tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post2358009524915851644..comments2024-03-28T21:32:26.550+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: How to escape being thought-controlledBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-10563768550618528302022-02-01T13:09:29.480+00:002022-02-01T13:09:29.480+00:00And when you feel the need to explain yourself in ...And when you feel the need to explain yourself in a way that the cold, dead, modern world will understand, you are allowing your thoughts to be controlled. That world will never understand the living world of God and spirits.Sean Goesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-12778435587813336822022-02-01T10:27:33.157+00:002022-02-01T10:27:33.157+00:00Very good. And this reminds me of a passage from Z...Very good. And this reminds me of a passage from Zhuangzi.<br /><br /><i>Chien Wu went to see the madman Chieh Yu. Chieh Yu said, "What was Chung Shih telling you the other day?" Chien Wu said, "He told me that the ruler of men should devise his own principles, standards, ceremonies, and regulations, and then there will be no one who will fail to obey him and be transformed by them."<br /><br />The madman Chieh Yu said, "This is bogus virtue! To try to govern the world like this is like trying to walk the ocean, to drill through a river, or to make a mosquito shoulder a mountain! When the sage governs, does he govern what is on the outside? He makes sure of himself first, and then he acts. He makes absolutely certain that things can do what they are supposed to do, that is all. The bird flies high in the sky where it can escape the danger of stringed arrows. The field mouse burrows deep down under the sacred hill where it won't have to worry about men digging and smoking it out. Have you got less sense than these two little creatures?"</i><br /><br />I understand the bird flying "high in the sky" and the mouse burrowing "deep in the sacred hill" as images of being rooted in first principles so that the human manipulation and false thinking of men like Chung Shih, a bureaucrat, can't even reach you. Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13858873453982708283noreply@blogger.com