Post by nonamePost by {:-])))Post by nonamePost by {:-])))Post by nonameMaybe the only useful kind of "worship" is to remain on the Way.
For you, that could be very true.
I tend not to "worship" Dao, God, nor much of anything.
Naturally, depending on what, "worship" means.
I think the word "worship" probably has very different meanings for
priests, for those who wish to be safely blessed so they can follow
their desires instead of the Way, for actual seekers after truth, and
for "God".
You mention the idea of worshiping Tao, which doesn't make much sense to
me since Tao is not alive to know the difference, or care.
Please allow me to rephrase.
I tend not to "worship" anything much,
for example, remaining on the Way.
Look to the directions toward which your mind moves, look to the way
your choices are made, observe these at every branching of possibility;
when you find that which is constant, you will know what it is that you
practice religiously, you will know the mode of your worship, the nature
of your God.
This morning then, for breakfast,
as a doer, a be'er sounds good.
Making that two, for now.
Post by nonamePost by {:-])))While remaining on the Way is certainly best,
it's not something I pay attention to as a ritual.
Rituals are for those who pretend to religion at their own convenience;
they are quick and easy, readily slipped in between appointments, and
indicative of the practitioner's actual religion.
As is not uncommon with words/names/ming,
the word, ritual, means something.
In the TTC, 1.2,
it is written: "ming ke ming fei chang ming"
which can be translated to mean how names,
such as ritual, are able to name, and yet,
what the name means in one case
or place or to one person is not
always the same eternally.
For me, quite often, I do yoga ritually,
along with exercise as a matter of course.
Almost every day, stretching, relaxing, sitting,
exerting myself and other stuff is done.
It's a form of how my world is tied, retied,
and is my religion of sorts. I don't pretend to do.
It's simply what I do how I do what I do.
Post by nonamePost by {:-])))The phrase, "remain on the Way"
reminds me of what it can mean to ride a wave.
To be in the Zone would be to remain on the Way.
If one is on the Way he will also be in the zone,
Okay.
Post by nonameand if one is in the
zone then his path has at least intersected with the Way, during his
time in the zone. The Way is where the zone leads.
Yes. I appreciate that mode very much.
And am in that place basically most all the time.
But not always.
Here again, between zone and Zone
there can be, for me, made a difference.
I don't worship being in the Zone.
When I am, I am. When I'm not, I'm not.
When I walk, I walk, and am in the zone,
assuming I don't trip over something.
When I'm in the Zone, otoh, it's Way cool.
When I'm not in the Zone, it's okay.
When I'm not in the zone, when I can't walk,
that's a bad trip. And a place I don't want to be.
Thus, I'd say, for me, there's an anti-worship
sort of place or deal or head-space.
When I'm down, bummed out, I don't like it.
And so I wiggle and squirm and try to return
to being in what I'd call, in this case, the zone.
To try and get into the Zone, with a capital Z,
is not worshipped, but is most useful at times.
To win the game, to ride the wave, etc.
Post by nonamePost by {:-])))Others meanings and senses of the phrase
could also apply and be of use at times.
People can, and will, make up all manner of egregious horseshit whenever
they believe that doing so is to their advantage; others will believe
them when they see advantage for themselves in believing.
Sounds like what you have in mind
when you speak of church, and pastors, and such.
Post by nonameThose who are
centered within the Way live so deeply in the zone that the concept of
advantage does not exist for them,
That resonates with me.
Post by nonameexcept to tell them that those who
seek it abide outside the Way.
I don't normally speak of the Way, except
to folks who are interested in Dao, specifically.
I wouldn't go telling my wife's pastor
that he's an asshole for taking up a donation
because he has a church to administer.
Business is business.
Maybe it left a bad memory in your experience.
Businesses can be seen to have minds of their own.
A new word, egregore, may speak to this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egregore
Church business is what busy church people attend to.
To condemn them, and all such, might be what you do.
Or, to simply see, Desire, as being a bad thing.
Post by nonamePost by {:-])))Post by nonameTo me, the idea of a "God" that soaks up the mindless adulation of
worshipers without instantly blasting them into their constituent parts
for recycling, that kind of "God" is either unworthy of the title, or is
patiently investing in their unrealized potential.
Post by {:-])))In terms of staying out of harm's way, it is worth
developing a relation ship
with Dao.
You can hardly develop a "relationship" with Tao, any more than you can
develop a "relationship" with gravity; you might manage to learn not to
jump off cliffs, but that hardly qualifies as a "relationship" imo.
Again, a word has gotten in the way.
That's what words are for, isn't it? To get in the way and prevent the
understanding of those who cannot understand, while at the same time
ensuring the understanding of those who can?
In some schools of thought, yes.
Esoteric thought was for initiates only.
Hidden in plain sight, others did not fear.
What is occult is hidden, by definition.
Post by nonamePost by {:-])))To develop a sense of balance
can mean to have a relationship with Earth,
with gravity, with Dao, with nature, with what is.
How I relate to gravity, in this sense,
is what keeps me from falling off the roof.
I respect it.
But I don't worship it.
At times I say it doesn't even exist.
I respect the rattlesnakes in my path, which means that I do *not*
ignore them when I know they are there.
Reminds me of a story.
I happened to stop along the trail, being all one
with everything and everything, removing a gnat
that had gotten lodged in my chest-hair.
Then, looking down, I saw a snake at my feet.
It was very long, many feet (without having any).
I said to myself, perhaps out loud, oh, a snake.
A large snake. And my eyes scanned its length.
When I got to its rattle, an involuntary Whoa!
happened to emerge from my lungs and mouth.
The snake did nothing. It was simply worshipping
the Sun, as snakes are known to do. Absorbing rays,
as I, also, was known to do.
Ignoring it was the next thing.
As it was ignoring me.
They do not attack, yet will defend themselves.
Don't corner them and all will be well.
The Sage can ignore many things
and not get bit in the process.
Post by nonamePost by {:-])))As such, I'd say I respect spacetime curvature
in my neighborhood, locally, when on the roof,
so as to not end up falling, accelerating
toward the ground as a less on.
Post by nonamePost by {:-])))Such a ship
might not guarantee there'd be
no storms when one is at sea, however,
they would be easier to navigate when one is.
If it was within my reach to show you how to understand Tao in a way
that would let you grasp the inherent truth pointed to by TTC-50, you
would realize in that instant that the sentence you just wrote is a
blatant statement of incomprehension, and you would awaken. Since that
is beyond my abilities, what I can say is that the phrase "might not
guarantee" is the crux of it.
A way I see TTC-50 is to transcend forms
of a tendency to identify with the physical.
In such a state of being, I am able to enter
water and not get wet.
Nice theory I suppose, how does that work out for you?
The me that enters water
is not the me that gets wet.
It works very well, in fact, and in myth.
Post by nonameI find that not entering water except when I need to get wet works out
swimmingly.
At times, when there is water, I cross over.
Streams, for me, being barefoot, are not a problem.
Streams of thought as wells
often carry me for a spell at times.