Trang Minh Hoang
Ana Lucía Fernández
trang:
"I immediately think of Lao Tzu's Taoism, one of three main currents of Chinese thought beside Confucianism and Buddism, which advocates naturalness, spontaneity and freedom from social conventions and desires. In the Tao, which means the way, Lao Tzu refers to the ultimate order of things and ultimate basis of reality.
The book Tao Te Ching, whose Lao Tzu is regarded as the author, "describes the Dao (or Tao) as the source and ideal of all existence: it is unseen, but not transcendent, immensely powerful yet supremely humble, being the root of all things. People have desires and free will (and thus are able to alter their own nature). Many act "unnaturally", upsetting the natural balance of the Tao. The Tao Te Ching intends to lead students to a "return" to their natural state, in harmony with Tao. Language and conventional wisdom are critically assessed. Taoism views them as inherently biased and artificial, widely using paradoxes to sharpen the point.
"Wu wei", literally "non-action" or "not acting", is a central concept of the Tao Te Ching. The concept of wu wei is multifaceted, and reflected in the words' multiple meanings, even in English translation; it can mean "not doing anything", "not forcing", "not acting" in the theatrical sense, "creating nothingness", "acting spontaneously", and "flowing with the moment"." (cited from Wikipedia)
Hence, Taoism which I see is strongly referred to power in various aspects. Concerning the government for example, James A. Dorn (2008) agreed that "minimizing the role of government and letting individuals develop spontaneously would best achieve social and economic harmony". The sovereign power would lead to people's rage and make it out of control. Or more personally, when we try to overcome a difficulty happening in our life, we do our best but nothing's changed. So, the answer here is just stay static, do nothing and listen to ourselves. Let it flow. The "power" to force here means nothing and solves nothing. Whatever will be will be."
"I immediately think of Lao Tzu's Taoism, one of three main currents of Chinese thought beside Confucianism and Buddism, which advocates naturalness, spontaneity and freedom from social conventions and desires. In the Tao, which means the way, Lao Tzu refers to the ultimate order of things and ultimate basis of reality.
The book Tao Te Ching, whose Lao Tzu is regarded as the author, "describes the Dao (or Tao) as the source and ideal of all existence: it is unseen, but not transcendent, immensely powerful yet supremely humble, being the root of all things. People have desires and free will (and thus are able to alter their own nature). Many act "unnaturally", upsetting the natural balance of the Tao. The Tao Te Ching intends to lead students to a "return" to their natural state, in harmony with Tao. Language and conventional wisdom are critically assessed. Taoism views them as inherently biased and artificial, widely using paradoxes to sharpen the point.
"Wu wei", literally "non-action" or "not acting", is a central concept of the Tao Te Ching. The concept of wu wei is multifaceted, and reflected in the words' multiple meanings, even in English translation; it can mean "not doing anything", "not forcing", "not acting" in the theatrical sense, "creating nothingness", "acting spontaneously", and "flowing with the moment"." (cited from Wikipedia)
Hence, Taoism which I see is strongly referred to power in various aspects. Concerning the government for example, James A. Dorn (2008) agreed that "minimizing the role of government and letting individuals develop spontaneously would best achieve social and economic harmony". The sovereign power would lead to people's rage and make it out of control. Or more personally, when we try to overcome a difficulty happening in our life, we do our best but nothing's changed. So, the answer here is just stay static, do nothing and listen to ourselves. Let it flow. The "power" to force here means nothing and solves nothing. Whatever will be will be."
Ana Lucia:
"After receiving your mail, it became impossible not to think about Christianity. I am not a religious person, but I was raised in a catholic family, becoming agnostic at the age of 13 after a lot of family struggles. Back then, everything that I have been taught got challenged, and I realized that I could not believe in anything without proof, but I could not deny it either.
I decided to investigate about Catholicism in Colombia, and I realized the great power that the church still has over my country's people. Colombia is among the 10 most catholic countries in the world, with around 49.5 million believers (around 75% of the total population). It arrived in 1492 when the Spanish started colonizing Latin America, been imposed over the people. The famous Spanish Inquisition got stablished in Cartagena de Indias in the XVI century. From 1887 until 1973, the Holy See in Rome had complete control over our education system. This still has a strong influence over the country, in its politics, education and social life.
Since I grew up part of my life being a believer, I was raised to be a good catholic, went to church and did my first communion. When I realized I was agnostic, it was taken with resilience. My family could not understand how I could challenge what I have being taught. There lays the power of religion, the blind faith that does not let you question the establishment. I believe religion as a promotor of good deeds, morals and ethics is a marvellous thing, but in reality the Catholic Church weaponizes people's faith against then. Perhaps if the church would use its money and power to help the people in need and better the world, instead of maintaining the status quo, I would still be able to believe."
"After receiving your mail, it became impossible not to think about Christianity. I am not a religious person, but I was raised in a catholic family, becoming agnostic at the age of 13 after a lot of family struggles. Back then, everything that I have been taught got challenged, and I realized that I could not believe in anything without proof, but I could not deny it either.
I decided to investigate about Catholicism in Colombia, and I realized the great power that the church still has over my country's people. Colombia is among the 10 most catholic countries in the world, with around 49.5 million believers (around 75% of the total population). It arrived in 1492 when the Spanish started colonizing Latin America, been imposed over the people. The famous Spanish Inquisition got stablished in Cartagena de Indias in the XVI century. From 1887 until 1973, the Holy See in Rome had complete control over our education system. This still has a strong influence over the country, in its politics, education and social life.
Since I grew up part of my life being a believer, I was raised to be a good catholic, went to church and did my first communion. When I realized I was agnostic, it was taken with resilience. My family could not understand how I could challenge what I have being taught. There lays the power of religion, the blind faith that does not let you question the establishment. I believe religion as a promotor of good deeds, morals and ethics is a marvellous thing, but in reality the Catholic Church weaponizes people's faith against then. Perhaps if the church would use its money and power to help the people in need and better the world, instead of maintaining the status quo, I would still be able to believe."