Taoism
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Sociality
Reading David Brooks is irritating. And his essay in The New Yorker is no exception. He makes some great points about the weakness of our assumptions of individuality, but then he goes and embeds them in a silly pop-sociology discourse… Continue reading
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The Dao of Snowflakes
Long time no blog… Holiday distractions, and then a flurry of work, has kept me away for awhile. But now some time has opened up… First, a brief account of the holiday diversions. Christmas at home with family but then… Continue reading
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This just in: Confucius wins!
I discovered Google Books Ngram just now, which allows searches of the Google Books data base of volumes going back to 1800. So, I plugged in "Confucianism," "Taoism" (and "Daoism" to capture transliteration changes), and "Legalism" to see which gets… Continue reading
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Scientific Uncertainty
Science is not as certain as some of us may think: that is the message of an article in last week's New Yorker, by Jonah Lehrer: "The Truth Wears Off: Is there something wrong with the scientific method?" (sub. required). … Continue reading
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As Chinese society becomes less Confucian, Japanese society becomes more Daoist
OK, maybe that's a rather sweeping title, but it is the idea that comes to mind when contemplating several recent articles simultaneously… First, on the China front, we have this story in the People's Daily today: "Millions of young people… Continue reading
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The Daodejing at church
Yesterday I spoke at a local church. They have a special service on the day nearest the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize, and they asked me to come and speak about Liu Xiaobo. I summarized his life's work, mentioning… Continue reading
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The Wu Wei of Facebook
Andrew Sullivan dug up this quote from a long NYT story on young people and the distractions of electronic social networking and other technological gizmos: “I know I can read a book, but then I’m up and checking Facebook. Facebook… Continue reading
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A Daoist Turn on Disability
A beautiful piece (thanks Laura for sending it along!) in The Chronicle of Higher Education by a father, an English professor, reflecting upon the life of his 10 year old son, who is disabled. Although their circumstances are somewhat different,… Continue reading
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A Taoist Businessman
A great piece in Sunday's NYT Magazine on contemoprary religious Taoism in China. It covers a lot of ground, mentions the inter-relationship of relgious and philsophical Taoism, and provides several examples of the reinvention of Taoist tradition. But one thing… Continue reading
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Zhuangzi consoles Democrats on Republican control of the US House of Representatives
Birth and death, living and dead, failure and success, poverty and wealth, honor and dishonor, slander and praise, hunger and thirst, hot and cold – such are the transformations of this world, the movements of its inevitable nature. They keep… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 