http://www.itmonline.org/shen/chap2.htm
... 'I have a big tree,' said Hui-tzu to Chuang-tzu. 'Its huge trunk is so gnarled and knotted that no measuring string can gauge it, and its branches are so bent and twisted they defy compass and square. It stands right beside the road, and still carpenters never notice it. These words of yours [referring to the stories of Chuang-tzu recorded in this chapter], so vast and useless, everyone ignores them the same way.'
Chuang-tzu replied [after giving examples of his point]: 'Now, you've got this huge tree, and you agonize over how useless it is. Why not plant it in a village where there's nothing at all, in a land where emptiness stretches away forever? Then you could be no one drifting lazily beside it, roam boundless and free as you doze in its shade. It won't die young from the axe. Nothing will harm it. If you have no use, you have no grief.
The tree that is logically useful (its wood is desirable) will be cut down; the tree that is logically useless (its wood too gnarled to be of value) is spared. So, which is better? To be useful or useless? And who is to decide whether something is useful: the gnarled tree serves just fine for shade and is not in danger of being cut down for its wood.
In Chapter 22 of the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu says (3):
Wise men embrace the one, and set an example to all. Not putting on a display, they shine forth; not justifying themselves, they are distinguished. Not boasting, they receive recognition, not bragging, they never falter. They do not quarrel, so no one quarrels with them.
The tree, in the story above, may be huge, but carpenters never notice it. The Taoist is likewise unnoticed because he does not try to call attention to himself; not calling attention to himself, no one quarrels with him. But, this does not mean that he is without value. Like the Tao, he is "great," like the tree, he can provide welcome relief (shade) and a break from desolation (absence of wisdom and virtue). He is not so useless after all. How many people fret over not being as "great" as another or as they dream to be, feeling depressed about it, yet can do things that are truly important for another person, and so they are doing their part?
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
pepezabala wrote:
at least they achieved that you talk about it and made some research about it.
Here is what nobel-prize of economy Stiglitz has to say about the movement:
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/stiglitz144/English?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29
true. Interesting article. I wish I shared his optimism in people power though. I kind of lost all faith in that in 2002 when 2 million marched on London, including my parents, and Tony Blair stood up and said, 'bollocks' then went ahead and used the nation's, tax funded armed forces to invade a sovereign nation, against the wishes of the people of the nation, and the whole rest of the world. Bush rendered the UN effectively useless and shat on the world, and a lot of rich countries "who were just following orders" joined in, like Australia who know they have to do whatever the US tells them otherwise we would be fucked if anyone invaded.
So I guess my depressing point is, if 2 million people doesn't raise a drop of sweat in London, then these occupy protests aren't really going to really bother them much.
There have always been landlords, since the alpha Chimp beat the one from the other mob away with a bone. Territory is a fairly innate part of all animals. But we've also traded/bartered/bought/sold forever too, so we'll always do that in some form or another. Some people seem to be more cunning and can own more of it than us, and we are naturally resentful of that. But seeing as how in our times we can't live off the land so easily as property is owned by somebody, then we should at least all be afforded our natural right to all the basic human needs. This is I think what it is really about. Make sure every human being on the planet has those basic rights, including health-care, and use technology that doesn't fuck up the planet for all of us, do our utmost to protect the rights of all sentient beings, then knock yourselves out, speculate and earn as much money as you like.
The British empire was run largely on trade. Now the US empire is too really. How many countries don't have a McDonalds or Coca-cola now?
They just send in the big guns whenever someone makes it a bit harder to trade. The Bush's are businessmen- from Oil, and people like that go for the presidency to make it easier for them to make more money. They also knew that Oil is a finite resource and Saddam was a pain in the arse to deal with and had a lot of it, so they needed to deal with him.
I guess in 1991 they weren't as worried about running out.
I feel like comparing it to the "arab spring" is a bit wrong though. They're not really the same thing. The "west" loved that and supported it even militarily because they knew ultimately it will end up in more places to set up McDonalds and Starbucks with Wi-Fi to pacify the people while they work on the oil....... etc
In fact, the 1% probably even want to improve the conditions of the poor everywhere, because they realise that every person with a disposable income on the planet is a consumer. I didn't fail to notice the irony in an ice cream man showing up on sunday at the end of the park to profit from the anti-capitalist protesters.
People in the west have less jobs now because a lot of them were outsourced to poorer countries, which is raising the standard of living for some poorer people, so they can afford mobile phones now. 5 billion phones now to 7 billion people. India now has a midddle class of more than the entire populations of the US, Canada, Australia and the UK combined. That's a huge market. Except the bastards keep ringing me up trying to sell it to me.
The people in the west are naturally a bit pissed off about this, but it's really nothing like as bad being poor here as it is in some places, and maybe they deserve the jobs more? We can really deal with poverty and still have a pretty good time of it, at least where I live. I've never had money and am definitely considered "breadline" and I have Ableton Live and several controllers, NS10s, sub, New Macbook pro....etc.......
It's hard for people in the west to really understand what real poverty is. (I say "in the west" but in Australia many Aboriginal people experience the same kinds of poverty as in some parts of Africa or India, but because this country is so big it feels like it could be in a different country. It kind of is.)
I think part of the reason some people in our countries are a bit confused about it is because being poor here really is not so bad, so they are kind of wishing for better conditions for people somewhere else more deprived, and they are saying the way to do this is to abolish capitalism - or maybe more correctly, "corporatism" (which Mussolini apparently said was actually the same thing as fascism). But is that the solution, or do we use the system already in place and just start putting a bit more priority on being fairer?
I think part of the reason for the global upheaval is because Gen Y has grown up and realised a few things about how shit things are, but like all new generations they feel they deserve better. And they do. That is what evolution is.
Fuck is it monday night? that was a total stoner rant.....
at least they achieved that you talk about it and made some research about it.
Here is what nobel-prize of economy Stiglitz has to say about the movement:
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/stiglitz144/English?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29
true. Interesting article. I wish I shared his optimism in people power though. I kind of lost all faith in that in 2002 when 2 million marched on London, including my parents, and Tony Blair stood up and said, 'bollocks' then went ahead and used the nation's, tax funded armed forces to invade a sovereign nation, against the wishes of the people of the nation, and the whole rest of the world. Bush rendered the UN effectively useless and shat on the world, and a lot of rich countries "who were just following orders" joined in, like Australia who know they have to do whatever the US tells them otherwise we would be fucked if anyone invaded.
So I guess my depressing point is, if 2 million people doesn't raise a drop of sweat in London, then these occupy protests aren't really going to really bother them much.
There have always been landlords, since the alpha Chimp beat the one from the other mob away with a bone. Territory is a fairly innate part of all animals. But we've also traded/bartered/bought/sold forever too, so we'll always do that in some form or another. Some people seem to be more cunning and can own more of it than us, and we are naturally resentful of that. But seeing as how in our times we can't live off the land so easily as property is owned by somebody, then we should at least all be afforded our natural right to all the basic human needs. This is I think what it is really about. Make sure every human being on the planet has those basic rights, including health-care, and use technology that doesn't fuck up the planet for all of us, do our utmost to protect the rights of all sentient beings, then knock yourselves out, speculate and earn as much money as you like.
The British empire was run largely on trade. Now the US empire is too really. How many countries don't have a McDonalds or Coca-cola now?
They just send in the big guns whenever someone makes it a bit harder to trade. The Bush's are businessmen- from Oil, and people like that go for the presidency to make it easier for them to make more money. They also knew that Oil is a finite resource and Saddam was a pain in the arse to deal with and had a lot of it, so they needed to deal with him.
I guess in 1991 they weren't as worried about running out.
I feel like comparing it to the "arab spring" is a bit wrong though. They're not really the same thing. The "west" loved that and supported it even militarily because they knew ultimately it will end up in more places to set up McDonalds and Starbucks with Wi-Fi to pacify the people while they work on the oil....... etc
In fact, the 1% probably even want to improve the conditions of the poor everywhere, because they realise that every person with a disposable income on the planet is a consumer. I didn't fail to notice the irony in an ice cream man showing up on sunday at the end of the park to profit from the anti-capitalist protesters.
People in the west have less jobs now because a lot of them were outsourced to poorer countries, which is raising the standard of living for some poorer people, so they can afford mobile phones now. 5 billion phones now to 7 billion people. India now has a midddle class of more than the entire populations of the US, Canada, Australia and the UK combined. That's a huge market. Except the bastards keep ringing me up trying to sell it to me.
The people in the west are naturally a bit pissed off about this, but it's really nothing like as bad being poor here as it is in some places, and maybe they deserve the jobs more? We can really deal with poverty and still have a pretty good time of it, at least where I live. I've never had money and am definitely considered "breadline" and I have Ableton Live and several controllers, NS10s, sub, New Macbook pro....etc.......
It's hard for people in the west to really understand what real poverty is. (I say "in the west" but in Australia many Aboriginal people experience the same kinds of poverty as in some parts of Africa or India, but because this country is so big it feels like it could be in a different country. It kind of is.)
I think part of the reason some people in our countries are a bit confused about it is because being poor here really is not so bad, so they are kind of wishing for better conditions for people somewhere else more deprived, and they are saying the way to do this is to abolish capitalism - or maybe more correctly, "corporatism" (which Mussolini apparently said was actually the same thing as fascism). But is that the solution, or do we use the system already in place and just start putting a bit more priority on being fairer?
I think part of the reason for the global upheaval is because Gen Y has grown up and realised a few things about how shit things are, but like all new generations they feel they deserve better. And they do. That is what evolution is.
Fuck is it monday night? that was a total stoner rant.....
in fairness to those involved
I posted this originally purely because it happened in the park near my house and thought it was a funny place to have it.
But it turns out it did start in the city and got moved several times. Today when I walked past I noticed a web address and looked it up..
http://www.occupybrisbane.org
But I'm really not sure why they bothered moving to where they are because it really is not a place that could achieve any conceivable effect whatsoever. It's just not anywhere near anything important and they are tucked away in a park.
Apparently there were more people originally and 10 people did get arrested.
But it turns out it did start in the city and got moved several times. Today when I walked past I noticed a web address and looked it up..
http://www.occupybrisbane.org
But I'm really not sure why they bothered moving to where they are because it really is not a place that could achieve any conceivable effect whatsoever. It's just not anywhere near anything important and they are tucked away in a park.
Apparently there were more people originally and 10 people did get arrested.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
I had to share the efforts of my famously laid back, sub-tropical city, because it made me laugh.
For the record, I agree with a lot of the message of the "Occupy" movement, and I respect people who get off their arse and do something, but can't help feeling Brisbane has missed the point slightly.
In photo 1, they are having their rally next to the playground my son occasionally uses the swings at, in one of Brisbane's nice spacious green parks where I walk my dog.
In photo 2, their sleep out is about 20m from it. Looks like a quite nice spot to camp actually. Got the barbie out and everything. Near to all amenities.
Still, I think they're doing a great job of spreading the message to the joggers, cyclists and dog walkers.
Doubt the 1% are too bothered though.
As I was leaving 2 guys from the council "rapid response" team turned up, paused briefly to tell me how much the fines are for letting your dog off the lead on the way over, then I assume they went over to offer their token "you're not allowed to put tents in the park".
So I think the protesters got a brief chance to "stick it to the man" in the form of the 2 poor sods at the council who got the sunday shift. I'm pretty sure they're not the 1% though.
For the record, I agree with a lot of the message of the "Occupy" movement, and I respect people who get off their arse and do something, but can't help feeling Brisbane has missed the point slightly.
In photo 1, they are having their rally next to the playground my son occasionally uses the swings at, in one of Brisbane's nice spacious green parks where I walk my dog.
In photo 2, their sleep out is about 20m from it. Looks like a quite nice spot to camp actually. Got the barbie out and everything. Near to all amenities.
Still, I think they're doing a great job of spreading the message to the joggers, cyclists and dog walkers.
Doubt the 1% are too bothered though.
As I was leaving 2 guys from the council "rapid response" team turned up, paused briefly to tell me how much the fines are for letting your dog off the lead on the way over, then I assume they went over to offer their token "you're not allowed to put tents in the park".
So I think the protesters got a brief chance to "stick it to the man" in the form of the 2 poor sods at the council who got the sunday shift. I'm pretty sure they're not the 1% though.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Happy Bloomsday!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomsday
I haven't yet read Ulysses but I've just been reading something that mentioned it and just realised that the key date of June the 16th has literally just finished a few hours ago in Ireland. That's really mundane and probably not that interesting to anyone besides myself, but I had to post this somewhere because it amuses me and this is my outlet.
Kind of like my father dropping dead the day after St. Patricks say, meanwhile going to the grave thinking his father grew up in Canada when we just recently found out he actually grew up in Dublin.
Seems I need to explore our Irish history more, I'm getting messages!
Still, at least I can actually say we quite literally tripped over St. Patricks grave together the one and only time we both went there before he died.
I haven't yet read Ulysses but I've just been reading something that mentioned it and just realised that the key date of June the 16th has literally just finished a few hours ago in Ireland. That's really mundane and probably not that interesting to anyone besides myself, but I had to post this somewhere because it amuses me and this is my outlet.
Kind of like my father dropping dead the day after St. Patricks say, meanwhile going to the grave thinking his father grew up in Canada when we just recently found out he actually grew up in Dublin.
Seems I need to explore our Irish history more, I'm getting messages!
Still, at least I can actually say we quite literally tripped over St. Patricks grave together the one and only time we both went there before he died.
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