THE |
|
a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects. |
To: thelema93-l now @egroups.com From: nagasiva@luckymojo.com (xiwangmu) Subject: Nothing Doing 49990719 IVom Hail Old Boy! Hail Uncarved Block! re the difference between the not-doingness of the lush (laziness) and taoism ('wu-wei'): # ># The "yoda-esque" (or should I say taoist?) method of # ># "not-doing" is an entirely different beast, as I'm sure # ># you're well aware, involving perfect balance. mu: # >I disagree. this is the reason that fabulous tales from # >taoists about sages intoxicated by wine and general # >drunkards moving with the tao are so important. it is too # >easy to condemn those who will not serve us. far better to # >become useless to the 'movers and shakers' of the world. # Could you explain your last sentance a little more clearly? busibodies making Important Events and Things tell us that we need to get moving if we are going to Accomplish, Achieve, and Produce (!). if they see us doing nothing we may become a part of their Grand Plan. if we can be put to Good Use, like the straight pine to the carpenter, then we may become occupied with their Implementation. if we are useless to them, like the gnarled old tree whose name we've forgotten because it is so useless and why bother with it anyway, then we will have so much more time to laze about and do nothing, not trying to Amount to Something and thus wasting precious time! oh p'u! # Yes-- but at the same time within the same tradition you see # recommendations for that centered-ness I referred to as well # as involved practices which are openly anti-drugs and sex.... of course. busibodies will infiltrate all social groups, even those which espouse doing nothing! # >the principle of 'uselessness' is directly supported by # >clever and self-interested hedonism that you've attempted # >to discern from taoist wisdom. # # Are you saying we can't differentiate here? I would hesitate to do so and caution against it. # (Certainly from the vantage point of keter this is irrelevant. # But from the vantage point of malkuth?) from Malkuth all things are visible, from Kether only one. here: One Taoist saying is: "The Tao does not *do* anything. Yet through it, all things get done." In spirit, the Tao is close to the idea of effortless action. If anything, the Tao is certainly something which acts "effortlessly". Now, insofar as the Taoist Sages were in harmony with the Tao, did they not also act effortlessly? Did they really "make an effort" to write what they wrote, or did they not rather draw upon the powers of the Tao? Of the Tao, Laotse said words to the effect: When you look for it, you cannot see it When you listen for it, you cannot hear it But when you use it, it is inexhaustible So is not their success due to their using the inexhaustible powers of the Tao? Did the Taoists feel they were the authors and inventors of their words and ideas, or that their words and ideas were coming through them? Did they feel like active instigators or like mediums? Did they feel active or passive in writing, or neither? That is, was it really they who wrote or did their writings seem to have a sort of life of their own that flowed back and forth like aimless clouds riding on the winds? ... The following poem by Su Tung-Pu .... ...is about Tao Yuan-Ming. The way is lost, and men have lost themselves Words spoken now are never from the heart The refined gentlemen south of the Yangtze In the midst of drunkenness still sought fame. Yuan-ming alone was pure and true, Living his life in talk and laughter. He was like a bamboo before the wind, Swaying and bending, all its leaves atremble, Some facing up, some down, each a different shape -- When he had his wine, the poems wrote themselves. At this point, many readers will object and say, "Of course an artists work becomes effortless once he has obtained mastery! Indeed, true mastery consists precisely in the fact that his works seems so 'effortless'. A good writer's writing seems effortless. A good juggler juggles so effortlessly. A good driver drives effortlessly. A virtuoso musician's playing is effortless indeed; if it were not effortless, he would not be a true virtuoso. But what you totally forget is the enormous amount of energy, work, discipline, and effort involved in learning the skill! That's where the real effort comes in -- in learning the skill rather than in practising it. So all this fine sounding Chinese "Wu-Wei" stuff is highly misleading! It focuses only on the end product and totally ignores all the painful steps of the learning process!" To this I reply that I have not forgotten it. I simply don't believe it! I do believe that much learning does involve making an effort, but my point is that it not always does [sic], and more important yet, in many cases where it does, it really doesn't have to! In other words I am asserting that Wu-Wei -- effortless action -- is applicable *to the very learning process itself!* Yes, this is the main thesis of this chapter ["On Making an Effort"]. ... The question whether painful effort is really necessary to master a subject is still highly controversial. There are those like myself who say, "If you really love a subject, it is not necessary to make an effort to learn it". Others say "Posch! That sounds nice, but is only wishful thinking". Well, who is really right? Or is there a third possibility? I think the situation is most beautifully summed up in the following passage. In the *Dialogue of P'ang Yun* and the *Records of Pointing at the Moon* we find that P'ang Yun and his wife had a son and daughter, and that the whole family were devoted to Ch'an. One day P'ang Yun, sitting quietly in his temple, made this remark: "How difficult it is! How difficult it is! My studies are like drying the fibers of a thousand pounds of flax in the sun by hanging them on the trees!" But his wife responded: "My way is easy indeed! I found the teachings of the Patriarchs right on the tops of the flowering plants!" When their daughter overheard this exchange, she sang: "My study is neither difficult nor easy. When I am hungry I eat, When I am tired I rest." _______________________________________________ "The Tao is Silent", by Raymond Smullyan, Harper and Row, 1977; pp. 158-62. ---------------------------------- centered in Malkuth all things are a chore, so many obstacles. now we need to join with Agape as nothing can be done. centered in Kether all things are easy, so much power. now we need to summon Thelema as so much is to be done. centered in tao, all things are what they are. with the Way, doing nothing is perfection! blessed beast! mu
The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org. |
Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site. |
The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories, each dealing with a different branch of religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge. Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit: |
|
interdisciplinary:
geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc. |
SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):
OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST
Southern
Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo,
including slave narratives & interviews
|