Sum up the meaning of life in one sentence.

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Sand
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25 Dec 2009, 1:10 am

SporadSpontan wrote:

Philotix wrote:

I can sum up the meaning of life in one word: Love.

It's all that humans desire in the end, we all want to be loved, and we all want to love. Even if we hide it deep within, it's really what's at the heart of everything that we do.

I guess it depends on your definition of 'love'. According to the tradition I follow 'love', or also 'loving kindness' is defined as the wish for others' happiness. So in that respect I'd agree that's at the heart (heart! haha - literally heart chakra!) of everything we do.

Though unfortunately for some that is only a future time reality when eventually their own happiness becomes less or equally important as others' happiness. And also according to my tradition - this 'love' that is focused on others is ironically the only way to achieve our own happiness. We just have to take an example of how happy we feel when we've managed to make someone else happy. The more we pluralise the 'other' in 'others' the happier we become. So basically the only boundary to our potential happiness is the limit of 'others' existing in all the universes.

Individuals are oriented in different ways. What brings pleasure to some has no effect on others. some gain great pleasure on personal accomplishment whether it aids or destroys others. Some people enjoy destroying others as it gives them a sense of power. You can't generalize.

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25 Dec 2009, 1:13 am

Hi Sand, you beat me to it. My response to this can be found in my edited post above! lol

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25 Dec 2009, 1:38 am

To be loved?

People do all sorts of things without realizing that they are driven by a desire to be loved. If we love ourselves unconditionally, we don't need outside validation.

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25 Dec 2009, 1:38 am

MrLoony wrote:

SporadSpontan wrote:

MrLoony wrote:

Tao that can be called Tao is not true Tao, the Name that can be named is not the true Name.

There are things that cannot be expressed in words, they can only be known. The quote holds a LOT more meaning than that, which is why I said the quote rather than the other sentence.

Yeah because once you're experiencing Tao you're beyond all conceptions or labelling of such as 'Tao'. There can be no 'outside looking in' when it comes to the true Way. If you're pouring tea into a cup and observe the fact that you are doing this the opportunity to experience Tao is lost. The watcher and the doer must become one in a single moment in order to achieve that effortless unity that is one's self and the universe.

NB: Taoism is not my area of expertise so please tell me if I'm way (Way! haha) off the mark here.

It's a common misconception that just because tao means way, then Tao must, therefore, mean Way. For a lot of Western scholars, they claim that that's what that sentence means. In reality, it's because calling something Tao introduces differentiation into it, and describing it introduces differentiation into it as well.

So Tao means something that has no differentiation, yes? No, and this is the problem with describing it. Saying that Tao means not differentiated means that differentiated things (i.e. you and I or red and blue) are NOT Tao.

Do you mean the differentiation between an 'I' who labels it as such and the label itself? Because in that respect I would agree with this notion - it's an experience of inseparability.

EDIT: Tao - that is! Not the differentiation!

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25 Dec 2009, 1:43 am

SporadSpontan wrote:

Hi Sand, you beat me to it. My response to this can be found in my edited post above! lol

Philosophically I am with you but my pleasure extends to "others" more universally. I feel guilty slicing up a living onion and when a piece of garlic has sprouted I plant it rather than eat it. I feed birds and squirrels and brush away mosquitoes and flies rather than kill them. People in general are insensitive and unobservant and I am aware that animals in general are not much different but I am. I find life is precious for me and every other living thing and resent that life depends to a great deal on killing for that is how we evolved so I live with it in a kind of undercurrent of joy and sorrow.

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25 Dec 2009, 1:51 am

Sand wrote:

SporadSpontan wrote:

Hi Sand, you beat me to it. My response to this can be found in my edited post above! lol

Wow Sand! So beautiful! Seriously - my eyes actually welled with tears!

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25 Dec 2009, 2:02 am

UNEASE

For why, the deaths of happy barking dogs,
The demise of singing birds
Whose cheerful squeaks fly out of beaks,
Whose round eyes shine, define simple gaiety?
All things living
Trajectory down
To intercept the nullity of nothingness.
All elation finishes where all design
Scatters into bits.
A billion miles away or one hundred thousand years
Is just a flea hop to the universe.
The vacuum deserts that stretch between the galaxies
Oppress all comprehension.
It should make one feel at home
With all the local cruelties
On the playground for foolishness
Where we live.
It doesn't.

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25 Dec 2009, 2:26 am

SporadSpontan wrote:

MrLoony wrote:

SporadSpontan wrote:

In the cosmos (taiji), you and I are separate beings, in the true state of being (wuji, known to Buddhists as Bodhi, Hindus as Brahman, and Judeo-Christians as either heaven or God, depending on who you ask), you and I are not separate, thus there is no differentiation. Tao is more often than not described as the same as wuji, but that means that taiji is not Tao, but there is nothing that is not Tao, so taiji (with its differentiation) must also be Tao (which is a lack of differentiation).

Bodhi, Brahman, and heaven/God can also be considered to be closer to Tao. In fact, I've seen wuji be called equivalent to the Tao, but it is easier to describe this way.

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25 Dec 2009, 2:40 am

Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

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25 Dec 2009, 2:51 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

I appreciate your passion here! I'm not into half-hearted attempts at anything either! lol

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25 Dec 2009, 2:56 am

Sand wrote:

Let me know if my interpretation is off the mark because that wouldn't be a first!

No wonder you act like you've got it all sussed: the concern for the innocence of sentient beings; the vast notions of time and space; the ridiculousness of frivolity amongst all the suffering; and the sense that we don't belong here are all things I can agree with.

However I would temper this by disputing the complacency that sees the futility of our existence by not reaching beyond this life alone.

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25 Dec 2009, 2:57 am

SporadSpontan wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

I appreciate your passion here! I'm not into half-hearted attempts at anything either! lol

I see no Lord and I do not chase mirages.

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25 Dec 2009, 3:11 am

Sand wrote:

SporadSpontan wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

I appreciate your passion here! I'm not into half-hearted attempts at anything either! lol

I see no Lord and I do not chase mirages.

Yeah but that's no attempt at all! lol

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Sand
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25 Dec 2009, 3:39 am

SporadSpontan wrote:

Sand wrote:

SporadSpontan wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

I appreciate your passion here! I'm not into half-hearted attempts at anything either! lol

I see no Lord and I do not chase mirages.

Yeah but that's no attempt at all! lol

Attempt at what? Don't let yourself be suckered by foolish nonsense.

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25 Dec 2009, 3:43 am

moderation, what is that lao zao saying? eveything is permissible in moderation? if you know that, that is the trick

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Sand
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25 Dec 2009, 3:45 am

richardbenson wrote:

moderation, what is that lao zao saying? eveything is permissible in moderation? if you know that is the trick

Like moderate murder and moderate rape and moderate pedophilia, perhaps?

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