Latest Posts
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Against Valentine’s Day – Again
This post, originally from two years ago, has been popping up on a lot of searches in the past few days that bring readers to this site. So let me run it again: Against Valentine’s Day … Continue reading
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Is Juno a Taoist?
A lot, relatively speaking, of Taoism this week here at The Useless Tree. My Confucian friends might be asking: what about us? Don’t fear. It’s all about the moment: I am working with students on the Tao Te… Continue reading
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Tao in Coffee
For no particular reason I found myself this afternoon looking at Youtube clips having to do with "Tao." There were several that had people confidently expounding on this or that aspect of the elusive concept – and I… Continue reading
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Way is Empty
This semester I am doing a tutorial on ancient Chinese philosophy. For the next two weeks a dozen students and I will be reading and thinking about the Tao Te Ching. Of course, I read and think about… Continue reading
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Mao and Tao
Yesterday in my Chinese politics class we discussed Marxist ideology in general and Mao’s Report on the Hunan Peasant’s Movement in particular. The aim of the conversation was to come to an understanding of how a foreign ideology… Continue reading
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Happy New Year
Crazy busy just now. Will try to post some New Year’s reflections later Continue reading
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Way is Vast – More Vast than even the Best Scientists can Know
About two weeks ago I did a post on synthetic biology, a term that struck me as ironic, if not fully oxymoronic. The Taoist response came quite… naturally, dare I say. Today there is something of a follow… Continue reading
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Culture, Tradition, Politics
Ian Buruma has a piece in yesterday’s Guardian: "Culture is no excuse for China denying its people democracy." It is short, so cannot delve very deeply into the various facets of this topic. But he does make some… Continue reading
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Why Snow Matters Politically in China
The blizzards and associated transportation breakdowns in China of the past couple of weeks have started to raise political questions. Indeed, any time a prime minister feels he has to publicly apologize for the weather – or the… Continue reading
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Friday I Ching Blogging – Who Will Win The Super Bowl
I had to do it. After my Sun Tzu analysis of what the New York Giants need to do to win the Super Bowl, I just had to ask the I Ching who will actually win. I am,… Continue reading
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