Number 47 TMI

47
snails do not know
that the Earth is a planet
yet they are content

Lesson # 47

You can know the Universe.
without Snap-chat,
Instagram, and Google.
It is right outside your window,
and not on your cell phone.
The wider you range,
seeking virtual answers, excitement,
entertainment,
the less you know.
Come back home
to your own experience.
The Universe is inside you.

From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching


Number 47 Too much information

We are drowning in information
Does that make us wise
We can talk with almost every living human being
Does that make us compassionate and kind
It seems the more we know about everything
the more provincial and protective we become
and all that data just confuses or distracts us

Go on an information diet
Begin knowing yourself
Stop filling your awareness with more trivia
and stop running around doing the unnecessary


NUMBER FORTY SEVEN

Without going out of my door I know the Universe.
Without opening my window I perceive Heavenly Tao.
The more I go abroad, the less I understand.
That is why the self-controlled man arrives without going,
names things without seeing them, perfects without activity.

Isabella Mears, The Tao Teh King, A Tentative Translation from the Chinese, William McLellan, Glascow, 1916.


Number 47 (commentary) How much do we need to know?

We are being programmed to hunger for and buy novelty, programmed to fear strangers, programmed to keep moving towards bigger and better things and programmed to push ourselves to improve.
Who is pushing us? Let’s see. Hmm… A hungry, frightened, guilty and shamed general public brings vast profits to corporate leaders and owners.
The Way of the Tao threatens that exploitive system.
To walk this path, we turn away from the Pavlovian media and instead close the doors, cover the windows, turn off the cell phones and look inside: at who we take ourselves to be and at who we truly are.
In doing that, we break the hold that the media-military-industrial-complex has on our life.

Tangent and Tool #47, The News (Reflective exercise) {two weeks only!} (Week 1) For one week, every day, at the end of each day, before going to sleep, write a few paragraphs about the emotions you experienced in the past 24 hours and very briefly about what sparked those emotions. You can do this in bullet points if that works better for you. Short and sweet.
(Week 2) You will do the same evening exercise every evening as you did in Week 1. However, for this week you will not listen to news: not on the radio, not on television, not on the many social media outlets. In addition, you will stay off social media. You will just use your phone and computer for texts and calls and necessary business and necessary personal functions. Learn nothing new about the world on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or any other media outlet. Cut screen time to a minimum. Aim for zero screen time.