T_Clark

Yes, of course. But then, some interpretations are not just ambiguous, they're wrong. More likely - that I'm not understanding what Lao Tzu and/or the...

I got confused. I thought "What does this have to do with the five sounds?" Then I realized it comes from the previous verse. There certainly is a lot...

That's where I keep coming up against a wall. The Tao is completely not diverse. It is all one no-thing. The 10,000 things are diverse. You know, 10,0...

I agree. As I wrote, I believe it, but it seems like a cheat. God may not play dice, but he cheats at cards.

But I liked the page you linked to. It gave me a chance to feel all smart and superior.

Here's a quote from the website you linked: Classic quantum mechanics seems to exhibit some of the characteristics that Immanuel Kant described about ...

Thanks for the information.

@"fdrake" Enough already

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This is known as "seems to me science." "Seems to me" in this context just means "I don't understand how." The world is full of things that seem to be...

It is my understanding the singularity that is talked about at the beginning of the universe or in a black hole is a mathematical construct based on t...

The explanation of the apparent expansion of the universe at speeds greater than that of light I have heard is that the expansion of the fabric of spa...

After I read your response, I went and looked some more. I still haven't found anyone else who uses this interpretation. I'm still not sure I believe ...

Can you define neoliberalism as you're using it here. Generally, it means laissez-faire capitalism, free-trade, and globalization. And in an unrelated...

I guess the difference between my way of seeing it and yours is the distinction between my "perceive the Tao" and your "appreciate the diverse qualiti...

Your way of seeing things has been helpful for me. Not that others aren't.

I just wanted to be the 300th comment. It's kind of a Taoist thing.

I'm not sure, but I do like that translation. None of the other translations use the word "allow" in reference to desire. That makes a big difference.

I've been thinking about watching that.

When you say "overdetermine a cause" does that mean there are other possible causes of the phenomenon in question? Can you give an example of an argum...

I'm not a physicist, but I have a good background in science. The story does not seem ridiculous or impossible to me.

Verse 12 Ellen Marie Chen translation The five colors blind a person's eyes; The five musical notes deafen a person's ears; The five flavors ruin a pe...

I was raised as a Methodist, although my mother wasn't as devout as your family sounds. I have very vivid memories of sitting in the pews when I was a...

I've been thinking about this more. I'm comfortable with what we've worked out for the meaning of the lines, but I'm still working on the other issue ...

@"Valentinus" - I agree with @Possibility. This is an interesting paper. The language seemed very out of date. I looked up the author. He died in 1908...

I don't know what "substantial potentiality" and "insubstantial potentiality" mean.

My sister and my brother's parents-in-law were not talking to each other. My sister was just expressing her opinion forcefully to the whole table. The...

I'm seeing it differently than that. I own the pitcher, but I use the emptiness. I hold the pitcher by it's clay handle, but the hollowness is what ac...

I like it more the more I think about it. I think that's because it has that ironic twist, that forced switch in perspective, that my favorite verses ...

That's a really good question.

I don't think I find any error in you thoughts, although I do have a somewhat different perspective. As @"Bitter Crank" says in his comment, scientist...

Jaynes had some thoughts on how our consciousness is related to our ability to form metaphors that I found very interesting and convincing. The rest w...

Actually, my brother's Trump supporting South Carolinian parents in law are the most conservative when everyone is there. At our last reunion, someone...

Will do.

Are you familiar with Julian Jaynes' "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind?" It's an odd book that contends that homo sa...

One place where I found common ground with Trump supporters was an agreement that, given the fact that almost half of American's doubted the legitimac...

I've been reading through all the comments, bashing my head against a wall, and I thought of this. It's not the same as what you've written about, but...

My first thought when I read this was to check other translations to see how they dealt with this issue. Here are a few. Mitchell We work with being, ...

Yes - the Tao is the melting pot.

I think you are being a good participant in this discussion. "Limited understanding" certainly describes my situation now. You've been around the foru...

Always on the lookout for new words - "echt." One of those words that sounds like it aught to mean something cool, but actually means something normal...

I don't like that interpretation much, but I don't hate it. You may be on to something. I'll think about it some more. Thanks.

Verse 11 makes the distinction between benefit and use. The benefit comes from being. The use comes from non-being. I don't understand it. That's what...

I agree with what you're saying, but the type of non-being you describe seems different to me than the non-being described elsewhere in the TTC. In th...

Awww shucks. And, given the internet and all the associated media, more visible.

At the risk of repeating myself, they feel the same way about you.

They feel the same way about you. That's how we got to this place. If we ever want to get out of it, we have to try something different. I'm a liberal...

The moderators sometimes take a dim view of ignoring the rules so transparently. We'll see.

It is inconsiderate to ignore an explicit specification for the discussion clearly expressed in the original post. It's also against the rules of the ...

This isn't ethics or morality, it's all of philosophy. That being said, you're right. All the meat is in the underlying assumptions. That's why many p...