New Age Taoism

[angrymoose]

I confess, that I'm biased. Shoot me but there exists some ideas like the law of attraction that sometime makes me cringe.

That's not to say that I don't think being positive attracts positivity but some people put a lot of fluffy interpretations I don't share.

Maybe, perhaps, I've just not been enlightened.

Feel free to share your experiences and don't feel constrained by my biases.

 

[Sunburned]

Do you mean ideas in New Age about Taoism?

 

[angrymoose]

Do you mean ideas in New Age about Taoism?

Sure. Ideas about and experiences of.

 

[zenzero]

Friend angrymoose,

New Age Taoism

All words are labels, so is the word TAO now why one needs another??
Yes, feel free to evolve and the new keeps coming from the old and what you say new will be old after some time so one at the time may say *new, newer, newest age taoism*!

Define what has evolved; as new to enable a change in labels.

Love & rgds

 

[Sunburned]

Sure. Ideas about and experiences of.

Zenzero said the same I think, but I'll phrase this another way... it's best to avoid the New Age interpretation of Tao and just focus on the Tao itself. There's nothing new in Tao.

 

[zenzero]

Friend angrymoose,

Let us try and understand this in oneness.
We both understand what Tao stands for. It is just a label someone used for everyone to understand that TAO means the *whole*.
So there is no point in using another label in place of it as it creates confusion.
We already find that still people are not qualified to equate TAO / BRAHMAN / ALLAH / GOD / etc . They are all interchangeable labels which followers may not agree to.
However for those who understand it is important that we should now do away with labels as far as possible and restrict to one or at least reach to that understanding that they are interchangeable.
Next coming back to the understanding of what is TAO; can that essence to what is labelled as Tao ever change??? TRUTH is one and can never change it is always HERE-NOW and so always fresh one without past or future.
Similarly language too also should be able to bring out that PRESENCE of being HERE-NOW; what is in the past or future is not about TRUTH as TRUTH can never have been something in the PAST or in the FUTURE, it is always HERE-NOW!

Love & rgds

 

[Morse]

They are different songs to the same effect.

As zenzero said, no matter what you call it, it's all the same.

But where I'll put my piece in (unless it was already said) is that each person has their own song (or path as I usually call it). If their version of sacredness includes concepts such as a fluffy interpretation of the law of attraction, so be it. We each contain our own experiences and ideas and energy, so why should one path fit all of us?

Of course, this doesn't work under other definitions of reality. I view enlightenment as a purely mental construct such as a Buddhist might, meaning to me there is no greater path than the one within ourselves. The religious figures and concepts are extensions of our mind that aid us to enlightenment, whether they be figureheads such as the Abrahamic God, fables or myths, rituals, or anything else, they are all here to aid us on that path to a greater state of awareness.

So I would say to each his own. Do not let silly labels be of any bother, for we're all headed to the same direction. Terms and concepts matter less than awareness itself. I'm rambling

 

[zenzero]

Friend Morse,

view enlightenment as a purely mental construct

In fact everyone is already enlightened except one may not be conscious of it or else there is nothing as enlightenment as it is simply the discovery of that what already is by birth.

Only when the MIND STILLS does the play of no-mind starts and that is the connection wherein one knows that its all ONE!

Love & rgds

 

[angrymoose]

Zenzero, you can't equate Tao with Allah or God!!! The concepts are totally different. You might equate some of the cultivation that Muslims and Christians experience with Taoist cultivation. You can achieve "similar" results by taking different paths.

I'm unaware of the nuances of the Brawmin and will thus not say, if it is similar to the Tao.

So I would say to each his own. Do not let silly labels be of any bother, for we're all headed to the same direction. Terms and concepts matter less than awareness itself. I'm rambling

I'd partially agree with this.

And yet, consider that Taoists did/do things, they learn things and they explore things.

The journey is indeed as important as the end. In the end, one dies.

People rarely discuss other verses such as the branch bending to the wind, or the river flowing. These all related to adapting

 

[angrymoose]

Zenzero said the same I think, but I'll phrase this another way... it's best to avoid the New Age interpretation of Tao and just focus on the Tao itself. There's nothing new in Tao.

Agree. Nothing "new" in the Tao and I agree we should focus on the Tao itself, benefiting from our modern understanding of the world as well as from the footsteps of the Taoist masters. We stand in the shoulders of those who went before

Disagree. We probably all experience it differently? :bow:

New age? Well, lol, some of the ancient Taoist traditions (face reading, alchemy, etc) seem to be as "fluffy" as for example, "the law of attraction"? Those people get benefits such as optimisim and positive thinking that works for them.

 

[zenzero]

Friend angrymoose,

you can't equate Tao with Allah or God!!! The concepts are totally different. You might equate some of the cultivation that Muslims and Christians experience with Taoist cultivation. You can achieve "similar" results by taking different paths.

Personal understanding could be different from others and Ramakrishna Paramhansa [saint in India] who had reached the same state through various paths [seven if remember right] had stated the same thing that all paths reach to the same state.
If you have different experience kindly state what it is as personal understanding remains unchanged for the present.

Love & rgds

 

[angrymoose]

Friend angrymoose,


Personal understanding could be different from others and Ramakrishna Paramhansa [saint in India] who had reached the same state through various paths [seven if remember right] had stated the same thing that all paths reach to the same state.
If you have different experience kindly state what it is as personal understanding remains unchanged for the present.

I didn't say you can;t reach the same states through other traditions but only that the idea of the tao doesn't translate to God. I firmly agree that one can achieve cultivation (personal spirtitual growth) through most if not all traditions including the new agey ones.

:bow:

 

[zenzero]

Friend angrymoose,

Now that possibility exists then let us understand that *nothingness/tao/brahman/god/etc are labels for the same state. Labels are unimportant as they have been used as per local availability.
Fire is common for everyone but have different labels in different languages so in the same way people in different places have used different labels for the same state.

Problem of the mind is that an Indian will state that Tao is not Brahman and a Taoist will state that Tao is not Brahman when by definition they are the same.
Once again, what is timeless has no age, new/old etc. Its all HERE-NOW, at all times.

Love & rgds

 

[ellenjanuary]

There is much said in the Bible that seems to be an attempt to ascribe agency to tao.

 

[angrymoose]

There is much said in the Bible that seems to be an attempt to ascribe agency to tao.

any examples?

 

[Jacksnyte]

Tao is usually transliterated as "the Way". A comparison might be that Brahman is the "ground", the base, and Tao is the way to the roots planted in the "ground".

 

[Rainbow Mage]

How could the Tao not be compared to god in a way? If you mean personal gods, no. How about the unchanging reality behind the gods, like Brahman? Is that not the Tao?

 

[Jacksnyte]

How could the Tao not be compared to god in a way? If you mean personal gods, no. How about the unchanging reality behind the gods, like Brahman? Is that not the Tao?

Brahman is the underlying ground of being, Tao is the Way. The Tao is No-thing.

 

[zenzero]

Friend Jacksnyte,

Brahman is the underlying ground of being, Tao is the Way. The Tao is No-thing.

The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities.

It is hidden but always present.
I don't know who gave birth to it.
It is older than God.

Does the above stanza signify Tao being the ground???

Love & rgds