yeah, in this case, though, I was really referring the idea that, in some people at least, something just clicks regarding a certain aspect of life. Someone gets a passion for something and there's no stopping them. Or, you notice something that should be complex but it all just makes sense for no apparent reason. — Whickwithy

I was attempting to explain the nature of "child prodigies" and how they acquired their gifts. Memories from past lives.

One theory goes that it takes 10,000 hours to master any instrument. And, yet, there are savants that sit down at a piano and play like a master before they have ever learned anything about it. So, one way to interpret this from the point of view of The Tao is that we are hobbling ourselves by our own efforts to learn that which we should already know. — Whickwithy

We may know many things from practice in past lives. Everyone has a different soulful history, each physical life being an accumulation of the complete history of the soul (individual accumulation of memories). Science calls this genetic inheritance.

They had less intellectual debris to face. So their minds made up the missing stuff in the cracks of knowledge, and since the majority of creation thus became the product of their imagination, they saw the world more clearly. Everyone is very clear about the product of their imagination. — god must be atheist

In simplicity one gains clarity. Complexity clouds the obvious. A idea needs only one sentence. The Internet is a manifestation of junk debris. Better to look at a pond.

Has anyone here read Jose Arguelles's "The Mayan Factor"? Does anyone know of the Great Cycle as 13 Baktun Synchronation Beam and the Harmonic Convergence? The Mayans may have had a better understanding reality than we do? — Athena

The ancients observed life more clearly.

What IS energy. Math and physics only deals with equivalencies (=). They can never say what it IS. Only WE can say who we ARE.

1. To be physical -> To be perceivable — TheMadFool

Perceived by who?

That is very materialistic when reality is all about energy. — Athena

Doesn't light carry the memory of the stars as they were millions of years ago. Who's to say that memory dies when the body can no longer function.

we must forget the past one. I would not want to repeat my present life — Athena

Yes. Death and rebirth is a manner to start afresh, like a new game of chess. We do not forget what were have learned, but we can start again to see how well we learned and how much more we can learn. The Universe is constantly playing the game of creating and learning, just like a game of chess.

Are you saying that life and death are given to us within cycles of learning? I keep an open mind to this possibility, but with an awareness that there is a lack scientific credibility to back up this view,
although it may be the case that scientists cannot grasp and put such a perspective under a microscope or within the structure of experiment. In other words, I would love to believe thhat you are suggesting is true, but there is a danger in accepting the possibility because it appeals to many of us. — Jack Cummins

Yes, Life and Death are cycles of learning, and give meaning and understanding to life.

Science is limited to what it can measure. That which it cannot measure it simply assigns human traits, e.g. genes, cells, etc.

There is no reason not to believe in the timelines of memory (brain waves?) and every reason to embrace it. Meaning in life is precious.

You suggest that at some point we wake up. This is not an established, so perhaps you could expand your point of view in a bit further detail. — Jack Cummins

My suspicion is that life is cyclical, and the microcosmic resembles the macrocosmic. We sleep, dream, and wake up, consciousness being a continuum of memory. The bigger sleep, death and birth, will be similar. What science calls genetics, would be a continuum of memory from previous life/death cycles. Basically, I believe the Universe is symmetrical in all respects. Clues to the macro can be found in observing the micro. This is what Daoists do. Interestingly, Hamlet's soliloquy alludes to this idea. I think that if we pass on with good memories, we will enjoy a nice deep sleep. The concept of Karma adopts a similar point of view.

I suspect death is much like sleep. No time Just fleeting images. And say some point, we wake up, still with some memories of the past.

I do agree that the Universe is comprised by the union of opposites. This idea appears in many philosophies of many cultures.

I do not think, however, it is a fine balance. Instead, I believe the Universe is always in a natural balance as a flowing river. At times, there may be disruption, such as a dam stopping there flow of water, but in time, the dam will be overcome, and ther natural balance returns.

Yes, I very much agree with you. Our individual minds are looking into itself, the Universal Mind.

There isn't anything dark and mysterious about Daoism. It is simply about observing life.

The essence of Daoism is the flow of the universe. What is that flow? What creates flow. It is the Universal Mind. What is Mind? No one can define it, yet we all feel it as existence. Understanding Daoism does not require reading Chinese texts. We experience life in exactly the same way as ancient people did. Daoism is understanding existence (the time one lives) as a flow and from this fundamental premise one can develop principles about how to exist a healthy life that one can look back upon with a smile. There is nothing mysterious about Daoism. It is simply principles about living a healthy and fruitful life.

I doubt the Dao De Jing was written by one person. It appears to me to be a compendium of proverbs and ideas, sometimes conflicting, stitched together over a rather long period of time.

Hi,

My first post.

I came to this forum because of my interest in Daoism. I would say that the primary concept of Daoism is that fundamental nature of the universe is movement (flow). This is embodied in the three basic concepts of yin/yang and qi which essentially describes a moving wave.. From my studies, I would analogize the Dao to the Universal Mind which set everything in motion and began the creation of all things as described in Chapter 42 of the Dao Fe Jing and imaged in the Taiji symbol.