tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5842932455093396534.post8262990807832768051..comments2023-10-11T05:53:28.724-06:00Comments on Diary of a Daoist Hermit: The Dao and Wicked ProblemsThe Cloudwalking Owlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753861683491740903noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5842932455093396534.post-54437185116221081742012-10-06T05:08:49.351-06:002012-10-06T05:08:49.351-06:00Andrius:
Well, I suppose I have had a bit of a &q...Andrius:<br /><br />Well, I suppose I have had a bit of a "leg up" in that I was initiated into Daoism pretty much through no effort on my part at all. I joined a martial arts club and one thing led to another and I was in a Daoist temple being initiated. That is an extremely rare thing to have happened. But it is my particular path. <br /><br />There is a saying by a Japanese Karate master to the effect that "the man makes the art, the art doesn't make the man". What I take this to mean is that a specific school of thought only exists as the people who follow it manifest it. <br /><br />People either don't understand this, or refuse to admit it, but every part of a tradition---be it Daoism or Roman Catholicism---started out as an innovation created by one specific person who thought it would be a good idea. The reason why people don't want to say this out loud is because they all want to tag on the coat tails of the tradition. <br /><br />The Pope will never admit, for example, that until the late 19th century there was no doctrine of "Papal Infallibility", or that priestly celibacy was a creation of the Middle Ages and didn't exist in the early church, or, that Bishops and Priests were originally elected by their congregations instead of being appointed from higher up the food chain. (St. Augustine was elected priest and Bishop against his will----.)<br /><br />As a modern educated man I understand this fact and it guides my experience of life. By happenstance, I ended up finding myself an initiated Daoist. I find a great deal of value in some of the concepts associated with that tradition, so I work with it like a sort of "game" or "puzzle". But ultimately, I'm a "cafeteria Daoist". I pick and choose what works for me. <br /><br />Words can be descriptive or prescriptive. Don't try to make religion or philosophy something that you have to twist your life into following. Instead, find your own path and look to see if there are others who have had similar insights to yours. Use these experiences as guides, but understand that life is always an adventure and ultimately we have to head out into unexplored territory and do the best we can.The Cloudwalking Owlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12753861683491740903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5842932455093396534.post-46815263582164675922012-10-06T02:04:39.329-06:002012-10-06T02:04:39.329-06:00Hi,
I can understand your desire to find an integ...Hi,<br /><br />I can understand your desire to find an integrated worldview – I am also searching for one. Daoism at times do look promising, for the reasons you mentioned – it seems to integrate well the personal micro level with the bigger picture. Yet I have a few doubts about this.<br /><br />First of all, sometimes I doubt if we can ever really understand daoist (or for that matter any far eastern) thought. The languages are very difficult to learn, and even after doing that we encounter a culture that is very different from ours, and thus very hard to understand. And that is a very good environment to flourish for all kinds of misunderstandings and even outright lies.<br /><br />Of course, with many years of studies and after devoting lot's of energy one probably can overcome these difficulties, but that brings me to my second point – it might simply be not worth it in the end, because similar things can be achieved „closer to home“. Looking at the history of philosophy or religion in the West, I think we can find an expression of almost any conceivable position. From what I hear, there are tens of thousands of different protestant denominations. Also, the catholic church is not as monolithic as it may seem. And even if we had to go to ancient Greece for some school of philosophy, that would still be a shorter trip language and culture–wise than going to ancient China. <br /><br />And that brings me to my third doubt: possibility of having a community. Even if one decides, that something extremely valuable can be found by journey to the East, due to the difficulties of the journey it will most likely be a solitary one. I live in a predominantly catholic country, but even here it would be easier for me to form a group of some uncommon protestant denomination, or a local Stoic community, than it would to form a group to study daoist or hindu philosophy or religion. Sure, there are a lot of quack yoga groups already, I am talking about serious study here. Now, one could be a hermit, like you, but I would very much prefer having a community of like minded people.<br /><br />What do you think about all this? Is it really that difficult? Are there essential (I'm not talking about minor differences) things in Daoism that there are not in the West? Does community matter much?<br /><br />Cheers!<br />A.Andriushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17573762725500978361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5842932455093396534.post-31049941364270588342012-09-17T21:42:59.185-06:002012-09-17T21:42:59.185-06:00What an interesting and insightful post. Thanks.What an interesting and insightful post. Thanks.HK Stewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08218522475926750437noreply@blogger.com