. We ought to be able to agree on what they mean. Or at le...

Please discuss this if you'd like. I started out wanting to find a good definition of mysticism but I tried to make it clear that it will be fine if p...

I don't know anything about Wittgenstein's mysticism. Why don't you tell us about it.

Here is a link to more than 20 translations. https://terebess.hu/english/tao/_index.html Different people like different translations. The ones I use ...

I don't see mysticism as limiting the scope of where we look for knowledge. I think of it as a way of recognizing and acknowledging how we already gai...

Yes, I agree. That's one of the reasons I started this thread. The first lines of the Tao Te Ching say this exactly - The Tao that can be spoken is no...

I think you will find people balking at the way you have characterized weight and mass. I know I did. That only distracts from the what I see as the m...

I think this is a good description of Taoism. I think the definitions of "mysticism" I've included are broad enough to include both seeking union with...

The first three and a half paragraphs of your post are confusing and questionable. More importantly, I don't see how they are relevant to the rest of ...

No, I don't think mysticism is necessarily a religious phenomenon at all. According to one of the definitions above, mysticism is "The belief that dir...

It is my understanding that current knowledge and theory indicate that there is not enough matter in the universe to stop or reverse the observed expa...

Verse 18 Ellen Marie Chen On the decline of the great Tao, There are humanity (jen) and righteousness (i). When intelligence (hui) and knowledge (chih...

I read the book at least 35 years ago, but I've never forgotten that passage. Why can't I write like that?

I've always had this vision of God, enlightenment, the Tao as being right next to my right ear, always just inches away. I could never see it directly...

@"Amity" quoted this from one of your posts and it made me think of a passage that deals with musical interpretation but which I think can also be see...

You still haven't responded to how I addressed the issue raised in the OP.

I'll repeat - the subject of the OP was the question: You have identified reasons for not having children, which was not the issue raised in the OP. I...

Libravox, a wonderful free audio book site, has the Tao Te Ching in English. I don't know if it has it in Chinese.

I don't disagree with you, but I just don't know what to do about it.

It's not really cherry-picking. I don't take any of the translations as right or wrong. I'm using them to build up a collage of the Tao. I see myself ...

I agree, my argument about your resentment was invalid, which, as you note, I acknowledged. That doesn't mean what I said was wrong. I agree that it i...

That's not an unfair assessment, although I'd go a bit further. It's not just one translation, I've looked at 12 or 15 and I look at four or five regu...

This is basically the message of every argument you ever make, every post you ever post. I've gone through it with you several times. I'll never convi...

Oh, yeah?! One characteristic of rational people is that they respond to the argument that's actually made rather than one they imagine. You should go...

First - I wouldn't characterize most of the people who have posted on this thread as particularly rational. At least their arguments aren't. You all s...

Some of the commentaries use the repetitive structure as evidence that the text comes from an oral tradition, which is consistent with what you've sai...

When I saw "cascade" as a word for what I call a "ladder' I had no objections. Now that you've explained what you mean by that, I disagree. I think wh...

Lao Tzu repeats himself a lot, but each iteration is a bit different. I really like looking at that too.

I fully endorse everyone who has commented so far not having children. The thought of any of you having children makes me shiver. Please make sure tha...

Well - To believe our own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, -- that is genius. Speak your laten...

I always put them out at noon. The hunt starts exactly at 12:30. Maybe only one kid this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjh1ryvBZBo

In American law, the burden of proof is on the prosecution in criminal trials - innocent until proven guilty. That isn't always the case in other juri...

Thanks. The guy on the right looks exactly like me.

When I was reading another one of those goofy science discussions about how the world really works, I had an inspiration! I'm going to stop responding...

You are explaining the mechanisms by which experience leads to awareness, a la Barrett. I was describing my personal experience, a la, well, me. I'm n...

This is a major procedural disagreement between you and me. You question the basics of all the translations of the TTC and I accept them, at least as ...

Exactly. Well, not exactly exactly. It is my understanding that evolutionary biologists now believe that there are mechanisms other than natural selec...

A little help please. Sometimes I'll start writing a post but then decide not to send it. I delete the message, but it just shows up again. How do I d...

You know I've got the Tao Te Ching on my mind. Lao Tzu writes about the eternal return of the elements of our reality, what is sometimes called the 10...

I might include the Tao Te Ching on my list too.

I'll take a shot based on my personal experience. It's all about awareness. When I come to something new, I have a general sort of awareness based on ...

Verse 17 Stephen Mitchell When the Master governs, the people are hardly aware that he exists. Next best is a leader who is loved. Next, one who is fe...

Space isn't added between galaxies. All of space is expanding so the fabric of space between galaxies is stretching. The analogy generally used is to ...

So, can you flip and egg without breaking the yolk - I'd say about 53% percent of the time for me. Can you drive stick? I used to own stick cars. The ...

There was no space before the big bang. As for the speed of light, I already explained as much as I know. And there was no light before the big bang.

Not electromagnetic radiation.