Contrasts Illustrate the Mind That Chooses
Wu Wei vs Buddhist Fire vs Academia vs Science vs Confucius vs Nature's Way
Schizophrenic Tendencies Within Ideologies
(CC0) Japanese Garden by David Emrich - modified by Larry Neal Gowdy
Some people build shrines to worship non-action. Some people build themselves as a shrine of action. Some people build gardens, where the temple of self reciprocates the love of Nature.
Quotes from Alan Watts' Tao Mutually Arising and Newton's Billiard Balls Determinism.
"The point is not to make an effort to silence the feelings and cultivate bland indifference. It is to see through the universal illusion that what is pleasant or good may be wrested from what is painful or evil. It was a first principle in Taoism that:
When everyone recognizes beauty as beautiful, there is already ugliness;
When everyone recognizes goodness as good, there is already evil.
"To be" and "not to be" arise mutually;
Difficult and easy are mutually realized;
Long and short are mutually contrasted;
High and low are mutually posited; ...
Before and after are in mutual sequence."
"It is the human mind that invents the concepts of up and down, left and right, beauty and ugly, and all other similar mutuals, including yin and yang. The noun-name is anthropomorphism, the act of people giving human characteristics to animals and objects. Nature does not create up and down, left and right, nor beauty and ugly; it is man who believes that Nature the Creator thinks and behaves as Man the Created."
Contrasts Begin as Mental Inventions
Fetuses learn in the womb. Some fetuses learn consciously, while most fetuses learn subconsciously. Conscious children self-observe that they self-learn from their self-analyses of self-experiences. Most children subconsciously learn from their self-experiences. It is the mind that creates the ideas of up, down, left, right, forwards, backwards, etc..
It is observable that most people only learn a flat 'point A' to 'point B'. All of mathematics is based upon the flat up-down 'point A to point B'. It is observable that all ideologies are based upon the flat up-down 'point A to point B'.
It is observable that Dao De Jing paragraph #2 (as interpreted by Alan Watts) is based upon a mind that is first conscious of up-down, and then the mind attempts to 'unlearn' mutual contrasts, whereby, allegedly, the individual attains "sage" enlightenment. It is observable that the Dao De Jing wrote "Heaven below, everyone know beautiful, it be beautiful", which proves that the author did not know what beauty is, and, that the author wrongly assumed that everyone is identically the same of thoughts, emotions, and awareness. Thus, the author himself was not aware, nor enlightened, nor a sage, and, thus, all ideologies that follow the author's words must also be false.
Conscious fetuses and children already know that there is no such thing as distinct mutual contrasts. The individuals do not think of up-down mutual contrasts until after the individuals mentally create the up-down mutual contrasts. The manner of thinking without mutual contrasts is vast, fluid, and will not be described.
Creating a contrast is through the mental act of acquiring information, and then applying an analysis of the differences between different portions of the information. It is useful to observe the differences of beliefs between different ideologies; from the comparisons, it can be seen which of the ideologies' beliefs are true or false, and also from where the ideologies' beliefs originated.
Contrasts Require an Unchangeable Standard for Logic
It is useful to look at several different ideologies simultaneously, and to compare how each has contrasts to the others. The contrasts help to define the ideologies' beliefs, while also defining the origins of the ideologies themselves.
Before comparing ideologies, it is necessary to first hold a standard of logic that is solid and unchangeable, of which can be used to judge from where the ideologies' beliefs originated.
The only standard that is unchangeable is Nature. The laws of Nature a billion years ago are still the same laws today. The law of Nature that is easily observable by everyone is that all things are composed of other things. One form of bread can be composed of flour, water, salt, heat, and time. Cars are composed of engine parts, transmission parts, tires, body parts, interior parts, etc.. Music is composed of tones. Plants are composed of cells. Water is said to be composed of oxygen and hydrogen in harmony. Everything everywhere is composed of ingredients.
The standard also states that disharmonious ingredients will create a disharmonious product. Adding the ingredient of engine oil to bread dough will create an inedible bread. Adding the wrong tones will cause music to no longer be music. Always the created thing is the product of which ingredients were combined: what goes in, comes out.
Therefore, all ideologies can be judged to be true or false based upon the obvious standard of which ingredients were combined within the ideologies. If an ideology combines harmonious ingredients, then the ideology will be honorable, useful, and creative. If an ideology combines disharmonious ingredients, then the ideology will be dishonorable, unuseful, and destructive. The laws of Nature dictate it to be so.
It is a law of Nature: if a thing is inwardly and outwardly harmonious, then it will be creative. If a thing is inwardly and outwardly disharmonious, then it will be destructive. The ultimate value within Nature is to be creative with harmonious ingredients that create harmonious behaviors. All things that are disharmonious, will self-destruct.
Each Ideology Has Its Own Vernacular
All systems of belief have their own vernacular. When James Legge, Homer Dubs, and other academicians translated the ancient Chinese word 義 to mean "righteousness", it was obvious that [1] the academicians knew nothing beyond what they had memorized of their European Christian background, [2] the academicians had no life experience nor understanding of the topics that the academicians claimed to be experts of, [3] the academicians were mentally incapable of assembling two simple concepts, [4] the academicians possessed no mental capacity to self-create coherent mental concepts, [5] the academicians had no mental capacity to self-observe their own selves, [6] the academicians' behaviors were unmindful, [7] the academicians had no conscious 思 (si), [8] the academicians did not know what the English word 'righteousness' means, and [9] all of the academicians were alogicus.
By how each ideology phrases its words, so do the words describe the ideologies' knowledge and lack of knowledge. When specific sequencings of words are inserted into another author's writings, it is obvious from where the added words came: the inserted words' meanings and patterns are contrasts as compared to the original author's words. The ideologies of science, academia, and all others have their own very specific vernaculars.
Three popular ideologies share a single belief that thinking is evil, and that to become a good person, the person must unthinkingly follow what he is told to do. Taoism, Buddhism, academia, and sciencism also teach that thinking is wrong behavior, and that everyone must obey and follow the ideologies' leaders, but the ideologies' teachings arrive from a different point of approach. The different points of approach are contrasts that illustrate from where each ideology originated.
Within Dao De Jing it is extremely obvious that different authors inserted wording that only relates to the Buddhist ideology. Within paragraph #38 of Dao De Jing, 德 is usually translated as "virtue", which is as wrong as 義 implying "righteousness". When Tao Wu Wei 無為 followers speak of attaining "virtue" through "non-action", the wu wei believers have wrongly claimed to be doing something that is not spoken of in Dao De Jing, nor is "virtue" possible through non-action. The wu wei followers proved of themselves to not know what 'virtue' means, which also proved that the wu wei followers contradicted their beliefs of sciences and gods, as well as their own ideology, and thus they themselves have no 'virtue'.
Western philosophy has done similarly for about 3,000 years, of tossing-out the word 'virtue' without knowing what the word means. Western philosophers exhibit autism, while also not knowing that their own word 'autism' is autistic.
All systems of belief have their own vernacular and methodology of applying their vernacular. The contrasts between each ideology brightly illustrate the followers' own minds.
[Note: The translations on this website purposefully do not give finished translations, which sometimes knowingly leaves an article's translation as having the wrong words like 'virtue'. The reason for the purposeful mistranslations is obvious, and adequately described within Alo and De Parodists #11.]
The Core Necessity is the Act of Caring
As was mentioned in Tao Wu Wei 無為 and numerous other articles on this site, all things in the observable universe are composed of three or more ingredients. The outward behavior of a thing is the natural effect of the thing's inner ingredients. What goes in, comes out.
It is obvious throughout the world that most people believe their religions' teachings that the universe, earth, and everything else were created by god(s), but almost no one behaves with respect for their gods' creation. People pollute and destroy the earth that their gods created. The answer of why is easy: the people do not care, and are mentally unable to care (alogicus).
It is also obvious throughout the world that most people believe their science's teachings that the universe, earth, and everything else were created by ingredients, but almost no one behaves in agreement. Most everyone on earth assembles dirty ingredients into themselves while expecting the product of themselves to be clean. The answer of why is easy: the people do not care, and are mentally unable to care (alogicus).
The primary missing ingredient amongst most people is the act of caring. Without the ability to care, people will always behave contradictorily, and will always invent contradictory beliefs.
No ideology will be coherent if the ideology does not emphasize caring. No ideology is coherent.
Contrasts Illustrate That Followers Do Not Live Their Beliefs
Again, most everyone on earth believes in science, but almost no one lives in agreement with what science says. Similarly, most everyone on earth believes that god(s) created the universe and earth, but almost no one lives in agreement with what their religions say.
Many people believe in science and religion, but the people do the Taoist wu wei 'non-action' teaching, and other people do the Buddhist 'become inwardly uncaring without emotions nor senses' teachings, which contradicts what science and religions teach.
Everyone who is old enough to know, knows that the laws of Nature exist, but almost no one lives in agreement with what they know. It is the normal way of normal people.
As mentioned in Tao Wu Wei 無為, some people believe that 'non-action', 'doing nothing', 'inaction', and 'effortless action' are methods of achieving high states of virtue.
Within Adittapariyaya Sutta, some people believe that eliminating sensory perceptions and intelligence, and becoming disillusioned (a form of living suicide), will achieve a desirable state of personal freedom from suffering.
The wu wei people and the Adittapariyaya Sutta people both believe in science, and they also both believe that the laws of Nature exist, but still both people live in disagreement with the laws of Nature and their science. Thousands of years have passed, and still the people continue to live within their uncaring contradictions of beliefs.
All ideologies have good ideas and bad ideas. Wu wei and Adittapariyaya Sutta are not good ideas.
When All Beliefs Are False
Decades have passed since the warm afternoon when I drove west on 45th Street while posing to myself questions. Of the several different religions and ideologies that I had studied, all of them had irredeemable errors, and, no two systems of belief agreed with the other. If all systems of beliefs had disagreed with all other systems of belief, then either only one could be correct, or, the more likely reality was that all of them were incorrect. When comparing all known systems of belief to the observable laws of Nature, the conclusion was easy: all of the systems of belief were false.
The Source created the heavens and earth. The Source created the laws of Nature. The Source's laws are the one and only possible standard of what is correct. Always the Source's laws prove to be true. Always the Source's laws remain the same without ever changing. The Source is the one and only possible standard. There can be only one true Way; it is Nature's Way.
Source's Way is creativity. Amongst the pre-creative ingredients, is attribute. Attribute enables harmony. Harmony enables mutual reciprocation amongst the ingredients. Mutual reciprocation creates a new creation. Each new creation is the product of its ingredients. The thinking man strives to attain proper attributes. The attributes enable inner harmony. Mutual reciprocation enables the man to create new things that never before existed. Some people have named the creativity 'root of Source'. The goal is to self-create a new creature that has positive creative attributes. Man has it within himself to create a new world where there is cleanliness, happiness, brilliance of mind, and love.
Not only does no known organized ideology agree with Nature's Way, all known ideologies actively deny and refuse Nature's Way, while also simultaneously claiming a belief in sciences, gods, and the laws of Nature. All known ideologies are alogicus.
Adittapariyaya Sutta - The Buddhist Fire Sermon Translation
The following is the Adittapariyaya Sutta - The Buddhist Fire Sermon, titled Burning, (CC0) and translated by Bhikkhu Sujato (as provided by suttacentral.net). Note that the idea of 'mendicants' is of people who follow a teaching to own nothing, and to instead beg for food and everything else. According to popular opinion, the act of mendicants (bhikkhus) begging, allegedly enables givers to feel good about giving, as the mendicants allegedly achieve nirvana through meditation. However, note that the purposeful act of begging does not create the positive emotion of appreciation within the receiver, nor does the giver's act of giving permit a heart-felt warmth and caring for people in need. Predominately, the beggars become progressively cold and unappreciative, as the givers grow progressively insulted. The beggars are wholly 'me-me-me' selfish and self-centered while not caring about other people. If an individual were truly of quality, then the person would strive and give of their life to ensure that everyone else entered into heaven before oneself. The bhikkhus, of course, do not do that.
There is no harmony within the act of purposeful begging, and thus, the act cannot be in creative harmony with Nature's Way, and thus, the behavior is destructive.
An oddity worthy of mentioning is that old photographs of bhikkhu begging showed dirty unkempt individuals sitting on sidewalks. Modern photographs show long rows of clean-looking bhikkhu who all wear laundered orange robes, and who carry expensive-looking aluminum-like bowls to collect offerings. The practice of begging appears to have become a deceitful occupation, of which fully contradicts what the begging was allegedly purposed for.
The idea of 'burning' is reported to have been related to fire worshippers. Nevertheless, the analogies still convey the intended message of eliminating sensory perceptions and thinking, while not offering the replacement of caring. As is common throughout related teachings, the sermon is wholly negative, with no positive teaching, and with no caring of its ingredients being destructive.
"At one time the Buddha was staying near Gayā on Gayā Head together with a thousand mendicants. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants:
"Mendicants, all is burning. And what is the all that is burning?
The eye is burning. Sights are burning. Eye consciousness is burning. Eye contact is burning. The painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by eye contact is also burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fires of greed, hate, and delusion. Burning with rebirth, old age, and death, with sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress.
The ear … nose … tongue … body …
The mind is burning. Thoughts are burning. Mind consciousness is burning. Mind contact is burning. The painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by mind contact is also burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fires of greed, hate, and delusion. Burning with rebirth, old age, and death, with sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress, I say.
Seeing this, a learned noble disciple grows disillusioned with the eye, sights, eye consciousness, and eye contact. And they grow disillusioned with the painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by eye contact.
They grow disillusioned with the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind … painful, pleasant, or neutral feeling that arises conditioned by mind contact.
Being disillusioned, desire fades away. When desire fades away they're freed. When they're freed, they know they're freed.
They understand: 'Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is no return to any state of existence.'"
That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the mendicants approved what the Buddha said. And while this discourse was being spoken, the minds of the thousand mendicants were freed from defilements by not grasping."
With raised eyebrows, observe how quickly the people were able to abandon one mindset for another. If a man is able to be so easily persuaded to alter his life's worship, then as easily he could also be persuaded to alter his new worship. The ability to so quickly change one's manner of chosen worship, illustrates that the worship was a belief — mental and imaginary — and not held within the heart.
People who live the Way, they understand the Way; no belief. People who do not live the Way, they do not understand the Way; they believe.
"If a belief can be changed, then it was an illusion,
and what is now believed, is also an illusion."
Larry Neal Gowdy, circa 1982
Also notice that the sermon's ideas and word "disillusioned" are parallel with Watt's idea of "indifference". Other translations of the sermon use the word "disenchanted", "estrangement", and others. Note that Watts repeatedly and contradictorily claimed that Taoism and Buddhism were both true.
Comparisons of Adittapariyaya Sutta vs Wu Wei vs Confucianism vs Academia vs Science vs Nature's Way
Compare Buddhism's: "Burning with the fires of greed, hate, and delusion. Burning with rebirth, old age, and death, with sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress. ...Being disillusioned, desire fades away. When desire fades away they're freed."
Compare Taoism's Wu Wei: "The popular definitions of wu wei have many different versions, including 'non-action', 'doing nothing', 'inaction', and 'effortless action'". (Tao Wu Wei 無為)
Compare academia's: "It is only the truly virtuous man who can love, or who can hate, others." (Li Ren 3)
Compare academia's: "Within all of DrABC's publicly available papers on science and psychology, DrABC's psychopathy and amentia were abundantly illustrated. Abbreviated examples from one paper, and in the sequence given by DrABC: (1) science could establish the truth of anything, (2) science makes mistakes that are sometimes corrected, and (3) a thing cannot be true if science does not have empirical evidence. DrABC repeatedly claimed that science was infallible, that science was fallible, and that science was the sole judge of all that is true truth, even when science made mistakes." (In Appreciation of Oxford University - Review of Scholastic Standards)
Compare science's: "As Pathological Science Emotions speaks of, no science is able to describe what emotions are, and thus not able to describe what caring is. No philosophy is able to describe what caring is. No ideology is able to describe what caring is. No school is able to describe what caring is. No book is able to describe what caring is. The only method of learning what caring is, is through one's own caring to self-observe one's own self. (Care About Other People)
Compare logic's: "Extremely far more important than IQ and SQ is an individual's ability to consciously care and to hold quality traits that are harmonious to one's environment. Conscious gentleness, conscious gracefulness, conscious consideration for other beings, conscious reciprocation of the affection of caring for another's feelings, and of the many other positive quality traits that harmonize with other individuals' quality traits to create a life and a society that is productive, creative, and very beautiful..." (Pathological Science Emotions)
Compare Confucian's: "If the 'Way' of #37 is philosophical, then it contradicts 中庸 Zhong Yong #1 which generally states 'Not able must a-moment leave... Leave, not way'. If a Way can be abandoned, then it was never a correct Way. The only Way that cannot be abandoned is Nature's Way. (Tao Wu Wei 無為)
Compare Nature's Way: "The world of senses is beautiful, always beautiful... Nature is beauty... the only tone that harmonizes with Nature's symphony, is love... a heart-felt caring... 愛 愛 愛 為 氣 天 ." (A Critique of Aphantasia)
Taoist wu wei is slothful, Buddhism's Burning is callous ignorance, science is slothful ignorance, academia is hateful ignorance, logic strives for harmonious natures, Confucianism points at what is real, and Nature's Way is warmths of beauty. It would appear that even a man whose nature is fully selfish would choose Nature's Way, but, that does not happen. There is a reason.
Noble Person vs Tiny Person
It is obvious: there exists Nature, and there exist people who strive to self-better themselves by applying Nature's laws, while there are also teachings for people who desire to not strive nor to apply Nature's laws, but who still desire to have profits without effort. Wu Wei and the Fire Sermon are examples of teachings that desire to end 'suffering' by doing so as lazily as possible.
"'Zi say: Noble man bosom virtue, tiny person bosom materialism. Noble man bosom fairness, tiny person bosom favoritism.' (draft version of 里仁 Li Ren #11, also given in Noble Fairness)." (Confucius Hated Females vs Confucius Did Not Hate Females)
"'Master say: Way(dao) it not do {also}, I know it {-carry}. Know person-ist exceed it, stupid person not reach {also}. Way it not understand I know it {-carry}. Virtuous person-ist exceed it, not similar person-ist not reach {also}. (partial draft translation of 中庸 Zhong Yong #4)". (Female Four Books (Confucian)- aka The Four Books for Women - 女四書)
The contrast of junzi (noble person) versus tiny people is very common within Confucian texts. A junzi self-strives to become a better person, while tiny people desire favoritism without effort. Wu Wei, The Fire Sermon, academia, science, and all similar, desire material profits and favoritism, all while refusing to self-exert the self-effort to self-improve, and, while also behaving as if the laws of Nature do not exist. Any system of belief that follows practices that do not agree with the laws of Nature is alogicus.
A very interesting (and disturbing) observation:
"The stupid person, whether depicted in literature, proverb, or the ephemeral joke column, is always (and justly, it would seem) characterized by a huge tolerance for absurd contradictions and by a blunt sensitivity for the fine points of a joke. Intellectual discrimination and judgment are inferior. The ideas do not cross-light each other, but remain relatively isolated. Hence, the most absurd contradictions are swallowed, so to speak, without arousing the protest of the critical faculty." (The Measurement of Intelligence — An Explanation of and a Complete Guide for the Use of the Stanford Revision and Extension of the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale, Lewis M. Terman - Professor of Education Stanford Junior University, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1916) (Musings of the Fermi Paradox.)
The normal person may hold within their mind large quantities of knowledge, but the normal person is unable to apply the knowledge to their behavior. There is no 'knowledge-behavior' "critical faculty". "It is obvious: normal people's behaviors never reflect the people's beliefs. ...One of the most descriptive measures of intelligence is not of what people say and do, but rather the measure is of what the people cannot say and cannot do. Dogs cannot build their own dog houses, mice cannot sanitize their own nests, horses cannot make their own clothes, and normal people cannot mentally control their bodies to agree with their own beliefs." (The World's Smartest Man on Earth, Might Be You : Part 1).
The act of possessing knowledge, but not being mentally able to apply the knowledge to one's behavior, suggests that there are multiple 'minds' within normal people. One 'mind' stores knowledge, while another 'mind' controls the body to agree with the moment's lusts. In a very real measure, the normal person is schizophrenic with multiple minds and multiple inner voices, none of which agree with the other.
All known ideologists hold knowledge, but no known ideologist is able to behave in agreement with the knowledge, which suggests that all ideologists are schizophrenic.
The Creative Way vs The Destructive Selfish Way
Please, please, please notice that Buddhism's Fire sermon prohibits love, kindness, compassion, caring, appreciation, and intelligence. Buddhism does claim to teach compassion, but the Fire sermon prohibits the life experiences and emotions that would enable compassion to exist. The teachings contradict.
Nature's Way exists upon different ingredients harmonizing together. Without harmony, oxygen and hydrogen could not combine into water. Without water, everything dies. Without harmony, families and societies self-destruct. Without harmony, all things are destroyed. Buddhism is a destructive system of belief that openly denies the laws of Nature.
It is obvious that Wu Wei, The Fire Sermon, academia, and science are always negative, and thus always destructive. Of the precious few individuals who have spoken of positive things within the past 2,500 years, Confucius is one.
The Heart's Fire
Es brennet und flammet die reineste kerze
der liebe, des trostes in seele und brust
It burns and flames the most pure of candle,
the love, and consolation within my soul and heart
(Bach Cantata 21 Aria T. Adaptive translation by Larry Neal Gowdy)
From Principles of Quality.
— — — — —
Viscera tua gaudium habuerunt,
sicut gramen, super quod ros cadit,
cum ei viriditatem infudit,
ut et in te factum est
Nunc omnis ecclesia in gaudio rutilet
ac in symphonia sonet
propter dulcissima virginem
Had the joy of thy bowels,
as grass, upon which the dew falls,
when he has infused the green,
it came to pass in thee also
Now all the radiances within the joy of the body
and in symphonic sonnets
sweet for the sake of the pure
(Hildegard von Bingen - portions of Ave Generosa
circa 1150. Generous translation by Larry Neal Gowdy)
From Principles of Quality.
— — — — —
"Abiding in supplication, Desideratum to love..."
(Larry Neal Gowdy, circa 1982).
— — — — —
"...the second method contains ingredients of skill, inner centeredness, inner calm, maturity, inner virtue, emitting (射 (she)) an actively caring heart-mind relationship (思 (si)), and several other ingredients that are not present within wu wei (and are actually actively repulsed by the teachings of wu wei)." (From Tao Wu Wei 無為)
— — — — —
Righteousness is a behavior that is evaluated relative to the ideals of an ideology. If the ideology be false, then so will the righteousness be negative. The following of someone else's teachings, can never produce a quality self.
Following the teachings of ideologies, creates the numbed inner nature of being a follower. The act of following cannot create a quality inner nature.
'Zi Zhang ask uniform-virtuous person him way.
Zi say: Not walk-on footprint, not enter room.'
(word-per-word draft translation of 先進 Xian Jin - Before Progress #20)
(Confucian School #3 - Focus on the Goal)
A heart 射愛 (emitting love) rages far more fiercely strong than any fire. The harmony within love is intense and unbreakable. The only limit of love is the body's physical strength to endure the intense energies.
The act of caring for other people is secondary of strengths of emission.
To purposefully quench the fires of love and caring, is a living suicide.
The act of following Taoism, Buddhism, academia, science, or any other religion, is the ingredient that creates a cold heart and numb mind, from which cannot be resuscitated.
The One and Only Sum
There is only one Tao-Way. It is Nature's Way. All other Daos are false.
愛 愛 愛 為 氣 天
Related articles are in the Intelligence section.