Category: philosophical counseling
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We Cannot Confront Thought At The Level Of Thought
We cannot confront thought at the level of thought. Imagine that there is a still pond. Now imagine that the slightest–or, in some instances, the most volatile–stirring or agitation disturbs the surface of the pond. In this analogy, the stirring or agitations are what we rather inaptly (approximately) call “feelings.” The full-fledged forms–here, waves and…
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The Sage Just Falls Asleep: On Neither Trying Not To Try Nor Not Trying To Try
In The Tao is Silent, Raymond Smullyan once summarized Daoism thusly: The Sage falls asleep not Because he ought to Nor even because he wants to But because he is sleepy. “Trying not to try” is only a paradox until it isn’t. The Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi has it right. When we love something or enjoy something…
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‘Everything Seemed Perfect…’
Everything seemed perfect. Or at least it was supposed to be. No, you know that it’s perfect, don’t you? Besides, other people tell you–at brunch, at dinner parties–that you have it really good. There’s, as the gods and goddesses see it, only one tiny problem. One little thing that’s been overlooked or left out of…
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Aporia
The path seemed to be wide open. Or straight, narrow, and pointy. Now, you see, it is neither. Neither wide open nor straight, narrow, and pointy. The path has ended and this is an impasse. It took you a while to get to this point, this point where there is no point and no foreseeable…
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Lying About Lying About Lying To Yourself
You can see why Stephen Wolinsky didn’t become a famous spiritual teacher. He’s kinda prickly. Demanding. Brass knuckles. * He tells the story in one of his talks about having led a workshop some years ago. Over lunch, a woman in charge of the organization asked him a political question. He said, “I don’t play…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 