Luke VS. My Brother

Saint Luke... Sorry I Ignored You In Church A Few Hours Ago

Well here we go again. We’ve circled back to the Bible. It’s beginning to seem like our awful IMP math program. I thought it was finally over *sigh*. It is late and Sunday night. I’ve just come back from church to write and read about what I was probably trying to ignore a few hours ago. So I was assigned the gospel of Saint Luke. Finally were getting to Jesus.

So the Gospels are essentially the story of Jesus told by many different people. Luke by the way of his writing I can tell must have been educated. He knew how to write. The writing is a clear translation. To this Gospel there are essentially two stories one being the story of Jesus and the other being John the Baptist. Basically Veggie Tales explained these scenes to me in a more understanding way. The problem with Veggies Tales is that they left a few things out. So Gabriel goes first to Zachariah saying that his wife Elizabeth is pregnant, and then he goes to Mary, who at the time mind you is betrothed to Joseph, and tells her she is pregnant. I don’t know about you but I would have loved to witness the conversation between Mary and Joseph.

Mary: Hey, um Jo.

Joseph: What happened Mary?

 Mary: I’m pregnant.

Joseph: What in the name of God are you talking about? We haven’t even done things yet! We were waiting until you were ready! Remember?

Mary: See an angel came to me last night and well…

Joseph: What?! Who’s is this guy?! He’s a goner!

Mary: No no no!!! its not like that Jo! He told me I was pregnant!

Joseph: Oh ok then that’s perfectly ok.

Well actually it went a little more like this…, “Mary, rejoicing, utters the prayer now known as the Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord” (1:46). Then Veggie Tales pretty much sums up the rest. Jesus is born in a manger and all the kings come bearing gifts. I’ll leave Jesus’s life for the next post.

 

Welcome To My Happy Ending

 

Ending the eternal Tao... Wait wasn’t it eternal? I guess not. Finally the mind stretching is over. It was very fun to interpret and the amount of challenge for me was just right.

Finishing the Tao I came across my all-time favorite quote. I even put it on my face book status, “If I have a little sense. I will walk on the main road and my only fear will be straying from it.” (Fifty three). This is probably one of the best quotes I have found in this book. When I do my gymnastics my worst enemy is my fear. The fear of falling off the beam or having an accident on bar is far greater than my physical incapacities. My fear blocks me from doing what I most want to do. If I had a little sense my only fear would be to fear. Right now my only fear is Mr. Tangen’s grading system if I don’t get this in by Monday.

“Practice non-action. Work without doing.” (Sixty three), why can’t this be our class motto?

“A good soldier is not violent. A good fighter is not angry. A good winner is not vengeful. A good employer is humble.” (sixty eight). I couldn’t agree more with this quote. This is what people need to live by. This whole book I believe is the best advice I have heard. Maybe at church I haven’t interpreted the information as much, but this advice is the best.

I have really enjoyed his book a lot. It is my favorite that we have read in class. All the passages just seem to make sense and fit in to my everyday life.

I will end this with a quote, “Truthful words are not beautiful. Beautiful words are not truthful.” (Eighty one). One of the most powerful and directly truthful quotes I’ve heard.

My Only Weapon Is My Fear

A very good start to the next readings, “Do you think you can take over the universe and improve it? I do not believe it can be done. The universe is sacred. You cannot improve it. If you try to change it, you will ruin it. If you try to hold it, you will lose it.” (Twenty nine). This quote is mind candy. Isn’t our whole planet “Go Green!” modo all about changing the world? Don’t get me wrong I’m all for it but the irony here is making me ponder. I don’t completely agree with this quote. I think we need to make changes in the world to eliminate poverty and mass problems like global warming. If not we will just all kill ourselves because the world has survived much worse than global warming. The ones who will die are ourselves not the world. Now I do believe that the world as a whole cannot be improved but preserved in the sense of its natural beauty. I’m guessing this is what the Tao is trying to say because Asian religion is very much tied to piece and nature. I’m thinking the quote means not to try to make things easier and change things for ourselves. It means we should leave things in their natural state and not spray harmful pesticides all over the planets crops (sorry a little to much of my global studies teacher, Mr. O Conner, he really inspires).  Anyways this was a great ponder for me.

“Good weapons are an instrument of fear” (Thirty one). This I completely agree with. I believe most weapons are just to instill fear. Most people don’t have the courage to actually fire one at a living being. If they can get what they want by not actually having to use the weapon they will. Why? Because the human race is made up of one coward after another. Why do you think some of the biggest heads of companies are the biggest jerks? I believe a weapon of fear isn’t always an object. You can instill a wepon of fear by blackmailing but they will never actually do what they say they will because then they have no power to manipulate by. They simply want to instill fear with no action behind it.

Lastly, “When nothing is done, nothing is left undone” (Forty eight),except this blog post that I am doing on a Sunday night that shouldn’t have been left in non action until now. 

Ying Or Yang?

I’m starting to realize the Tao unlike Confucius isn’t a person. It’s like advice to take upon and have a god life. The Tao is beginning to have many similarities to Confucius. I’m guessing it may be from the ancestry. They are very much into respecting the elders although not quite o much as Confucius.

Something that did frustrate me was this, "Give up learning, and put an end to your trouble." (Twenty). Is he trying to say that we shouldn’t learn? I don’t get it, the whole book is about learning

"When wisdom and intelligence are born, The great pretense begins." (Eighteen). Isn’t this achieved by learning? How can you be wise if you don’t learn?

This quote reminds me of the nature parks, “A good walker leaves no tracks…” (Twenty seven). When you go to a nature reserve they tell you, leave nothing but your tracks. To me the irony in this is very interesting because I somewhat picture the tow in a sort of botanical garden.

I began to think about our daily life and our free will while reading this, “The heavy is the root of the light: the still is the master of unrest” (twenty six). When you begin to think of free will and what your life revolves on, your life revolves around the sun, the everlasting light. The sun sets you to sleep at night and wakes you up every morning. It is the master of the unrest.

Lastly, is this actually where the Ying Yang began? “Know the white, but keep the black!” (Twenty eight).

Reading A Book That Is Not The Book

So here I am beginning the Tao Te Ching. As I begin reading it I realize I am reading a book that is actually not the book and the title is actually not the title, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name” (one). Confused? Yeah well me to. So, I’m reading a Tao that isn’t a Tao and isn’t even called Tao. This is going to be fun.

In the second poem I found a lot of resemblance to the Bible. I found this quote to be extremely true, and have a lot of resemblance to the tree of knowledge, “Under heaven all can see beauty only because there is ugliness. All can know good as good only because there is evil.” (two). There are so many arguments to the tree of knowledge. How would we know it was bad to eat an apple from the tree of knowledge if the knowledge of good and bad was hidden in that apple? To be able to know good you must know evil. To be able to know beautiful you must know what ugly looks like. This is what the passage is trying to say. What supposedly released this knowledge was the tree. This also reminds me of ying and yang, a contrast. You must have a contrast to fully understand something.  The contrasts complement each other.

The last passage really stood out to me aswell. It was hard to interpret but I think ive been qable to see through it a bit, “Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.”(twelve). My interpretation actually comes from my own emotions. Sometimes you hear rumors and are lead to belive they are true, but you know deep down the truth of it all. This is why you should let you feelings take control, not what you see or hear.

We All Derive From Practice

"The Master said, 'Human beings can broaden the Way-it is not the Way that broadens human beings.'" (15.29)

I love this quote. I believe it is saying we can all choose our path in life but we have to find it. Our destiny will not find us. It is just like all of my friends complaining over boys. If I had a penny for every time I heard one of my friends say “I’m not pretty enough”, “Boys never come to me” I would be a millionaire. What they don’t understand is that they have to show an interest, or broaden the way, the things will change.

We have to find our own paths and broaden our way. This all starts with decisions. Let’s say you study hard and go to an Ivy League school, businesses will be begging for your services. That gives you an automatic wide open way. Now for the person that went to community college, let’s just say the path is a little narrower. It all starts with us making the decision to be the nerd or the cheerleading captain. We can choose to broaden our path in the future.

All of this leads to my next quote:

"The Master said, 'By nature people are similar, they diverge as the result of practice.'" (17.2)

Everyone is born the same (almost everyone). When you are a baby nothing else matters but to learn to walk and talk. As the days grow shorter we begin to develop talents, such as singing and dancing, sports, and intellectual development. As we begin hitting elementary there is a clear line between the intellectuals and the football players. In middle school the line zig zags a bit and plays survival of the fittest amongst the groups. By the time we hit high school the clicks are solid and once in a blue moon shifted around. Then we choose our professions amongst our talents. This is all a result of practicing our talents and there for diverging into groups because of them.

Another interpretation to this quote is that everyone is unique. Though almost physically the same we have different qualities and therefore hang with the people most similar to ourselves. That interpretation seemed rather flat to me though. I prefer my first one.