Ego and Tao

[wmjbyatt]

Lao Tzu discusses the surrendering of the ego, but I have a contrary thought. It is not, it seems, inherently valuable to rid oneself of ego. The value comes from the ABILITY to rid oneself of ego. To be able to exist with a fluid concept of identity that can move and change as smoothly as the river oh-so-prominent in Taoist thought. What is valuable is not an ego-less existence, but rather an existence wherein one has recognized the non-necessity of ego.

Your thoughts?

 

[zenzero]

Friend wmjbyatt,

This from Boddhidharma, may be helpful:

True vision isn't just seeing seeing. It's also seeing not seeing.
And true understanding isn't just understanding understanding. It's also understanding not understanding. If you understand anything, you don't understand. Only when you understand nothing is it true understanding. Understanding is neither understanding nor not understanding.

Love & rgds

 

[Master Vigil]

I'm wondering if you have misunderstood Lao Tzu? To my knowledge, you are saying the same thing. Just changing the words. Be careful with words.

 

[wmjbyatt]

MV: Different translations have conveyed the strength of Lao Tzu's ego ideas differently. What I understand comes from experience more than words, but the words others have written present aesthetically interesting ideas. Some of the words present relationships with the ego-construction like you and I seem to understand, MV. But some have presented more Buddhist-style ideas of what the relationships surrounding the ego ought to be. The point was also to generate discussion about the ego construction, and not so much to generate conversation about other peoples' ideas about that ego construction. Conversation, not meta-conversation. We must always be careful with our crossings of meta-levels, eh?

 

[WayFarer]

I believe that there the difference may be that in being 'self aware' as opposed to 'self centered'.

 

[Master Vigil]

I was simply pointing out that your "contrary thought" was actually not contrary.