Alceste
Vagabond
You believe in the Taoist pantheon? (Yellow emperor and friends)?
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
The shifting membership of RF
- Thread starter Katzpur
- Start date
You believe in the Taoist pantheon? (Yellow emperor and friends)?
Herr Heinrich
Student of Mythology
linwood
Well-Known Member
No actually you won`t.
There are numerous threads in this forum were numerous atheists attempt to correct theistic definition of atheism and they all use the same definition.
The definition Alceste has posted.
Alceste
Vagabond
In what way?
IMO, a lot of Westerners confuse "the tao" with some kind of supernatural sentience due to the simple fact many of us are brought up with monotheism and find it difficult to "think outside the box". The tao of taoism is more similar to "the force" from Star Wars than any other Western concept. The capitalization of "Tao", implying it is the name of some specific exalted "thing", was a rather arbitrary choice on the part of some Western translators and adds to the confusion.
There are hundreds if not thousands of Taoist gods and demons. Religious Taoists are polytheists. I just wondered if that was what you meant.
If you are a Taoist and also believe in "a higher power", your monotheism is an Occidental belief, and quite separate from your Taoism. (IMO). Perhaps you are a Taoist Deist?
Herr Heinrich
Student of Mythology
I am a Philosophical Taoist so I do not believe in the pantheon just to clear that up. Also you misunderstand me. I do not see the Tao as sentient. In a way it is a higher power though. It transcends our human understanding, so in a way it is higher. I also am starting to realize that Joseph Campbell had something when he said that God is a mask we put on the ultimate reality we can't understand so we can understand it. Basically I see the Taoist understanding of this reality to be the most "accurate". At least the most enlightened understanding.
Sorry kind of a long and ranting explanation.
Alceste
Vagabond
I am a Philosophical Taoist so I do not believe in the pantheon just to clear that up. Also you misunderstand me. I do not see the Tao as sentient. In a way it is a higher power though. It transcends our human understanding, so in a way it is higher. I also am starting to realize that Joseph Campbell had something when he said that God is a mask we put on the ultimate reality we can't understand so we can understand it. Basically I see the Taoist understanding of this reality to be the most "accurate". At least the most enlightened understanding.
Sorry kind of a long and ranting explanation.
No worries - I'm OK with long and ranting. What confused me is the root of "theism" refers specifically to a personified deity - not "mystery" or "the unknown" or "ultimate reality" or whatever. So when you chose theism I thought it meant you believed in one.
I agree that Taoist practices offer the best method of accurately understanding "the ultimate reality", whatever that is. I suppose I simply bristle at the choice of the word "higher" to describe the central concept of taoist philosophy. Too yang for me.
Herr Heinrich
Student of Mythology
No worries - I'm OK with long and ranting. What confused me is the root of "theism" refers specifically to a personified deity - not "mystery" or "the unknown" or "ultimate reality" or whatever. So when you chose theism I thought it meant you believed in one.
I agree that Taoist practices offer the best method of accurately understanding "the ultimate reality", whatever that is. I suppose I simply bristle at the choice of the word "higher" to describe the central concept of taoist philosophy. Too yang for me.
Sorry how about, "The Grand Ultimate Lower Power"?
Something else occurred to me: it seems like there's been a rise in other discussion forums that cater to a single faith group. Maybe we're losing our theist members to those forums at a greater rate than we're losing atheists.It would seem the poll is evening out a bit.
Maybe theists just have more of a real life and less time to play on the intertubes.
Took them a little longer.
Alceste
Vagabond
lol. When you overesteem greatness the people will squabble, grasshopper. :meditate:
Herr Heinrich
Student of Mythology
MountainHumanist
Member
We obviously think a like if you include Karl quote in your posts.
KARL: "Does the brain control you or are you controlling the brain? I don't know if I'm in charge of mine."
-Podcast Series 2 Episode 6
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
:sorry1: Damn dictionary. What can I say?
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
Huh? That's a picture of me, taken by my human.
Autodidact
Intentionally Blank
It's not easy to hit those keys, but someone has to represent the LDS cat contingent.
Alceste
Vagabond
Yeah, damn dictionary.
Main Entry: Latter–day Saint
Function: noun
Usage: often capitalized D
Date: 1834
: a member of any of several religious bodies tracing their origin to Joseph Smith in 1830 and accepting the Book of Mormon as divine revelation : mormon
Main Entry: Chris·tian
Pronunciation: \ˈkris-chən, ˈkrish-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin christianus, adjective & noun, from Greek christianos, from Christos
Date: 1526
1 a : one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ b (1) : disciple 2 (2) : a member of one of the Churches of Christ separating from the Disciples of Christ in 1906 (3) : a member of the Christian denomination having part in the union of the United Church of Christ concluded in 1961
2 : the hero in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress
Scott C.
Just one guy
Yea, I don't like spreading out "Latter-day Saint" to mean anybody other than a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It confuses people. It's like calling a Protestant a "Catholic" since, hey, they used to be one church. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints deserve their very own name that belongs to them and to nobody else.
The big thing about that definition that I noticed is that it seems to assume that your church's beliefs are incorrect: if your church's origin is Joseph Smith in 1830, this implies that its origin isn't Lehi in 600 BC or Mormon in the 4th century.
Autodidact
Intentionally Blank
Back to the OP, it seems like many of us would welcome more theists to the board. Maybe people could recruit some?
Alceste
Vagabond
Plus it says nothing at all about the teachings of Christ. And, you know, since the dictionary definition of the words involved is all you need to know about any given topic, I guess that means Mormons can't be Christians.