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April 25, 2010
Ancient wisdom
Speaking of universal truths: whenever I feel out of emotional kilter, overwhelmed by events, or just hurt and bewildered by others assumptions about me, I begin to question everything I know I believe and everything I believe I know. I guess you could call all that 'learnt knowledge'.
In moments like this, time and again I return to Tao Te Ching, the little gem-like wonder of a book of deep wisdom laced with gentle humour and grace, written 2500 years ago by one Lao -tzu. I always end up feeling uplifted, if not wholly restored to what passes for serenity in my fundamentally un-serene self.
The physicist Niels Bohr said that "the opposite of correct statement is a false statement; the opposite of profound truth may well be another profound truth". This is a very profound statement in itself and I'm glad nobody is asking what the opposite would be, let alone whether it might also be true or not.
Tao Te Ching is full of such apparently contradictory assertions, but more about that another time perhaps. To segue seemlessly into the glorious materiality of the world we live in - I've been trying to persuade a friend of mine to go to Sunbury antique market in Kempton Racecourse. "It's fabulous and very Wabi-Sabi; there are 700 stalls; free entrance and car parking; we don't have to buy anything, but it sounds like a great day away" - I say. " Seven hundred opportunities NOT to buy" - says he, "that does indeed sound great".
Posted by Marzena at April 25, 2010 08:56 PM