Worshipping false Idols

Paraphrasing Alan Watts again: " The more clear your image of god, the less powerful it is, because the more you're clinging to it, the more it's an idol."

Grateful People are Happier

"Studies show that grateful people are happier. Happy people are thankful that good things happen to them -- even though their lives might be no better than those of the unhappy people next door." - Robert A. Emmons, PhD

This explains a lot about why I'm usually so happy.

Five Quick Things that I'm grateful for:
1. Life
2. I get to live in one of the greatest places in the world, in the Rockies. Also, I grew up in one the greatest places in the world: the Champlain Valley near the Green Mountains.
3. I'm self employed, in a field that I love, making enough money to satisfy my needs.
4. Blue skies
5. Wonderful family members

You Have the Keys

More from Alan Watts: "...wherever we stand on the path, we are really at the Goal. It is like looking all over the house for your keys only to find that you are carrying them in your hand..."

Be as Evil as You Like

Paraphrasing Alan Watts:

There's big difference between someone who is moral out of fear that they will be punished by God, and a person who is moral even though they know they are perfectly free to sin as much as they want with no repercussions.

When you are free to be as evil as you like you will find the idea rather tedious.

They Get What They Get

A Taoish thought from "House M.D." (Season 6 episode 4) "Instant Karma":

"People don’t get what they deserve, they just get what they get. There’s nothing any of us can do about it.

What's Taoish?

This is a living document. By that, I mean that I will update this as my path drifts. And it's a vanity piece. Sorry. Sometimes I'm vain.

I can't remember exactly when I stumbled onto my first translation of the Tao Te Ching. I know it was a result of my looking for something older than Christianity/The Bible as a key to spiritual enlightenment. It was probably in the summer of 2008.

I was raised in a mostly Protestant fashion and had left church attendance in my late teens. At that point and up until a few years ago I would have described myself as an agnostic.

Currently I consider myself a Philosophical Taoist. I am not a member of any Taoist group and I consider Taoism a philosophy, not a religion. I am opposed to religion in every form that I have come across so far.

Sun Worship

George Carlin: " I worship the sun. Sun worship is fairly simple. There's no mystery, no miracles, no pageantry, no one asks for money, there are no songs to learn, and we don't have a special building where we all gather once a week to compare clothing."

We're all atheists

Stephen Roberts: “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

I'm okay with that... well except for maybe Aten. ;)

Frustrated v Happy

You're frustrated because you believe in a god that monitors your every thought and action, and then rewards or punishes you. I believe in free will and a source that provides me with all I need to be happy. Therefore I am.

Beginnings of the Universe

I'm not sure if I care how or why the universe came into existence. All I know is that when I opened my eyes, there it was.

Verse 25

"There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born. It is serene. Empty. Solitary. Unchanging. Infinite. Eternally present. It is the mother of the universe. For lack of a better name, I call it the Tao." - Stephen Mitchell translation

Getting the Finger

The Master has pointed the way to the true path. While most people have stopped to worship His Finger, I choose to follow the path.

Being Human

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” - Teilhard de Chardin

道可道非常道

from Verse 1

The tao that can be tao'd is not the unique Tao.

No one can tell you what your path is. That includes spokespeople for religions and any book claimed to be "the word of God". These are books are not the actual word of God, but the interpretation by man of what they think God said to them. Ignore them. Find your own path.

The name that can be named is not the true name.

It's true name is not "water", anymore than it is "agua", 水 or "H2O". Would not a rose by any other name smell as sweet?