Wednesday, June 29, 2011

What Tao Sounds Like

Play this musical video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3174T-3-59Q&feature=player_embedded

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Tao

    
Taoism
Taoism

Fundamentals
Dao (Tao) ·De (Te) ·Wuji ·Taiji ·Yin-Yang ·Wu Xing ·Qi ·Neidan ·Wu wei
Texts
Laozi (Tao Te Ching) ·Zhuangzi ·Liezi ·Daozang
Deities
Three Pure Ones ·Yu Huang ·Guan Shengdi ·Eight Immortals ·Yellow Emperor ·Xiwangmu ·Jade Emperor ·Chang'e ·Other deities
People
Laozi ·Zhuangzi ·Zhang Daoling ·Zhang Jue ·Ge Hong ·Chen Tuan
Schools
Tianshi Dao ·Shangqing ·Lingbao ·Quanzhen Dao ·Zhengyi Dao ·Wuliupai
Sacred sites
Grotto-heavens ·Mount Penglai
Tao or Dao (, Pinyin: About this sound Dào ) is a Chinese word meaning 'way', 'path', 'route', or sometimes more loosely, 'doctrine' or 'principle'. Within the context of traditional Chinese philosophy and religion, Tao is a metaphysical concept originating with Laozi that gave rise to a religion (Wade-Giles, Tao Chiao; Pinyin, Daojiao) and philosophy (Wade-Giles, Tao chia; Pinyin, Daojia) referred to in English with the single term Taoism. The concept of Tao was later adopted in Confucianism, Chán and Zen Buddhism and more broadly throughout East Asian philosophy and religion in general. Within these contexts Tao signifies the primordial essence or fundamental nature of the universe. In the foundational text of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching, Laozi explains that Tao is not a 'name' for a 'thing' but the underlying natural order of the universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe. Tao is thus "eternally nameless” (Dao De Jing-32. Laozi) and to be distinguished from the countless 'named' things which are considered to be its manifestations. There is a close analogue in the Western tradition, with the German philosophical term "Sein", generally translated as Being, but it would be more accurate to understand that Tao also would include Nothingness as well.
In Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism, the object of spiritual practice is to 'become one with the tao' (Tao Te Ching) or to harmonise one's will with Nature (cf. Stoicism). This involves meditative and moral practices. Important in this respect is the Taoist concept of De (virtue).
In all its uses, Dao is considered to have ineffable qualities that prevent it from being defined or expressed in words. It can, however, be known or experienced, and its principles (which can be discerned by observing Nature) can be followed or practiced. Much of East Asian philosophical writing focuses on the value of adhering to the principles of Tao and the various consequences of failing to do so. In Confucianism and religious forms of Daoism these are often explicitly moral/ethical arguments about proper behavior, while Buddhism and more philosophical forms of Daoism usually refer to the natural and mercurial outcomes of action (comparable to karma). Dao is intrinsically related to the concepts yin and yang (Pinyin: yīnyáng), where every action creates counter-actions as unavoidable movements within manifestations of the Dao, and proper practice variously involves accepting, conforming to, or working with these natural developments.
The concept of Tao differs from conventional (western) ontology, however; it is an active and holistic conception of Nature, rather than a static, atomistic one.

Description and uses of the concept

The ba gua, a symbol commonly used to represent the Dao and its pursuit.
The word "Dao" (道) has a variety of meanings in both ancient and modern Chinese language. Aside from its purely prosaic use to mean road, channel, path, doctrine, or similar,[1] the word has acquired a variety of differing and often confusing metaphorical, philosophical and religious uses. In most belief systems, Dao is used symbolically in its sense of 'way' as the 'right' or 'proper' way of existence, or in the context of ongoing practices of attainment or of the full coming into being, or the state of enlightenment or spiritual perfection that is the outcome of such practices.[2] Some scholars make sharp distinctions between moral or ethical usage of the word Dao that is prominent in Confucianism and religious Daoism and the more metaphysical usage of the term used in philosophical Daoism and most forms of Mahayana Buddhism;[3] others maintain that these are not separate usages or meanings, seeing them as mutually inclusive and compatible approaches to defining the concept.[4] The original use of the term was as a form of praxis rather than theory - a term used as a convention to refer to something that otherwise cannot be discussed in words - and early writings such as the Dao De Jing and the I Ching make pains to distinguish between conceptions of Dao (sometimes referred to as "named Dao") and the Dao itself (the "unnamed Dao"), which cannot be expressed or understood in language.[notes 1][notes 2][5] Liu Da asserts that Dao is properly understood as an experiential and evolving concept, and that there are not only cultural and religious differences in the interpretation of Dao, but personal differences that reflect the character of individual practitioners.[6]
Dao can be roughly thought of as the flow of the universe, or as some essence or pattern behind the natural world that keeps the universe balanced and ordered.[7] It is related to the idea of qi, the essential energy of action and existence. Dao is a non-dual concept - it is the greater whole from which all the individual elements of the universe derive. Keller considers it similar to the negative theology of Western scholars,[8] but Dao is rarely an object of direct worship, being treated more like the Hindu concepts of karma or dharma than as a divine object.[9] Dao is more commonly expressed in the relationship between wu (void or emptiness, in the sense of wuji) and yinyang (the natural dynamic balance between opposites), leading to its central principle of wu wei (non-action, or action without force).
Dao is usually described in terms of elements of nature, and in particular as similar to water. Like water it is undifferentiated, endlessly self-replenishing, soft and quiet but immensely powerful, and impassively generous.[10] Much of Daoist philosophy centers on the cyclical continuity of the natural world, and its contrast to the linear, goal-oriented actions of human beings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Great Speech.....Charlie Chaplin


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3Eg8F3rap4

I don't want to be an Emperor - that's not my business - I don't want to rule or conquer anyone.
I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.
We all want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.
The way of life can be free and beautiful.
But we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men's souls - has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.
We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say "Do not despair".
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish...
Soldiers - don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you - who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.
Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate - only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers - don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty.
In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written " the kingdom of God is within man " - not one man, nor a group of men - but in all men - in you, the people.
You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let's use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfil their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.
Soldiers - in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting - the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world. A kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality.
The soul of man has been given wings - and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow - into the light of hope - into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us.

Look up! Look up! The clouds are lifting - the sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world. A kind new world where men will rise above their hate and brutality.
The soul of man has been given wings - and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow - into the light of hope - into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up. Look up."


Read more: http://www.clown-ministry.com/index_1.php/articles/text_of_charlie_chaplins_speech_from_the_great_dictator_aka_look_up_hannah/#ixzz1QRMdLZpM

Friday, June 17, 2011

Kissing Couple at Vancouver Riots



Kissing Couple At Vancouver Riot Identified...

CBC -- Scott Jones, an aspiring standup comedian from Australia, and his Canadian girlfriend Alex Thomas have been revealed as the mystery couple kissing on a Vancouver street as riot police battled crowds following the Canucks' Stanley Cup loss.
The mystery identity of the couple kissing while lying on a Vancouver street as riot police battled crowds following the Canucks' Stanley Cup loss has been revealed as Australian Scott Jones and his Canadian girlfriend Alex Thomas.
Jones's family in the Land Down Under said he has been in Canada for six months, working as a bartender and trying to break into acting and standup comedy.
Following the Canucks' Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night, images of the kissing couple were splashed around the world - notably in Australia after the family came forward as knowing the man caught in a passionate embrace with a woman on the street of the B.C. city.
Hannah Jones, Scott's sister from Perth, told CBC News in an email that the man in the pictures is her 29-year-old brother, and he recently started dating Thomas, who attends the University of Guelph in Ontario.
And via Skype from Perth, their father, Brett, also confirmed that the pair are his son and his new girlfriend.
'It's just completely gone viral'
Brett Jones said the couple had been at the NHL final game, and after the frenzy following the loss spilled into the street, the two were caught in the violence.
Story continues below
"They were between the riot police and the rioters, and the riot police were actually charging forward, and Alex got knocked by a [police] shield and fell to the ground," he told CBC News. "[Scott] was comforting her and gave her a kiss to say, 'It's going to be OK,' and the photographer just took the shot at that moment."
Brett Jones said Scott is fine, and Alex suffered a bruised leg from falling to the ground.
The two are overwhelmed by all the coverage the picture has gotten, he said, noting that he has been fielding calls from media around the world.
"They are both just totally stunned by it, actually."
The dad of the now-famous bartender-standup comedian said Scott was in Vancouver on a work visa, and is leaving in a few days for the U.S., and then heading back to Australia.
But the image of Scott Jones and his girlfriend will likely forever be considered the one bright light in the Vancouver post-Stanley Cup frenzy.
"It's just completely gone viral around the world," his dad noted.
Click over to our slideshow for more photos of the riots and take a peek at the kissing couple below:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/06/17/scott-jones-and-alex-thom_n_878910.html

Thomas Haas Chocolates



One of Noth Vancouver's secrets...

http://www.thomashaas.com/page120.htm

Monday, June 13, 2011

Peter Tosh...


Pick Myself Up...
(Peter Tosh)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_hZyzst6i0&feature=related
"Sittin' in the morning sun
And watching all the birds passing by
Oh how sweet they sing
And oh how much I wish that I could fly
And I try
I said I try
I try
I really try try try
But I got to
Pick myself up
Dust myself off
Start all over, again (CHORUS 2x)
Sittin' in the midday sun
And wondering where my meal's coming from
After working so hard
Not even piece of bread at the yard
And I said I try
Oh Lord I try
I try
I really try try try
Sittin' in the evening sun
And watching the same birds passing by
Sittin' and wondering
And waiting for the time for me to fly
And I try
I said I try
Good Lord I try
I really try try try
So long and I just find
It was just a waste of time
So long and I just find
I been been wasting all my time
I've got to pick myself up...""

Before Becoming This Good Looking...

"Model Red"
Old Man Toy Maker
June/11

Seven Days The First Freshman  PT /3

@ 1.40 minute mark...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uopnWafQJnc

@ 4.00 minute mark...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy6dswg6NWU

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Professor Kugelmann

Professor Kugelmann
aka
Max Teichman


In Jewish/Yiddish accent...

Prezident Obama...Ze No bell Peece Pryze vinner who started
three vars in ze nayme of Peece.

"" Zis wundrus sing vee Kall lyfe.
...But so many peeple living unkonshis.
Zey see only simbals.
Unavayre of how fantastical lyfe reely iz.

...So...yoo kan stay in ze dark,
or you kan look to see ze sunshyne outsyde ze cayve.

Iz up to yoo.""

(david beleznay)
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A person's graytest akkomplishmunt deevelops at za poynt
where zey overkum zeyre graytest weekness.

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Tyme flyze ven yoo are in a Koma.

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Vee shall not ceese frum explorashin,
and ze end of all our exploring,
vill be to arryve vere vee started
and to know zat place for ze very first time.

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