It's a fact!

Recently in an on-line discussion I was involved in one of the participants stated a relatively well-known and accepted fact. One of the other participants said "That's your opinion, and I'm entitled to mine."

No, it's a FACT and just because you don't know it, doesn't mean your argument has any validity. There are not always two sides to an argument.

You're protesting in the wrong place!

To me, protesting in front of banks or on Wall Street is like protesting in front of the rat's nest.

Protest where it can influence a lawmaker, that's where the power is. In D.C., at your state capital, in the voting booth, in e-mails to your congressional reps. I've done it, they respond. Not always the way I'd like, but...

My 2 cents.

Walruses and Carpenters

In Napolean Hill's Think and Grow Rich (written in 1937), he refers to the denizens of Wall Street not as Bulls and Bears, but as "Walruses and Carpenters"... referring to Lewis Carroll's poem about a walrus and a carpenter that trick dozens of oysters to join them on the beach, where they eat every last one.

In light of the current "Occupy Wall Street" situation I thought that was an interesting insight. You may return to your lives now. Thank you.

God Wants You to Kill

Having read and re-read the Bible in my search for enlightenment, I am amazed by the rationalizations for violence in the name of God. Gotama Siddhartha said the only thing you should kill is your anger.

I'm thankful that I found the way of Tao.

Bad Taoist

I'm not a very good Taoist.

The first rule of being a Taoist: Don't talk about being a Taoist. Okay, maybe not the first rule, but it's certainly up there. We're supposed to be humble and quiet about our philosophy. Says so in the Tao Te Ching.

It's sort of like being a born-again Christian, I'm so happy that I finally found a philosophy that lines up with my values that I have to tell everyone about it. I even have a website: You Might Be A Taoist that has lines like, "If you describe yourself as spiritual but not religious... you might be a Taoist". And I hope one day to turn it into a little book, like "Chicken Soup for the Soul".

See? Not being quiet about it. In fact, sometimes I'm quite militant about it when Christians try to pummel me with scripture. I whack them back with peaceful Taoist thoughts.

If Taoists believed in hell, I'd probably have to go there.

I Pledge Allegiance

There have been a lot of postings lately on Facebook (due to the 9-11 anniversary, I think) regarding the "Pledge of Allegiance". Typically they are written in all caps, because that makes it somehow easier to see the fervor of the author.

I've always thought that pledging allegiance to a flag made little sense, like worshiping idols. I have no problem with pledging allegiance to the republic of the United States of America, but being a Taoist, I don't believe in G-O-D.

So...

As a veteran who supports our troops, a registered voter, and a Taoist, I can easily say the pledge, with my hand over my heart, without the words that I find unnecessary or divisive:

"I pledge allegiance to the... United States of America, and to the republic... one nation... indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Easy-peasy :)

Life continues to be Perfect. No kidding.

Life is perfect.

With all its ups and downs, laughter and tears, pleasures and disappointments, how could it possibly be any better? If you really got everything you wanted would it be more perfect? Really?? Boring!

Oh, and Tao is all.

Namaste.

Enlightened!

From this morning's meditation...

1. Describing Tao is a paradox.
It is so indescribable that if you try to describe it you limit your understanding of what it is. You could write pages and pages of descriptions and still not have it all. You could call her the Mother of All Things but that only describes a small portion of what she is.

2. Gods can be lied to to or hidden from, gods get angry. Tao sees all, knows all, is all, and cares nothing about what choices you make. Tao never tries to teach you a lesson. Tao has no commandments but it does have rules (including the rules of physics and logic) that are impossible to violate. You can't pray mightily and get the sun to rise in the west, water to not be wet, gravity to not work, etc. You might figure out a way to temporarily bend them but they will always prevail.

3. I cannot climb the mountain to enlightenment because I'm already the mountain. I cannot become more spiritual because I'm already a fully spiritual being (having a human experience... thanks Pierre Teilhard de Chardin!) However... I can live more in balance, show more compassion, and be more humble.

4. Life is what it is. You can't influence it by praying to non-existent gods. You aren't being punished for your sins. You don't get rewarded for being more pious than your neighbor. Bad things happen to good people, and bad people get away with horrible things all the time. Eventually a bad person might be punished by his or her peers, but there is no comeuppance in the afterlife.

5. There is only life. You aren't going to get rewarded in heaven or punished in hell. Those are stories that are made up by priests to make people give up control of their valuables: their time or their income.

6. Holy books are collections of stories used by self-proclaimed holy men to put fear, uncertainty, and doubt into the minds of people who might otherwise be quite happy with the facts. If you can take away something positive from a holy book, that's great, but by-in-large the stories are used to scare you into behaving the way the priests/rabbis/mullahs/monks/etc. want you to. Show me a religion where the congregation decides who is the true mouthpiece of the gods and I'll show you the exception rather than the rule. Church leadership always decides who is "holy". You'd think if they were so good at it there'd be no pedophiles, drug addicts, thieves, or adulterers in the pulpit.

7. We did not evolve from monkeys, we evolved with monkeys.
Monkeys have evolved beside us, like chimpanzees, gorillas, chickens, bacteria and daffodils. Trees don't evolve into ducks and we did not evolve from the monkey. Similar structures but different evolutionary paths. This is probably why they haven't found the "The Missing Link" yet, they haven't gone back far enough to primordial sludge where the ant/monkey/chimp/daffodil/gorilla/human/elephant family tree split.

8. All things are made from same basic set of atoms. The only form of reincarnation is some of your atoms being eaten by a worm, who is eaten by a chicken who hatches an egg that carries some of your atoms.

You are always Tao

Over at Christian Taoism HK Stewart beautifully writes:

Before you
undertook
this journey
of separateness
you call your life,
you were Tao.

Tao is changeless.

You were Tao.
You are Tao.
You will always be Tao.

You do not stop
being Tao
just because
you journey into being.

Government must do less

Lao Tzu's words about government reflect an attitude of smaller is better. How do we do that?

Fewer agencies "protecting" us.
Fewer laws and regulations.
Fewer subsidies.
Fewer "free" services.
No welfare.
No unemployment.
No social security.
Term limits.
Lower taxes.

I don't know how to do this, how to reboot the USA, but I fear it must be done before there is a complete collapse.

Acceptance

In a post on Dear Sugar at Rumpus.net, "Sugar" says that "Acceptance is a small quiet room."

Disagree. Acceptance is a large tent where all things are welcome. Acceptance is the key to serenity and enlightenment. Ego is a small room where you hear only your own voice.

Taoish Morals

Over on my ...You Might Be a Taoist website I received an email from a gentleman named "mike" who didn't leave me a return email address so I couldn't respond to him personally, so hopefully he stumbles over here...

In reference to the line "If you believe that you can be moral without religious guidelines... you might be a Taoist. (Verse 19)" he asked, "What universally accepted guideline exists to determine where the "moral" line is? If you can indeed be moral, you must have a standard. If there is a standard, then by definition it is universally accepted. What standard would a Taoist use?"

"Moral" from a Philosophical Taoist standpoint would be whatever is in harmony with Tao. Pointing out another's moral failings would not be something a Philosophical Taoist would do.

Having said that, I couldn't imagine that killing anything unless you were going to eat it or prevent it from killing you would be acceptable to a Taoist. I can't imagine that any sort of verbal or physical violence from bullying to rape to war would be acceptable to a Taoist. Lying and stealing are pretty much out.

Maybe verse 54 is a better reference point: 
Cultivate Tao within oneself; and one's virtue will be perfected.
Cultivate it within the household, and one's virtue will be abundant.
Cultivate it within the neighborhood, and one's virtue will be enduring.
Cultivate it within the nation, and one's virtue will be overflowing.
Cultivate it within the entire world, and one's virtue will be universal. 

Marriage and Civil Unions

I'm not feeling particularly Taoish today. Or maybe I am.

A homophobic Utah legislator has proposed a law which would include wording that speaks of legal marriage as being between a man and a woman and that marriage and family "predate all governments and are supported by and consistent with the Laws of Nature and Nature's God, the Creator and Supreme Judge of the World, affirmed in the nation's founding Declaration of Independence."

This is so unconstitutional on so many levels that it's not even funny.

Here's my Taoish opinion: Anybody of legal age that wants to get married for any reason should be allowed to. Men to women, men to men, women to women, first cousins, brother to brother, who cares? If a woman with health insurance wants to marry her poor widowed grandmother so that grandma can be covered under granddaughter's plan, let 'em!

Certainly, in spite of what some religions would like you to believe, it has been well proven that you don't need to be married to have kids, so who says that married couples are required to have sex??? (I know, I know... some folks say the sex ended the day they got married.)

Religions have hijacked the word marriage and made it "ordained of God and between a man and a woman". That's bull. It's a contract ordained by the state, and if you don't believe it try and get married without a marriage license.

And on the subject of civil unions, why can't a man or woman enter into as many of those as they want? It's really a contract, so why stop a wanna-be polygamist from "unionizing" a half dozen women? Let 'em! More money in license fees for the county coffers.

And that's my Taoish thought for today.

Da Pope

"VATICAN CITY, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI formally credited a miracle to his predecessor, paving the way for Pope John Paul II to be beatified May 1, the Vatican said Friday."

"The Vatican said the late John Paul II miraculously cured a nun who reportedly had Parkinson's disease... "

Reportedly ? So maybe she didn't r-e-a-l-l-y have it? Kind of a low standard for a 'medical miracle' isn't it? Not exactly like raising her from the dead.

Maybe she was just jittery from too much caffeine?

Life is (still) perfect.

Now that I've realized that I DO live in a perfect world, I do it fairly free from desire.

What could be better? A world where I could have everything I desired? A world entirely at peace? A world where the sun shines every day? A world where I didn't have physical and mental challenges? BORING!

No question that there are others who have lives much, much harder than mine and would probably be happy with just regular meals and a safe place to sleep.

For 25+ years I went through that "highly driven for success" part of my life, desiring a bigger house and fancier cars. Now I'm happier to just accept what comes and be satisfied with what I've got. And I'm getting rid of stuff I don't use, need, or care about.

My life may not always easy or fun, but it's mine.

And life is perfect. ;)

(Posted this at ramblingtaoist.blogspot.com and I liked it so much, thought I'd put it here.)

Attacking Christians? Me??

A semi-Christian (he doesn't go to church, not sure that he believes all of the Bible) friend of mine took offense at this quote from my ...You Might Be a Taoist website.

"If you have a hard time reconciling proven historic and scientific facts with contradictory stories passed down by uneducated superstitious desert dwellers, edited and re-edited by generations of religious and government leaders for their own benefit, constantly quoted out of context by followers with their own agendas, about a god who's described as jealous, petty, indecisive, and ruthless, having murdered millions, including admittedly innocent victims... you might be a Taoist."

He felt that I was attacking certain people whose religion was important to them, had maybe even saved their lives.

I tried to explain that he was missing the point. I wasn't attacking anyone, I was just sayin...

Symmetry

I took my 6 year-old granddaughter to an indoor playground Wednesday.

At the playground there was a young boy about her age who was not symmetrical.
His features were not symmetrical, his physical movements were not symmetrical.
His behavior was not symmetrical, his speech pattern was not symmetrical.

His eagerness to attract a playmate shown in the ear-to-ear crooked smile he flashed at anyone who came near. Adults and older children regarded him with curiosity and pity, so he was left alone, except for his mother.

He was sitting on the ground near the jungle-gym when a little girl, maybe 2 years old,  baby-staggered up to him and held out a toy. The asymmetrical boy smiled an asymmetrical smile and gently took the toy from her, examined it and handed it back. The little one smiled back at him, retrieved her toy, and staggered off.

Verse Two of the Tao Te Ching says that by defining beauty you have defined what is ugly.