RE: The useless tree, a story of Taoism wisdom by Zhuang Zi, followed by my interpretation.
This is an exceedingly useful parable. :) Thanks for sharing. It's a really unusual way to look at life and so you can learn so much from it. It's nothing you already know and think you know well.
To offer oneself as little as possible in the world is so alien to us modern people that this is exactly where beauty lies. It is true.
Rather, we are interested in being active in the world. We are interested in action and determinism, in progress and change. In this way we often achieve exactly the opposite: standstill. We block our human potential, we prevent plants from growing naturally, we prevent our dying. Our will to let ourselves be exploited and to plunder ourselves is very great. It is certainly because of our perceived inferiority that we make such great efforts to be seen and respected. To work for love.
You possibly know Wu-Wei, the art of moving between omission and action?
Exactly, it goes against all that we are taught, yet it's easy to see how this way of thinking leads to better peace of mind. And by living in this manner we discover that it's not necessary, and it's indeed harmful, to painfully strive towards our goals; it's easier to achieve them when we have a sense of detachment, acceptance and calm.
It reminds me of University, where other students were wrecking their health with the manner in which they studied: spending all night reading their paper trying to memorise everything. I could achieve at least as much as them with much less effort, not because I'm specially smart, but simply because I was wholly present in class and studied with calm and without putting weight on my shoulders by thinking that all my future dependend on my grades (stress greatly impedes the learning process).
Thanks for your insightful comment. Indeed the philosophy of progress for progress' sake is only harmful for us and for the world, and robs us of our higher human potential (which includes inner peace).
Yes Wu-Wei is an important part of my life, ever since I've discovered Jack Kerouac 10 years ago :)
So true! All that wasted time at school in not wanting to be interested in a topic. And then, in the end bulimia learning takes place. But students cannot be blamed for it. The whole set up is wrong as we all know. One can be lucky to have rescued some curiosity for life and the living after all.
You see, educated people are the worst. My mom, who only visited 4 years of school education (just primary school) was a very spontaneous person. She never had this self conscious Freudian concept of life and acted strong. Of course, she was often mistaken and ghastly but on the other hand she gave me the best laughs of my life! She was mischievous. I am not this type of mother/character. I had to unlearn to worry all the time and to give too much meaning on what others think of me (all this comparing stuff between peers and later working colleagues).
Still am in the process of maturing. Not finished yet. Probably never will.
For becoming a fearless person it requires much more inconvenience and other habits than which my society provides me with. Like seeing dead corpses, waking hours for the dead, seeing babies been born, facing blood, sweat and slime et cetera et cetera. ... Laughter! Sorry for that direct talk!
Glad, that you know Wu-Wei. So we don't have to get into this long explanation talk. Jack Kerouac I never was reading .. I just know the name. But of course, all the great people have their stuff from other great people. LOL
Indeed the education system, wholly focused on exams, is terrible at keeping people truly interested in the subjects. As always with society, only results matter... I long for the time of peripatetic teachers like that of ancient Greece!
Your mother seem like she was a great person. Education does not make one intelligent, although it may make one think that one is, which is very dangerous. And it also leads to overthinking things, which is a great source of anxiety for our modern world.
Of course we are always maturing and growing, I think it is the most important thing we can do with our time on Earth :)
Yes probably society impedes our growth, as you said by sheltering us from the hard realities such as death which is never seriously talked about anywhere.
"But of course, all the great people have their stuff from other great people." So very true! I often feel that my personnality is really just a mosaic of all the people (ie. authors, teachers, friends) who have influenced me, with the only unique thing about me being the manner this mosaic is put together.