On Life
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Crowley's translation of the Tao Te Ching
CHAPTER L
THE ESTIMATION OF LIFE.-
Man cometh into life, and returneth again into death.
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Three men in ten conserve life; three men in ten pursue death.
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Three men also in ten desire to live, but their acts hasten their journey to the house of death. Why is this? Because of their efforts to preserve life.
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But this I have heard. He that is wise in the economy of his life,
whereof he is warden for a season, journeyeth with no need to avoid the tiger or the rhinoceros, and goeth uncorsleted among the warriors with no fear of sword or lance. The rhinoceros findeth in him no place vulnerable to its horn, the tiger to its claws, the weapon to its point. Why is this? Because there is no house of death in his whole body.
I did a bibliomancy the other day and this is where my thumb landed. I cannot stop thinking about it. As a young existentialist, I was forced to accept the facticity of death, that it is, as such, an inevitability. This is true of the vessel, and not true of the SELF. our personalities, our fears, our physical beings are simply convenience and luxury, tools with which to dabble as manifestation, all passing on as so many superficial trappings. Life, being just that, goes on. Everything and Nothing are an all inclusive existence, both fleeting and continuous. In this reality there is no Death, Being Is.
Reaction from the audience?
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"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains."
- Liber AL II.9
I dunno dude, I read your post and then I read my signature and saw some sort of connection. I agree that our physical bodies and personalities are tools for the SELF to experience the joys and pains of the manifest world. I include the pains because they can potentially promote growth, which nurtures the SELF and ultimately brings upon new experiences. I feel that the SELF seeks to experience as much as it can for the sake of existing and experiencing. And while the physical and mental extentions of the SELF do get caught up in the "superficial trappings" of the mundane plane of existence, if you (and I, and anyone for that matter) can embrace the fact that you even exist in this vast universe, in the face of the inevitability of physical death, it becomes easier to accept the simplicity of BEING, in my humble opinion.
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