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Will Hooper
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« Reply #1 on: December 20, 2007, 01:31:20 PM » |
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My initial thought would be that we order the books deliberately from "most esoteric" to "most practical."
The Tao Te Ching comes first. For those of a naturally mystic bent, it is a comfortable point from which to begin training the tools of analytic self-observation and introspection, as well as listening to others' ideas. Many mystics love big feelings and grand thoughts, but have little skill in actually examining those things in detail. For the more literalist, engineering-minded among us, it may be a little off-putting at first, but the very reason it can sometimes seem so devoid of "hard data" is that it is so deeply, richly packed with layers of meaning, both literal and occult. Therefore, for the scientist who wants to dissect ideas, it is an excellent introductory text for learning to apply analytic rigor to the metaphysics of being, rather than just the physics of life.
Having honed your skills and whetted your appetite, you next cut open the Art of War. This book comes second because it bridges the mystic to the mundane - Sun Tzu, deeply steeped in Taoist thought, is nevertheless writing a text centered on war, one of the most brutally banal activities humans have. By seeing the connections Sun Tzu makes between great, eternal Taoist ideas, and the immediate realities of troop movements, one begins to see some of the depth to which the Tao's ideas apply, and how the deeply spiritual and mental Taoist ideas also play out in the deeply physical realities of conflict, violence, and your own body. Thus you wed both the highest ideas and the lowest realities - yin and yang, feeding off each other, transforming each other, becoming each other.
Finally, you arrive at a text that is perhaps the most concerned with practicality. Sun Tzu is practical, sure, but sometimes practical advice like "capture the momentum of a situation, so that you might be like stones on eggs" can seem...well...less than immediately applicable. Confucius, however, is most deeply concerned with the realities of day-to-day existence. Also, having spent time down in the trenches with Sun Tzu, where everyone is viewed through the lens of "enemy / ally / resource / impediment", our canon then brings you back into the light so Confucius can talk to you about people who are friends, students, mentors, loved ones, family - not just markers on the gameboard of a conflict. Confucius also brings you back to the practical realities of life - how to behave properly; how to mold your attitudes towards worthwhile self-improvement; how to live in the long-term for greatest growth.
Lao Tzu opens your spirit; Sun Tzu expands your reasoning even into the darker and less pleasant corners of reality; and Confucius brings you back to yourself and the humility of daily life.
Or so I think. :-)
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