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I've thought about this for quite a bit and here is my relatively legible explanation of what the 'Dao' and synonymous concepts in other religions/cultures is

I've thought about this for quite a bit and here is my relatively legible explanation of what the 'Dao' and synonymous concepts in other religions/cultures is The "Path" is the arc from a state of anti-entropy(negentropy) to entropy. Negentropy is synonymous with "God" or goodness while entropy is the "Devil" or badness. A life that is in "flow" is one that is on the path moving away from God's light while bravely facing death with eyes forward. Courage is the first of all virtues b/c when facing forward, you are more thankful for each and every fleeting moment. "False idols" are like perpetual motion machines, they seem like sources of negentropy and can reverse the arrow of time like a fountain of youth. etc...

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theonemind 3y ago
As someone with interest in Zen and Buddhism, I find that line of thought very interesting, but feel like it needs some tweaking somehow. I feel like they want to perhaps equalize anti-entropy and entropy...like, say, between plants and animals, O2 represents a waste product for the plant, and a vital input for the animal, and the CO2 a waste product for the animal, and an important input for the plant. When you don't take the perspective of either of them, you see entropy from one angle, and anti-entropy from another angle. Below I put a bit from Zen master Huang Po on 'the fundamental principle'. The glorious Buddhas would represent anti-entropy, which you do not go toward. The horrific forms entropy, from which you do not move away. Equalized. Anyway, interesting line of thought, only offering another perspective! "If an ordinary man, when he is about to die, could only see the five elements of consciousness as void; the four physical elements as not constituting an 'I'; the real Mind as formless and neither coming nor going; his nature as something neither commencing at his birth nor perishing at his death, but as whole and motionless in its very depths; his Mind and environmental objects as one - if he could really accomplish this, he would receive Enlightenment in a flash. He would no longer be entangled by the Triple World; he would be a World-Transcendor. He would be without even the faintest tendency towards rebirth. If he should behold the glorious sight of all the Buddhas coming to welcome him, surrounded by every kind of gorgeous manifestation, he would feel no desire to approach them. If he should behold all sorts of horrific forms surrounding him, he would experience no terror. He would just be himself, oblivious of conceptual thought and one with the Absolute. He would have attained the state of unconditioned being. This, then, is the fundamental principle. [This paragraph is, perhaps, one of the finest exposition of Zen teaching, for it encompasses in a few words almost the entire scope of that vast and penetrating wisdom.]" - Huang Po
slantaclaus 3y ago
Manichaeism does not work when interpreting the Tao Te Ching

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theonemind 3y ago

As someone with interest in Zen and Buddhism, I find that line of thought very interesting, but feel like it needs some tweaking somehow. I feel like they want to perhaps equalize anti-entropy and entropy...like, say, between plants and animals, O2 represents a waste product for the plant, and a vital input for the animal, and the CO2 a waste product for the animal, and an important input for the plant. When you don't take the perspective of either of them, you see entropy from one angle, and anti-entropy from another angle. Below I put a bit from Zen master Huang Po on 'the fundamental principle'. The glorious Buddhas would represent anti-entropy, which you do not go toward. The horrific forms entropy, from which you do not move away. Equalized. Anyway, interesting line of thought, only offering another perspective! "If an ordinary man, when he is about to die, could only see the five elements of consciousness as void; the four physical elements as not constituting an 'I'; the real Mind as formless and neither coming nor going; his nature as something neither commencing at his birth nor perishing at his death, but as whole and motionless in its very depths; his Mind and environmental objects as one - if he could really accomplish this, he would receive Enlightenment in a flash. He would no longer be entangled by the Triple World; he would be a World-Transcendor. He would be without even the faintest tendency towards rebirth. If he should behold the glorious sight of all the Buddhas coming to welcome him, surrounded by every kind of gorgeous manifestation, he would feel no desire to approach them. If he should behold all sorts of horrific forms surrounding him, he would experience no terror. He would just be himself, oblivious of conceptual thought and one with the Absolute. He would have attained the state of unconditioned being. This, then, is the fundamental principle. [This paragraph is, perhaps, one of the finest exposition of Zen teaching, for it encompasses in a few words almost the entire scope of that vast and penetrating wisdom.]" - Huang Po

slantaclaus 3y ago

Manichaeism does not work when interpreting the Tao Te Ching