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Why Lao Tzu & Chuang Tzu Were Right & How They Share An Intellectual & Philosophical Heritage With Charles Marshall & William Penn

Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu and almost all of their philosophy have been proven right by modern physicists. Do you know how proud that makes me?

I will let you guess.

Chuang Tzu is the least known and most beautiful philosopher I have ever found. Lao Tzu is one of the most well known. His way of life was embraced by Taoists, Buddhists and many people seeking a way to simplify their complicated lives in Asia. Their way of life was mirrored by the Quakers in Delaware and Pennsylvania. Their insights too.

But Chuang Tzu's theories of beauty, art and science have always struck me as the most profound of them all. I am so happy to see that his theoretical works are being vindicated by physics. Now if we can only come to love as deeply as he did and learn to bring and be as peaceful as he felt we all naturally are.

Here we see Lao Tzu from a later period painting, but it clearly shows how one finds art in life, like one finding a flower that had bloomed by the side of the road, all of the sudden and all at once, and through the quiet patience of an Ox that one must ride to find harmony. This metaphor, represents the deeper truth that patient work, makes for a happier and more natural life. It is of course a life without rules that are imposed on you, but which you impose on yourself for the benefit of yourself and others. It is very much in line with what my ancestor Charles Marshall wrote in 1642, "The nature of the day, the setting of the sun, my hands at work in time, are but a moment in the eye of the Lord."

Physics, science, art and religion to the Quaker, Buddhist and Taoist mind, are one. To others they are separate, but we have been taught to see the underlying beauty beneath their transitory nature and appreciate it just as it is, simply and without pretense.

A Libertarian spirit grows directly from this sense of the profound, and not from so much political debate. One is as they are. One is accepted as they are. Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu and Charles Marshall and William Penn as disparate as they seem, and as separate as they were in time and space, were kindred souls in their mode and method of thought. It has been my honor to inherit that spirit and love of art, understanding of philosophy and fighting, and yet at the same time desire and hope for peace from them, that when I joke on this site it is usually to try- in a profane or sacred way- to awaken that same spirit and appreciation of things inside of others.







Comments

Anonymous said…
We are luminous beings that extend beyond the veil of this existence. The light of our existence is love.
(from http://blog.alancoffey.com/?p=215 )

You may also enjoy the juxtaposition of the Apocryphon of John with Lao Tzu in http://blog.alancoffey.com/?p=195


And, of course, a look at the new physics in the book "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" at http://blog.alancoffey.com/?p=176

It seems we tread a similar path.
Brian said…
Alan,

Thank you. Please keep up the posts and I will keep you informed on the philosophy. I am still trying to work it out in my life and dance along with the masters, which is no easy task.

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