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.

A Libertarian Martin Luther King Jr. Day post

In which we travel into interesting waters . . . (for a fairly long trip, so be prepared) Dr. King's 1968 book, Where do we go from here: chaos or community? , is profound in that it criticizes anti-poverty programs for their piecemeal approach, as John Schlosberg of the Center for a Stateless Society [C4SS] observes: King noted that the antipoverty programs of the time “proceeded from a premise that poverty is a consequence of multiple evils,” with separate programs each dedicated to individual issues such as education and housing. Though in his view “none of these remedies in itself is unsound,” they “all have a fatal disadvantage” of being “piecemeal,” with their implementation having “fluctuated at the whims of legislative bodies” or been “entangled in bureaucratic stalling.” The result is that “fragmentary and spasmodic reforms have failed to reach down to the profoundest needs of the poor.” Such single-issue approaches also have “another common failing — ...

More of This, Please

Or perhaps I should say, "Less of this one, please." Or how about just, "None of them. Ever again. Please....For the Love of God." Sunshine State Poll: Grayson In Trouble The latest Sunshine State/VSS poll shows controversial Democratic incumbent Alan Grayson trailing former state Senator Dan Webster by seven points, 43 percent to 36 percent. A majority of respondents -- 51 percent -- disapprove of the job that Grayson is doing. Independents have an unfavorable view of him as well, by a 36/47 margin. Grayson has ignored the conventional wisdom that a freshman should be a quiet member who carefully tends to the home fires. The latest controversy involves his " Taliban Dan " advertisement, where he explicitly compares his opponent to the Taliban, and shows a clip of Webster paraphrasing Ephesians 5:22 -- "wives, submit to your husbands." An unedited version of the clip shows that Webster was actually suggesting that husba...

A reply to Salon's R. J. Eskrow, and his 11 stupid questions about Libertarians

Posts here have been in short supply as I have been living life and trying to get a campaign off the ground. But "11 questions to see if Libertarians are hypocrites" by R. J. Eskrow, picked up at Salon , was just so freaking lame that I spent half an hour answering them. In the end (but I'll leave it to your judgment), it is not that Libertarians or Libertarian theory looks hypocritical, but that the best that can be said for Mr. Eskrow is that he doesn't have the faintest clue what he's talking about. That's ok, because even ill-informed attacks by people like this make an important point: Libertarian ideas (as opposed to Conservative ideas, which are completely different) are making a comeback as the dynamic counterpoint to "politics as usual," and so every hack you can imagine must be dragged out to refute them. Ergo: Mr. Eskrow's 11 questions, with answers: 1. Are unions, political parties, elections, and ...

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