Playing with Perspectives

[UnbornTao]

Everything occurs as a process.

Our attention tends to be placed on the immediate circumstance and on the desired outcome. This is ineffective as the whole event is overlooked. Rather, focus on the process as a whole.  What is it composed of? What is it trying to accomplish? What are the preceding steps that lead to a particular outcome?

Considering the result as another component of the process is more functional than thinking of it as a final, isolated element that comes after the process. 

For example, we think of things as of they were fixed--a punch, a pass, a fight, an emotion, a relationship. Yet these are not objects but activities. A "punch" doesn't exist except as a notion and label. In your experience, you don't find a "punch" but an arm moving a certain direction, with certain strength, coming from another body. And we call that whole event a punch.

Edited Monday at 06:43 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

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The language of a grown man, to the cosmic powers, sounds like babytalk to men.

Enjoyed reading Fragments by Heraclitus.

Edited Monday at 06:33 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Edited Monday at 06:44 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Explore the relationship between the urge to exist as a self and the experience of self-contraction. 

Edited Monday at 06:46 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Creating a purpose for your life seems to be a necessary aspect of being content. 

Edited Monday at 06:46 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Being honest isn't necessarily antithetical to dealing with others in a sensible, agreeable, gentle manner.

Edited Monday at 06:47 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

[UnbornTao]

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Man is a moving being. If he isn't moving towards what's good, he inevitably moves towards that which is not.

- Issai Chozanshi

 

Edited Monday at 06:49 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Freedom is being able to either do something, or not do it. Successfully fulfilling your self-agenda isn't based on true freedom. 

Think of emotions such as anger, for instance. Are you able not to do the emotion?

Edited Monday at 06:51 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

[UnbornTao]

 

 

Edited Monday at 06:52 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Moe regrets:

Edited August 12, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Pick a simple, small object in your vicinity, and then strip away the value, associations, concepts, knowledge, memory, and do on, relative to it. What is there as that when your additions and activities are set aside?

Edited Monday at 06:55 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

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To his disciples: The people studying Zen nowadays spend all their time on old Zen words and stories, quoting this fellow and citing that one as they deliberate fruitlessly over their koans. Trailing doggedly after other people's words. Feeding on their dregs. Caught in another man's tub, unable to break out into real freedom. They're down in the dark caves, living with the disembodied spirits. You won't find any of those musers or cogitators around here. Here i make people stand absolutely alone and independent right from the start, with their eyes fully open, so they can reach out through all the universe. Each one of the words and sayings uttered by the worthy teachers of the past was given in response to a particular occasion, according to changing conditions - they were trying to stop a child's crying by showing him an empty hand. How could anyone who belongs to the family of Zen have even a single Dharma to preach! If you chase after phrases and get muddled up in words, you're no better off than a man who loses his sword over the side of a ship and then marks the spot where it fell in on the railing.

- Bankei

 

Edited Monday at 06:56 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Everything we think, do, say, and feel is a form of manipulation--in the sense that it is created or expressed to change conditions. For example: You get angry to protect yourself from the hurt underlying the anger. The purpose of anger is to manipulate the condition of being hurt. Similarly, in the case of telling a joke, sometimes the purpose might be to get someone to like you--or some other effect. In general, you might adopt ways of acting and relating that are endearing, funny, agreeable--and intimidating, overbearing, demanding, and so on. Can you see the dynamic here?

What something is in itself has no utility for survival. In the context of survival, there is no inherent value in experiencing something for its own sake. Survival is concerned with what something is to me. It's a self-referential perception--a view of things based on how they relate to you, not on what they are in themselves.

What is generated for a purpose is an effect. Affecting equals manipulation. Manipulation occurs as an integral part of one's self-survival. Since it is not simply about what something is in and of itself, it is generated to accomplish an end--to produce a particular effect on the perceived condition. Used this way, it isn't negative or wrong per se.

Etymology of the word: to handle skillfully.

For example, you might recognize that others aren't seeing you the way you'd like to be seen. In response, you may attempt to change that image so the desired effect is achieved.

Can you begin to see the difference, and how it relates to this idea of manipulation?

Now, within the activity of manipulating, we can make two distinctions:

• Direct manipulation: Being straightforward and open about your actions and motives.
• Indirect manipulation: The form commonly viewed as negative--indirect, covert, deceptive, and, generally speaking, socially unacceptable. It involves obscuring one’s motives and misrepresenting one’s true intentions.

Edited Tuesday at 12:33 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

[UnbornTao]

I'm enjoying the Foundation show. Highly recommended. Beautiful visuals and scenery. I might read the books at some point. 

Edited Monday at 08:08 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

I got The Historical Jesus by The Great Courses. I find it fascinating to study this kind of historical figures.

Edited Monday at 08:10 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

You can start taking responsibility for your own thinking, feeling and acting.

A few superficial manifestations of this principle:

• If I'm overweight, I can start moving and eating healthy.
• If I smoke, I can stop smoking.
• If I feel incapable, I can feel capable
• If I can't focus for long, I can read and meditate consistently
• If I dislike my environment, I can either move or change my disposition
• If I do disempowering shit, I can do functional shit

Edited Monday at 08:12 PM by UnbornTao