Daily Musings – 7/06/09 – “Anger in Perception”

A friend of mine once said, “opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one, and no one else wants to hear it.”
Totally funny. Maybe a little crude (and by its own lick of innocent, raunchy humor, perfect for a Daily Musing on the Tao).

Moreover, it’s true.

Pulling the camera back farther.

Opinions are based upon perception, assumption, knowledge, lack of knowledge–a whole rolling, tumbling ball of information and interconnected, complicated (or uncomplicated) things. In Tao, the more complicated something is, the more likely it is to malfunction or cause imbalance. Yet, we all have our beliefs. Our assumptions and ideas. Our “slant” on everything. We also have our gut instincts. We have our true nature, which we must be true and loyal to. We can feel people that are good for us, people that are bad for us (even if we sometimes ignore it).

We are surrounded by people who are users and takers and manipulators every day–yet we can’t forget that they are also human beings like we are (no–you don’t have to like them, only just have a conscientious glow inside that reminds you they’re also alive, also on planet earth, also going through things just like you are, just like others have before them). You certainly don’t have to hang out with a bunch of assholes–just remember that they are also part of the same “cosmic stuff” that you are. By that same flip, we are also surrounded by cool people. Conscientious people. Thoughtful, kind people. Both kinds of people must exist, in order for us to have something to define each half by.

In that same breath, all living things on the planet are one. Not just humans. We only perceive things as two.

We are all made up of an arrangement of atomic particles–the same atomic particles that make everything and everyone else around us exist. In Taoism, we call this being formed from non-being; the cosmic soup that combines to create a person, a dog, a table, a chair, a tulip, your favorite chair. All made from the same basic elements, the same tiny yin/yangs (atoms; positive, negative, nuetral). The constant swirling of atomic particles, coming together, forming minerals and chains and people and creatures.

It’s no wonder then that in Taoism and Shinto (Japanese traditional religion), animals, rocks, people, clouds–everything is equal; or even, humans are slightly more insignificant than the natural world, because we are more likely to overthink things and cause things to get screwed up through our own greed and opinion. We are formed from the same. Created from the same constituent parts. Nothing put on the earth to “serve” something else.

Now, getting back to perception.

There is a story from the Chuang-Tzu that goes like this:

“A man is out in his fishing boat, going down the river.

If his little fishing boat were to collide with a second boat–an empty boat that was somehow cut loose onto the river, he will think himself lucky for surviving the collision and he won’t be angry at the empty boat. 

But let there be another person inside the second boat and an accidental collision becomes cause for cursing, fighting, and anger.”

(written 2,500 years ago–and I know some of you reading this out there, sneaking a peek at work, taking a break from all of the things you have to do each day, will smile and know exactly what Chuang-Tzu meant).vi