[galacticsurfer]

Link
The Complete Works Of Chuang Tzu Translated by Burton Watson

1 : Free and Easy Wandering
2 : Discussion on Making All Things Equal
3 : The Secret of Caring for Life
4 : In the World of Men
5 : The Sign of Virtue Complete
6 : The Great and Venerable Teacher
7 : Fit for Emperors and Kings
8 : Webbed Toes
9 : Horses' Hoofs
10 : Riffling Trunks
11 : Let It Be, Leave It Alone
12 : Heaven and Earth
13 : The Way of Heaven
14 : The Turning of Heaven
15 : Constrained in Will
16 : Mending the Inborn Nature
17 : Autumn Floods
18 : Perfect Happiness
19 : Mastering Life
20 : The Mountain Tree
21 : T'ien Tzu-fang
22 : Knowledge Wandered North
23 : Keng-sang C'hu
24 : Hsu Wu-kei
25 : Tse-yang
26 : External Things
27 : Inputed Words
28 : Giving Away a Throne
29 : Robber Chih
30 : Discoursing on Swords
31 : The Old Fishermman
32 : Lieh Yu-k'ou
33 : The World

[TWilliam]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ReverseEngineer', 'U')nlike Physical Traits, Philosophy does not need to be passed from one generation to the next by biological reproduction. It can be passed from one individual to the next through IDEAS, and it can perpetuate itself through generations, really it can perpetuate itself for as long as there are people around to talk to and discuss ideas.

[Cid_Yama]

Like I said, you are better off with <b>The Tao of Pooh</b> <i>by Benjamin Hoff</i>.

English translation and western ears do not do Chuang Tzu justice.

Translations do not convey the metaphors known as common knowledge within a culture. The <i>meaning</i> is lost.

There was a Star Trek: Next Generation episode that addressed this when they encountered a species that spoke only in metaphors.

"Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" is meaningless unless you already know the story of Darmok and Jalad.

If everyone in your culture knows the story of Darmok and Jalad, everyone knows what you refer to.

Another culture, on the other hand, who are unfamiliar with Darmok and Jalad, won't understand the meaning.

It is amazing how much more is conveyed by the metaphors we speak than by the words.

Tao of Pooh will give you the gist, the meaning, the essence. Once you have that you can then go on to Chinese Taoist writings with some sense of comprehension. (By the way, the above translations of Chuang Tzu are atrocious.)

Try this site.
http://www.stillness.com/tao/index.html

[TWilliam]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cid_Yama', 'L')ike I said, you are better off with <b>The Tao of Pooh</b> <i>by Benjamin Hoff</i>.

English translation and western ears do not do Chuang Tzu justice.

Translations do not convey the metaphors known as common knowledge within a culture. The <i>meaning</i> is lost.

There was a Star Trek: Next Generation episode that addressed this when they encountered a species that spoke only in metaphors.

"Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" is meaningless unless you already know the story of Darmok and Jalad.

If everyone in your culture knows the story of Darmok and Jalad, everyone knows what you refer to.

Another culture, on the other hand, who are unfamiliar with Darmok and Jalad, won't understand the meaning.

It is amazing how much more is conveyed by the metaphors we speak than by the words.

Tao of Pooh will give you the gist, the meaning, the essence. Once you have that you can then go on to Chinese Taoist writings with some sense of comprehension. (By the way, the above translations of Chuang Tzu are atrocious.)

Try this site.
http://www.stillness.com/tao/index.html

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('katkinkate', 'W')estern civilisation is at the mental level of the adolescent, "I want everything I want, now and even more tomorrow! And don't tell me how to live my life!"

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cid_Yama', 'T')here was a Star Trek: Next Generation episode that addressed this when they encountered a species that spoke only in metaphors. "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" is meaningless unless you already know the story of Darmok and Jalad.

[kakkerlak]

Before it's even possible to think about building a new world, a better world, the old world/civilization has to disappear first. It is not longer possible to change the current way of thinking and the current way of doing things anymore. The system/world is not under our control anymore, we're just part of it.

Our minds are polluted and corruption is dripping into our souls every day, if we want it or not. Everything we have and everything we do has consequences. For every cookie we eat, for every time we flush the toilet, something beautiful is destroyed, without us even knowing about it. We don't even have a choice anymore; We need to eat, we need to go to the toilet, we need a roof above us. Many many more people need the exact same thing and that's just not possible; the Earth can't support that.

Our current civilization and everything associated with it is nothing less then a monster, a beautiful monster in some cases. Think about it; If we're hungry we can eat as much as we want, if we want knowledge we can sit behind our computers and simply download it, If we want to communicate, we just have to push a few buttons on our mobile phones. It's incredible. It is awesome. It's wonderful. And at the same time all those things have consequences for other people and other living things. At the same time it is horrifying, terrible, maybe even evil.

Every phone call, every hour on the internet, every minute in a car, every sandwich we eat. Everything we do has direct or indirect consequences for others. But we don't have a choice. Not a real choice. Not anymore.

Our civilization can't be fixed. We can't solve the problems we're facing. We can't solve overpopulation or the damage done to the environment. We can try but we inevitably fail at it. It's not under our control anymore.

History is not on our side either. Many things that happen now are the result of things that happened a long time ago. To be more accurate, everything that happens is the result of history. Reaction follows on action. Throw a ball against a wall and it will bounce back at you.

We have polluted the earth and we have allowed our species to breed like rabbits to get to a population of almost 7 billion. We did that and nobody else. We fight wars, we kill other people, we even kill other species. Sometimes we do these things without us even knowing about it.

However we turn, bend or twist this around. Whatever excuses we try to use to justify our behaviour. The truth will not change. We're responsible. We're responsible for our actions and blaming someone or something else is just stupid, foolish and futile.

We, humans, have build the current world situation. We made some good choices and we made some bad choices. Sometimes we didn't make a choice at all. The world as it is now is the result, the result of thousands of years of history. The result of many many choices.

Before we can even think about making a better world. Before we can make a new beginning, the old has to disappear first.

Wise man

Homo sapiens means "wise human". If we want to have a better world then we have to behave like "wise humans", using wisdom, by being wise. At this very moment we're still behaving like monkeys. Exactly like monkeys. A "wise man" is able to control him/her self. A monkey can't do that.

You can make a monkey do everything just by giving it a few bananas. The same applies to humans (at the moment). How much does it take to make you do something bad? To corrupt your mind? What's your price? How many bananas do i have to feed you?

It's not only our actions we have to learn to control. We also have to learn to control our thoughts. Hate, jealously, revenge, greed, anger, fear etc. are all thoughts/feelings with the power to corrupt us. Giving into one of these thoughts will inevitably result in some kind of suffering, into un-happiness. Anytime someone allows these thoughts for too long will make the world a tiny little bit worse.

If we want a better world we have to improve ourselves. Enlightenment is the goal here, love is the tool. We have to think about our own thoughts, analyze them and if necessary correct them.

I have still faith in humanity. I still believe we can make the world a better place, in time. I still believe humanity is able to take the path to enlightenment. But not before we have suffered the consequences from past and present actions. The ball will always bounce back when you throw it against a wall.

We are children, playing with fire

If you place your hand in fire you end up with a burned hand and that will hurt. We have to learn from that. We have to learn that placing our hands in fire is not a good idea. We have to learn to not do it anymore or else we will hurt ourselves again and again and again.

We have thousands of years of history to learn from. We made every mistake we can make, multiple times. We also have seen multiple examples of how we should behave, how we should think, how we should act. It is time to learn from it.

This is our real challenge. This is our real problem. We!

Have fun!
Roach

[dunewalker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kakkerlak', '.')..Homo sapiens means "wise human". If we want to have a better world then we have to behave like "wise humans", using wisdom, by being wise. At this very moment we're still behaving like monkeys. Exactly like monkeys. A "wise man" is able to control him/her self. A monkey can't do that.

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kakkerlak', 'W')e have thousands of years of history to learn from. We made every mistake we can make, multiple times. We also have seen multiple examples of how we should behave, how we should think, how we should act. It is time to learn from it.