[MD] Case's Answer to Marsha: Part 4

[Case]

Part Four: 

B.S. - Bull Shit
M.S - More of Same
Ph.D - Piled higher and Deeper
 

Even the structure of the Tao Te Ching is ambiguous. It is divided into two
parts. The first part is about The Way: Tao. The second part is about
Virtue: Te. I have one translation based on a recently found ancient
manuscript where the order is reversed and the second part comes first so
the book is the Te Tao Ching or the Book of the Virtuous Way.

As it is most commonly characterized the Tao Te Ching is about the union of
opposites. It holds that unity is undefined and knowable only though its
manifestations generally in pairs. These pairs or dualisms are known or
appreciated mainly through their relationships to each other. Yin-Moon and
Yang-Sun are the classic catchalls for this.

The Yin-Yang symbol of Taoism is a familiar icon. It shows up everywhere
from the Korean flag to surfboards, popular jewelry, posters and T-shirts.
It is a circle divided into swirls of white and black. Each swirl includes a
dot of its opposite in the fat part of its swirl. It actually comes from a
representation of Chinese solar observation. They would drive an eight foot
long pole in the ground and measure the length of its shadow throughout the
year. The light and dark patterns in the circle come from the lengthening
and shortening of the shadow through out the course of the year. This is
text and I can't draw you a picture but you can see it here:

http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/yinyang.htm

Although the Chinese recognized an essential dualism in the world they did
not see the kind of conflict that westerners see in opposition. Day becomes
night and night divides the day. What goes around, comes around. Opposites
compliment and define each other, they do not conquer or obliterate each
other.

In the balance or proper relationship between opposites one finds harmony or
The Way. But this should not suggest that balance mean equal measure. It can
be found in the hint of shadows on a sunlit day or the glimmer of moonlight
on a darkened pond. 

That is The Way. But so what? The Taoist approach to life is to go with the
flow. Rather than trying to force the world to behave in a certain way the
wise man or the Sage is shapeless and adjusts himself to the shape of the
world. There are versions of this in the west of course, the willow is
stronger than the oak in a high wind because it bends rather than breaks. 

The value of a cup is not the hard container itself but the hollow emptiness
it surrounds.

What Pirsig seems to have recognized in this is the Taoist ability to
reconcile opposites. He first sees it in the Classical Romantic spilt but
that is only one duality. The Tao reconciles all duality. It is not about
reconciliation through victory it is about sustaining the cycles of nature.
It is not about directing the flow or forming patterns it is about the flow
itself.

Several times I have pointed out my objections to Pirsig's use of the term
Quality to name the Tao. The term Quality serves his purpose in his
discussion of Value but by giving it a name we know he creates the illusion
that we know it. He basically defines the undefined. By naming it after an
abstraction like Quality he emphasizes one aspect of the Tao. But in so
doing he turns our attention away from other aspects. Recognizing full well
that I would be committing the same error, I would prefer to call it The
Way. But my first choice would be to simply leave alone and call it Tao. The
word is familiar to the western mind but it still seems alien. We don't
pretend so much to understand its meaning and it retains an element of
Dynamic Quality as a result.

Still given the teleological bent of so many MoQers and the mystical bent of
others I think The Way is a much better way of naming the unnamable Quality.
It implies a path or a journey, movement through space and time. A path
wanders over and around obstacles. We see it ahead of us and it guides our
steps but we still do not know where it is leading or if we will get there.
The Way is a mystery but we are tuned by nature to recognize it in the
patterns of meaningful coincidence that arise with every step we take.

When the Shit hits the Fan
Hold your breath, close your eyes and walk on.

End of Part Four