Lots of posts coming on this topic.
First, some quotes. Selected totally at random. No agenda at work here.
Lao Tzu: "Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative, to which all beings owe their beginning and which permeates all heaven."
Yahweh: "I am that I am."
Lao Tzu: "I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures."
St. Paul: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
Lao Tzu: "If you would take, you must first give, this is the beginning of intelligence."
St. Luke: "It is more blessed to give than to receive."
Lao Tzu: "Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained."
Yeshua: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
Me: "Lots of posts coming on this topic."
Random, huh?
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to more posts on said topic.
Coming. And my aim is not to reconcile two or more schools of thought in this series. (Even if they both are "The Way.") I'd rather just use this blog to organize my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThe parallels you draw are interesting, but a bit quaint. The differences are striking.
ReplyDeleteLao Tzu advises an economy (if you wanna get, give)...it is aggrarian, like "if you want to reap, sow." But the Luke passage you quote is non-economic. It blesses giving, and ranks it above receiving. The implication is Taoism is that receiving is the point, and the Tao is the way to best receive.
So Lao Tzu might as well have said, "It is more blessed to receive than to give." The Tao Te Ching describes the best ways to receive. Other people, to whom one gives, are like the soil in which one plants seeds. But it is the receiving that matters.
Taoism, unlike Confucianism (and perhaps Christianity), is heavily tilted toward the individual and his/her self-fulfillment.
I'm glad your blog is so ecclectic, Just John. :)