Monday, February 16, 2015

Majori-TAO

GREAT KNOWLEDGE 
(the Way of Chuang Tzu)

"Great knowledge sees all in one. Small knowledge breaks down into the many.

When the body sleeps, the soul is enfolded in One. 

When the body wakes, the openings begin to function. They resound with every encounter with all the varied business of life, the strivings of the heart; men are blocked, perplexed, lost in doubt. 

Little fears eat away their peace of heart. Great fears swallow them whole."
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Reflectively, the passage given by Chuang Tzu above vindicates the previous principle of the Taoist philosophy about the knowledge (and desire) as something that is harmful, not only for the human beings, but also to those which/who exceeds them; from the little matters to the most high nature of things.

Yes, great knowledge indeed sees all in one. If one knows this and knows another and another and another, he/she will see them as things that are interlaced with each other. No, he/she will not even see them as things, but rather 'a' thing; a one whole compact thing. For example, great historians in our age knows a lot of things about our history; from the days of Augustus, to the prominence of the imperial ruling in Ancient China. Indeed, they know a lot. But, they don't see them as things/events that are different from one another. Rather they see them as things that makes up a whole story; from the beginnings, up to this very moment --------okay, that's history already. Anyway, the point is, they don't see these historical records as totally varied and individualistic ones that are independent enough to stand on their own. Rather, they correlate and depend with each other to the point that they depend to the occurrence of the other; without the other, they will not be what they were back then. But what if what they actually depend on is not strong enough to handle the essence of the truth (meaning: is not true at all)?

On the other hand, the little knowledge breaks down into the many. If one only knows a little, one will consider the majority as the basis for knowledge. If it is what is generally, or absolutely accepted, he/she will submit to it because he/she lacks the knowledge of it. One example for that is the usual case of group sharing/brainstorming. Usually, what happens in a group brainstorming is that, when a member or two (or more) doesn't have any idea (meaning: is ignorant enough not to have one), he/she/they will just instead prefer what would be favored by the majority of the group by saying: "Kamo bahala" (It's up to all of you then). However, this small knowledge clearly doesn't mean that once one have this one, it means he/she is submissive and careless enough to contribute an idea or more. Rather such notion just means that the person who has it, is just honest and humble enough not to show-off what he/she actually doesn't know; he/she doesn't act as an expert to something that he/she doesn;t know anything about.

Thus, the Way of Tao, is not to carry out the great knowledge which links up everything, in order to make it as one, as if they are to be linked in such a way. But rather, the Way of the Tao carries out ignorance that is brought up by humility, which breaks up everything in accordance to the many, for there is no one who actually knows, only the Tao.

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