T_Clark

I left my response to this from my previous post. I don't need people to agree with me about my views, but I need to test whether I really understand,...

I don't understand how this is relevant. Scientists hypothesize physical dark matter based on requirements of theories of gravitation even though it's...

I don't know enough about Greek philosophy to comment on this specifically, but the basic idea of an unnamable reality underlying our everyday world i...

This is similar to how I see it. I don't think this is accurate from a psychological and neurological perspective. Babies are not blank slates. They b...

Geez Louise, you're getting way ahead of me. Give me a chance to catch up. I'll say what I always say - the Tao is metaphysics. I'm an admirer of R.G....

Ok, but when I say "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun," I don't mean that Juliet is literally t...

As I see it, it's a direct wordless experience, not a conceptual understanding. When I experience hope and fear, I recognize their hollowness, meaning...

As I understand it, we don't look to science for guidance, we look within ourselves.

This is a good, thoughtful, well-written post. The fact that the Tao is not a thing was a revelation to me. I'm ok with this if you are being metaphor...

This is one of the first verses that grabbed me in Mitchell's translation - really opened my eyes. I like it better than any other version. Whether or...

No, it's not "objectively superior," although many people hate Mitchell's translation and Mitchell himself. It's a matter of preference, i.e. subjecti...

Hypocritical/philosophical; tomato/tomahto.

This is a good description, although I don't think Lao Tzu saw humanity as a lower level - maybe just more complicated. The Tao Is absolute simplicity...

This seems like a good definition to me.

This has come up before in different contexts. I try to be honest and self-aware about my prejudices, of which there are many. When I put those attitu...

I must admit I understood little of what you wrote, but I do have a suggestion. The letter is long and dense. I think you might have a better chance o...

I misunderstood. I thought you were trying to call into question the entire approach of the Tao Te Ching, which would have been outside the scope of t...

Then why were you so argumentative?

Thanks. I probably used a confusing word. By "coincidence" I meant that the events described happened at the same time, not that it was (necessarily) ...

I have had and will continue to say plenty of negative things about the US. And for what it's worth, Japan had about 2 million deaths in World War 2. ...

I acknowledge they are prejudices. I thought you wanted me to be honest and I tried to be without making myself look good.

Please forgive me for this. It’s from 1975. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjRqj_STFFM Franco was not well liked here in the US. As for Spain, like a...

Forgive me for this. I just remembered that I wrote a long discussion of Verse 25 a few years ago for a discussion group I was in. It includes several...

It is, or at least it was. "King" refers to temporal rulers in China, so in Ethiopia and elsewhere, it refers to whoever is in charge there. A lot of ...

As we've discussed elsewhere, I think it's reasonable for you to work to keep the discussion on track as laid out in the original post. On the other h...

This is the heart of what Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and others were trying to show us. The Tao is the primordial, undivided, unnamable reality. They call i...

I've always wondered about this. I don't think there was much contact between the east and west 2,500 years ago, so why this coincidence? Perhaps I'm ...

I've never read the rubaiyat. I should. I've added it to my list.

Welcome to the forum. The Lounge is where posts not really related to philosophy or science belong. Lounge posts don't show up on the front page. I th...

Thanks.

The Tao Te Ching is philosophy, metaphysics. What is says is not literally true - as you say, poetry. If it doesn't work for you, that's no surprise. ...

I'm not sure if you are referring to the Tao as literally the quantum vacuum or as a metaphor. I think taking it literally is mixing up metaphysics an...

I forgot - the translation you provided is by Gia-Fu Feng. If I remember correctly, Jane English provided the photographs in the book they wrote toget...

I think this is a pretty straightforward summary of the Taoist cosmology. This is something I've thought about a lot - the idea of returning. This is ...

It's not primarily incomplete information. The best informed of us don't know what's going to happen and to get to the position of being a decision ma...

I find I am almost always wrong when I try to predict what will happen next in politics or foreign affairs. The lesson I take from that is not to do m...

I think the most germane question is "What could possibly go wrong?" The US doesn't seem to have a good record of figuring that out in recent decades....

Hey, no fair knowing more than I do. But still, I'm not sure that's a good enough reason to go to war with China. Will China having control of Taiwane...

I don't think it's all that complicated. At bottom, people's values are and have always been the same - family, community, a decent life. I can't reme...

Generally, when I hear people complain about the loss of respect for values, they have their own personal values in mind, e.g. a lack of commitment to...

You can't convince or coerce people into respect and confidence in "traditional institutions, family, community, and religion," although maybe some pe...

Probably, but I don't think it matters. Taiwan is not important enough to US national interests to risk going to war there. I guess the best argument ...

In whatever language you read, the breadth and depth of your interest, commitment, and understanding is impressive. You also read really fast.

Yes, my reaction to the idea of just getting out was a positive one. It seemed that, as Randy Newman put it... It also seems like many of our expediti...

Really interesting. Thanks for the context. I wasn't clear to me from what you wrote, do you disagree with the steps I described, think they don't go ...

Do you read everything in Spanish or do you sometimes read in English?

I wonder if @"Pierre-Normand" has anything interesting to say about this. He’s our expert on online artificial intelligence.

@"Hanover" Out of curiosity, how often in your work at Loblaw, Hanover, and T Clark (no relation) do you use the following legal phrases? The truth, y...

My daughter got me a subscription to the “London Review of Books” for Christmas. Soon I will be very sophistimicated.

When I was a kid, I think pecan pie was the first thing I ever ate where I said “I can’t believe it tastes this good.”