Trick or Treating and the Tao Te Ching.
My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haulonfireforhigher goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Batman.anotherdaysgone gives you 1 red evil-flavoured pieces of bubblegum.awhiteshimmer tricks you! You get a wad of paper.dream_2_live gives you 1 red spearmint-flavoured pieces of taffy.harpgirl gives you 18 red-orange raspberry-flavoured gumdrops.incensetiedye tricks you! You get a piece of paper.julianameless tricks you! You get a wet rag.melchecicada tricks you! You get a dead frog.missanfran tricks you! You lose 1 pieces of candy!molly_mason tricks you! You lose 14 pieces of candy!rawki gives you 5 teal chocolate-flavoured gumdrops.onfireforhigher ends up with 10 pieces of candy, a wad of paper, a piece of paper, a wet rag, and a dead frog.Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.
Wow, the only people who gave anything to me are my Catholic friends and Brandon. You other people are mean!
Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing the self is enlightenment.
Conquering others is power
conquering the self is strength.
Know what is enough, and you will be rich.
Persevere, and you'll develop a will.
Remain in the center, and you'll always be at home.
Die without dying, and you'll endure forever.
--The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu, translated by Brian Browne Walker, number 33.
The closest translation of the word "Tao" is "Word" and, also, "Way", with the subtext of "the way the world works." I think I agree with Sadler in that spiritually, Taoism is the closest religion to the internal attitude of Christianity that there is -- at least from those bits of the Tao Te Ching that I have read. So close... and yet so far from the faith in Christ which matters. Like Judaism. Like Catholicism, when it's seen as a religion unto itself and not made subject to Christ's and the Apostles' instructions and teachings first. Like Calvinism, when the personal commands and instructions of Christ and the Apostles are exalted above the general and social commands -- or the commands above the Word of God Himself, which is Christ! Like Evangelical Protestantism when it neglects Biblical truth for emotional feeling and earthly satisfaction. How overjoyed would Lao Tzu (if there was such a person) have been to know that the Way and the Word which he meditated on and wrote about was incarnated as a man to save his soul! And how tragic that he likely never found out.
Number 34:
The great Tao (Word and Way) floods and flows in
every direction.
Everything in existence depends on it,
and it doesn't deny them.
It accomplishes it's work without naming or
making claims for itself.
Everything in existence is clothed and
nourished by it, but it doesn't lord
over anything.
Aimless, ambitionless, it might be called "small."
Everything in existence returns to it, and
still it doesn't lord over anything.
Thus it might also be called "great."
Because it has no desire to be great,
it can achieve greatness.
Not an entirely accurate portrait of God by any means, but not entirely inaccurate either. And does it not resemble the spirit of humility that Christ displayed, and that which we should display? I think it does.
Galen
Wow, the only people who gave anything to me are my Catholic friends and Brandon. You other people are mean!
Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing the self is enlightenment.
Conquering others is power
conquering the self is strength.
Know what is enough, and you will be rich.
Persevere, and you'll develop a will.
Remain in the center, and you'll always be at home.
Die without dying, and you'll endure forever.
--The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu, translated by Brian Browne Walker, number 33.
The closest translation of the word "Tao" is "Word" and, also, "Way", with the subtext of "the way the world works." I think I agree with Sadler in that spiritually, Taoism is the closest religion to the internal attitude of Christianity that there is -- at least from those bits of the Tao Te Ching that I have read. So close... and yet so far from the faith in Christ which matters. Like Judaism. Like Catholicism, when it's seen as a religion unto itself and not made subject to Christ's and the Apostles' instructions and teachings first. Like Calvinism, when the personal commands and instructions of Christ and the Apostles are exalted above the general and social commands -- or the commands above the Word of God Himself, which is Christ! Like Evangelical Protestantism when it neglects Biblical truth for emotional feeling and earthly satisfaction. How overjoyed would Lao Tzu (if there was such a person) have been to know that the Way and the Word which he meditated on and wrote about was incarnated as a man to save his soul! And how tragic that he likely never found out.
Number 34:
The great Tao (Word and Way) floods and flows in
every direction.
Everything in existence depends on it,
and it doesn't deny them.
It accomplishes it's work without naming or
making claims for itself.
Everything in existence is clothed and
nourished by it, but it doesn't lord
over anything.
Aimless, ambitionless, it might be called "small."
Everything in existence returns to it, and
still it doesn't lord over anything.
Thus it might also be called "great."
Because it has no desire to be great,
it can achieve greatness.
Not an entirely accurate portrait of God by any means, but not entirely inaccurate either. And does it not resemble the spirit of humility that Christ displayed, and that which we should display? I think it does.
Galen