I've had a lot on my mind lately. I've been distracted. Living through one of those hazes where your mind's eye is sitting quietly back in the darkness several meters behind your real eyes, refusing to be present in the here and now.

I've been reading the Tao Te Ching, finally. Learning about the Tao and The Way. It's pretty weird how similar the Tao is to the teachings of Jesus in places. In order to lead you must follow, in order to be great you must be lowly, to be whole, you must be broken. The only way that the Tao can be defined is in terms of itself... that is, the The Way is itself. I am what I am.

"All that you grasp will be thrown away. All you hoard will be utterly lost"
"Whatever you lose, you've won,
Whatever you win, you've lost."

"To know what endures
is to be openhearted,
magnanimous,
regal,
blessed,
following the Tao,
the way that endures forever.
The body comes to its ending,
but there is nothing to fear."

"Why was the Way honored
in the old days?
Wasn't it said:
Seek, you'll find it.
Hide, it will shelter you.
So it was honored under heaven."

"Treat the small as large,
the few as many.
Meet injury
with the power of goodness"

I always thought it was kind of unfair that the Israelites should get Jesus but the rest of the world just has to figure it out somehow on their own. Maybe God did send Prophets everywhere, just cloaked in the language and metaphors of the target audience.

/EndHeresy

And of course I've been thinking about the usual stuff: the ideal government, the ideal tax system, the ideal health system, the absurdity of war, the speech that I would give if I could address all of the American people, etc etc etc. I might have to use this blog to sort some of these things out in my head.

I have an Indian friend who is going home to get married, his marriage is arranged but he was like, "Don't worry, we've totally met once before. It isn't like in Northern India where only the parents get to choose, they let us meet and then we have to agree to it of course." He was making it sound like his version of the arranged marriage was so very free and modern, but it still sounded very weird to us. He said that he told his bride that he expected GOOD FOOD, and she responded that she was a good cook. "We'll see," he said.

I started to wonder how hard that would be to marry pretty much a perfect stranger. Then again, your expectations would be SooOOO much lower, it might not actually be that bad. You'd spend most of your time hanging out with your girlfriends and relatives, he would do the same, he'd know what roles he was expected to fulfill, you'd know what roles you were expected to fulfill... neither of you would be expected to fulfill every need of the your partner... you wouldn't have to be lovers and soul-mates and best friends and business colleagues and disciplinarians and golf partners and everything else, like I think we sometimes expect our spouses to be. ......still.

And there I thought this is a post dedicated to me =P

I have never really learnt about Tao and The Way; I find that religious teachings always do overlap but the world seem to constantly be at war because of the minor differences in teaching. Oh please do share your views, it'd be interesting to see what others have to say about it.

It is interesting to see that some people still practicing arranged marriage. I wonder how fat will your friend become as certain Indian cultures, how fat you are signifies your prosperity.

Re: I'm glad I made you laugh =)
» Nuttz on 2012-08-12 08:01:57

Your friend sounds like quite the charmer
"Say, baby.. you better know how to cook. Or this arrange marriged thing is OFFFFFF"
» undisputed on 2012-08-13 09:25:17

I wonder if she became a good cook in expectation of the arranged marriage. I honestly didn't know arranged marriages still existed.
» thaitanic on 2012-08-13 01:14:28

The whole world does get Jesus! THAT'S WHAT CHRISTIANS ARE HERE FORRRRRR

I've thought about arranged marriages a lot, too. I think that as long as both people take it seriously and commit to each other. Love conquers all, you know? "Chemistry" is certainly helpful, but it doesn't make a marriage.
» middaymoon on 2012-08-13 01:38:29

haha whoops that was an incomplete sentence. You get my meaning, I hope.
» middaymoon on 2012-08-13 01:41:56

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