4 ms·

> To do really great things, you have to seek out questions people didn't even realize were questions. ... You only get one life. Why not do something huge? Th

> To do really great things, you have to seek out questions people didn't even realize were questions. ... You only get one life. Why not do something huge? This one really got me thinking. While tackling big questions is certainly admirable, it implies that greatness ought to be a goal one has in life. As I get older (I'm now married with 2 kids), I've become more and more convinced that it's more important in life to strive to be a good person than to strive to be a great person. That's why my list would include people like Lao Tze, who would probably be happy that people found his writings useful, but would likely find the fact that he's still revered thousands of years after his death of far less importance than how he spent some particular day of his life.

Alex3917 19y ago
From what I hear, most modern asian religions scholars believe the Tao was a satire.
- dood 19y ago
  Where do you hear that? Got a link?
  - Alex3917 19y ago
    My asian religions prof. spent a bunch of years of her life studying the text and she was telling us this. Apparently some people still think it's an esoteric text, but they are in the minority. Unfortunately I don't have any references to back it up, and none of the translations I have sitting in front of me mention it in the forward. And of course it's impossible to find anything via Google only because there are so many parodies of the Tao Te Ching itself. There must be academic journals on the study of taoism, but I am having trouble finding any just searching online. I can try emailing her and asking for a cite if you'd like though.
    - dood 19y ago
      If it isn't too much trouble, I'd be very interested to hear more about that. I'm no scholar, but I find Taoism and the Tao Te Ching fascinating. I would understand it being partly satirical of prevailing thought, whilst being esoteric, but it being a simple satire would be quite amazing to me. Perhaps the esoterism is an artifact of translation/interpolation ;)
      - Alex3917 19y ago
        I sent her an email, I'll let you know if I get a reply. Failing that this might involve, god forbid, going to a library.
        dood 19y ago
        Cool, thanks for taking the time. Please also convey my thanks to her if you get a reply.
      - rms 18y ago
        http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:Hgq_0fuBJMkJ:https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/3777/1/taoist_vision.pdf+tao+satire+site:.edu&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:Hgq_0fuBJMkJ:https://sch... mentions that "others claim" that it was a political satire
        dood 18y ago
        Thanks for that, but my understanding of the passage you refer to is that it is discussing T'ao Yuan-ming's poem "Peach Blossom Spring", not the Tao Te Ching. I've recently been reading Ellen Chen's new translation and commentaries [http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Translation-Commentary/dp/1557782385/ http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Translation-Commentary/dp...]. It includes an interesting discussion of academic attitudes to the history and origins of the Tao Te Ching, and as I recall the notion of it being satire is not mentioned.
- llimllib 19y ago
  Which would only make me like it more...
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]

Alex3917 19y ago

From what I hear, most modern asian religions scholars believe the Tao was a satire.

dood 19y ago
Where do you hear that? Got a link?
- Alex3917 19y ago
  My asian religions prof. spent a bunch of years of her life studying the text and she was telling us this. Apparently some people still think it's an esoteric text, but they are in the minority. Unfortunately I don't have any references to back it up, and none of the translations I have sitting in front of me mention it in the forward. And of course it's impossible to find anything via Google only because there are so many parodies of the Tao Te Ching itself. There must be academic journals on the study of taoism, but I am having trouble finding any just searching online. I can try emailing her and asking for a cite if you'd like though.
  - dood 19y ago
    If it isn't too much trouble, I'd be very interested to hear more about that. I'm no scholar, but I find Taoism and the Tao Te Ching fascinating. I would understand it being partly satirical of prevailing thought, whilst being esoteric, but it being a simple satire would be quite amazing to me. Perhaps the esoterism is an artifact of translation/interpolation ;)
    - Alex3917 19y ago
      I sent her an email, I'll let you know if I get a reply. Failing that this might involve, god forbid, going to a library.
      - dood 19y ago
        Cool, thanks for taking the time. Please also convey my thanks to her if you get a reply.
    - rms 18y ago
      http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:Hgq_0fuBJMkJ:https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/3777/1/taoist_vision.pdf+tao+satire+site:.edu&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:Hgq_0fuBJMkJ:https://sch... mentions that "others claim" that it was a political satire
      - dood 18y ago
        Thanks for that, but my understanding of the passage you refer to is that it is discussing T'ao Yuan-ming's poem "Peach Blossom Spring", not the Tao Te Ching. I've recently been reading Ellen Chen's new translation and commentaries [http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Translation-Commentary/dp/1557782385/ http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Translation-Commentary/dp...]. It includes an interesting discussion of academic attitudes to the history and origins of the Tao Te Ching, and as I recall the notion of it being satire is not mentioned.
llimllib 19y ago
Which would only make me like it more...

deleted 19y ago

[deleted]