https://alex.flounder.online/gemlog/2021-01-08-useless.gmi

#gemini #useless #zhuangzi

The question of how to make a living while also living a meaningful life is something I've thought about a lot, and for a long time. Depending on how I look at my own self-history, it very well may be *the* reason I am so fond of #Thoreau and #Zhuangzi. The ways certain thinkers address (or ignore) the question also explains, partly, why my interests seem to have settled where they have.

Anyway, here are some things I always think about when considering this:

https://link.medium.com/mkZizFtZrzb

@nathanlovestrees @zhuangzi @taoism @thoreau Loved this post. I seem to recall there being a fair bit of financial calculation in Walden?

I've also been a fan of #Zhuangzi for decades. Thanks for pointing to Schwizgebel's piece too, I enjoyed his argument (though I also *love* A. C. Graham for many reasons)

Can't stop thinking about what #Zhuangzi says about 明, or "clarity."

是故滑疑之耀，聖人之所圖也

"Therefore, it is the slippery light of doubt that the sage uses to map their way."

#Chinese #Philosophy

A big pot of coffee, the brilliant #Boygenius playing in the background (I adore this new album), and a bunch of wildly inventive essays from my Myanmar students about #Zhuangzi, #Theaetetus and the nature of knowledge. This is shaping up to be an excellent weekend.

#philosophy

Spent today hashing out around 4000 words for a conference paper on the Yijing, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, life, death, mourning, nourishing… in fact, the whole kit and caboodle.

#philosophy #zhuangzi #xunzi #grief #yijing #death #chinese

Recalling the Taoist parable
莊周夢蝶 “Zhuang Zhou Dreams of a Butterfly” — and the tradition’s fascination with ephemerality of life, often expressed by the life cycle of insects: “To be born with the morning and gone by dusk.” 「朝生暮死」

From Ch 2 of the Zhuang Zi:
#驚蟄 #microseasons #spring #translation #Zhuangzi #insects

I'm late to the game because I don't know what I'm doing, so a brief #introduction:

I take care of my disabled brother full-time and stress about it the rest of the time. When I have the capacity I like to read and think about #Zhuangzi, #Thoreau, #animism, and #indigenousknowledge like the work of Tyson Yunkaporta and VF Cordova. I also drink too much tea (#gongfucha), am a former classical and folk musician, and wish I could sit under more trees

#disability #caregiver #introductions #daoism​

Zhuangzi: Monkeys pair with monkeys, deer go out with deer, and fish play around with fish.

Science: Not so fast, Mr. Zhuangzi… Have a read of this: https://www.science.org/content/article/why-monkey-tried-have-sex-deer

Zhuangzi: Ha! Ha! This is called the Transformation of Things!

#zhuangzi #philosophy

I've been talking with my students today about the "radiance of drift and doubt" (滑疑之耀) in Zhuangzi. We've been discussing the moral demand for clarity, and what it might mean to navigate not just despite uncertainty, but by virtue of it.

#Philosophy #Chinese #Zhuangzi

My students in Myanmar are currently discussing the Cook Ding passage from the #Zhuangzi, and I've just gone into the breakout rooms to find them furiously debating the differing kitchen styles of Cook Ding and Gordon Ramsay.

#cooking #philosophy #莊子

This paper by Eric Schwitzgebel, "The Unskilled Zhuangzi: Big and Useless and Not So Good at Catching Rats", calls into question overly aspirational readings of #Zhuangzi ("let's all become supremely skillful!"), & is a fun read https://philarchive.org/archive/SCHTUZ-2

"At worst, seeking spontaneous wordless skill as the highest
goal becomes exactly the sort of driving dogma that Zhuangzi hoped to resist. He might rather laze around incompetently beneath a tree than become a skilful master at catching rats."

Maybe I'm a pallid barbarian, reading about Zhuangzi's butterfly. Or maybe I'm a butterfly, dreaming I'm a pallid barbarian reading about Zhuangzi's butterfly. Or maybe I'm Zhuang Zhou himself, dreaming I'm a butterfly, who dreams of a pallid barbarian, who reads the words of Zhuang Zhou. Or maybe...

#ButterflyDream #philosophy #Zhuangzi

For the rest of this morning, I'm going to read Zhuangzi. This, apparently, is my job, or part of it. I can't help thinking that Zhuangzi himself would have found this hilarious.

#zhuangzi #philosophy

Anyone want to read Inward Training with me? https://thekongdanfoundation.com/lao-tzu/nei-yeh-inward-training/ #Taoism #philosophy #Zhuangzi @philosophy

Finding your essential self: the ancient philosophy of Zhuangzi explained

#philosophy #Zhuangzi #theself

https://theconversation.com/finding-your-essential-self-the-ancient-philosophy-of-zhuangzi-explained-196215?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&s=09#Echobox=1674395314

#Socrates' #philosophy and abstract nouns. This is going to end badly. Cf. #Zhuangzi on illumination https://twitter.com/bryankam/status/1560189348565422080

Burton Watson's #Zhuangzi:

“When you’re betting for tiles in an archery contest, you shoot with skill. When you’re betting for fancy belt buckles, you worry about your aim. And when you’re betting for real gold, you’re a nervous wreck. Your skill is the same in all three cases—but because one prize means more to you than another, you let outside considerations weigh on your mind. He who looks too hard at the outside gets clumsy on the inside.”

Here's A. C. Graham's #Zhuangzi

‘Play for tiles, and you’re skilful; play for belt-buckles, and you lose confidence; play for gold, and you’re flustered. Your skill is the same as ever, but if you are attaching importance to something you are giving weight to what is outside you, and whoever gives weight to what is outside him is inwardly clumsy.’ (Chuang-tzŭ, chapter 19)

Not sure whose translation this is but interesting
#Zhuangzi #philosophy #inward