Thursday, July 28, 2011

Becoming Invincible

"When beauty is abstracted
Then ugliness has been implied;
When good is abstracted
Then evil has been implied.

So alive and dead are abstracted from nature,
Difficult and easy abstracted from progress,
Long and short abstracted from contrast,
High and low abstracted from depth,
Song and speech abstracted from melody,
After and before abstracted from sequence.

The sage experiences without abstraction,
And accomplishes without action;
He accepts the ebb and flow of things,
Nurtures them, but does not own them,
And lives, but does not dwell."

Tao Te Ching

I've been reading this book "The Art of War" and I became perepherally aware of something I didn't face up front.

It was this notion of being able to defeat another person without moving. Without doing anything at all in terms of action or violence. Where mostly psychology is used. However it says over and over that the Warrior of The Way prevents violence before it happens. They are able to kill the root of disorder. Or rather, prevent the pebble from creating that ripple. 

I thought about this. 

How would you prevent something liked greed? What about anger? Jealously?

It's by not allowing these things to be stimulated at all. Which means not placing something of value up for grabs. Therefor greed can't be aroused. Not trying to prove someone wrong or crossing their ego to avoid anger. Not being openly proud of your acheivements or making a public display of what is someone elses desire to avoid jelously. 

Who can do this?

How can they do it?

My assumption is harpening objectivity and residing in it. Sure, is hasn't worked for everyone, but no everyone knows how to 1. see the world objectively and 2. reside in it or even 3. sharpen it when it gets dull.

Disorder is mostly created via 'abstraction'. 

Desire for the individual is extinguished when abstraction is ceased and the big picture is clear.    






1 comment:

  1. Objectivity is an abstraction.

    It's abstracted from subjective experience, which isn't abstracted but directly experienced.

    That's where your clean abstraction-lessness is

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