Saturday

template dao


lovely blue and brown leaves over small storied house, look on top floor man gathering paints, first floor, men unwrap large scroll, admire; outside man walking over small footbridge to visit


template Chinese characters for "template"


Must you see nature as a machine?
Is your only learning chemistry, physics, and
ontology?
What if poetry was your template for life?
Can't you know Tao by the feeling of mud in
your sandals?
Thus are the sages called silly:
They have given up their prejudices.



The world appears as you perceive it. It is not that your perceptions are wholly shaped by a so-called objective world. The habit of interpretation is interactive; we do things to test our hypothesis until we have created a complicated web of sensory input and centrifugal manipulation. By the time we are "mature," we have created innumerable layers of interpretation and biased perception that become our templates for living. Of course, we could have some fun with this situation. We could change the templates that we use to interact with the world.

What if we used poetry instead of science? What if we substituted spirituality for politics? The results of such experimentation are often fresh, happy and unusual. Unfortunately, when carried to their logical conclusions, they are just as futile as any other method. Templates are essential for beginners, a hindrance for veterans. True followers of Tao give up all templates and are without prejudices. They return to the actions of infants. Thus they are called silly. But because they view the world with their inner eye, they transcend all the sorrows of life.




template
365 Tao
daily meditations
Deng Ming-Dao (author)
ISBN 0-06-250223-9

enjoy paintings under parasol tree
Enjoy paintings under parasol tree
by Fu Bao Shi

a member of her family for Caldonia
we loved you but a short time
.... you will be with us always.



We have received a donation to the Heifer Project of a flock of Geese.
Add to that another flock (or any donation), and we will be sending
two flocks of ducks to families in need around the world!
(I am matching every two donations)

http://catalog.heifer.org/index.cfm will get you to the main catalogue
http://catalog.heifer.org/ducks.cfm is the duck spot!
and for the folks who would rather not send animals, there is a special gift of knitting basket or bees!
receive a full HTML copy of the daily meditation sent directly to your inbox, please send a note with the words "subscribe tao" in the subject line to duckdaotsu to unsubscribe or take a vacation, contact me with specifics at the same address!

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