Thursday, June 30, 2005

The Chuang-Tzu

So I've been thinking about how the Stoic concept of the "Logos" (reason infusing the universe), the Taoist "Li" (organic pattern), and modern complex systems theory are addressing only slightly different aspects of the same concept. My goal is to integrate Complexity into a larger philosophy, in which it will play a similar role that Logos and Li play in Stoicism and Taoism.

In doing so, I was left wondering how all of these realizations about Complexity are supposed to affect our daily lives and how we approach life. I have some good ideas, but I thought a good way to investigate this would be to see exactly how the Logos and Li is supposed to affect practitioners' lives. Since the concepts are so similar, then the way they fit into their philosophies must also be similar to how Complexity should fit into mine.

I have a pretty good idea about Logos, but I had no idea how the Li was supposed to affect a Taoist's life. Fortunately, a poster called Vajradhara over at the Comparative Religion Forums answered my question on this, by directing me to the Chuang-Tzu. This is a Taoist writing which is meant to address how knowledge of the Li affects our lives.

I've only just begun reading this translation, but I think it will be quite helpful.

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