Friday 3 February 2006

Pic of the day: Stereotypical sage, here from the anime Stellvia. You don't actually need to be very old, or even Asian, to be a "sage". But I suppose it can't hurt either...

Lao Tzu as v.3.0 beta

From my writing about this topic, you may suspect that I am just gradually laying a pseudo-scientific foundation for converting you all to Christianity. While I'd be happy to see everyone becoming a true Christian, that's not really what we're talking about here. So let us take a look at some non-Christian beta tests of the new, improved human soul. Lao Tzu, the fabled writer of Taoism's best loved book, has some interesting things to say.

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A sage can have things without feeling they "own" them.
The sage does things without putting an emotional stake into the outcome.
The task is accomplished,
but the Sage doesn't seek credit or take pride in the accomplishment.
Because the Sage is not attached to the accomplishment,
the accomplishment lasts forever.

In humanity version 1, the instincts ruled supreme. Today they are absorbed by culture, but they still shine through often. In the old days, it made no sense to do anything except for a reward: A ripe fruit, a female in heat, or status in the pack. While most of our needs are now met in abundance, the fight for status or position still rages. This is the primate shining through, believing without reflection that one day I will need to be "top dog" because some resource will be scarce and I don't want to wait at the end of the line while the top dogs get the first choice. This also comes to pass if we line up for "status symbols". But for the "sage", to use a common translation, this is not an issue. He does the job because the job needs doing, because it is good and right and creates more benefit than harm. It does not matter to the sage who gets the reward, as long as all his needs are met anyway.

This is a supremely effective way of doing it. When we work for the reward, we automatically focus on making our work look good. Whether it actually is good has little influence on the reward. The packaging is everything, the content is only of interest if there is no way to avoid it being tested. This attitude gives work of lesser quality, and in the end everyone suffers from a lessening of benefit, for now we are all a part of each other. The sage knows this, but the primate does not.

The value of giving lies in the presence of a generous spirit,
The value of words lies in their reliability.

The primate gives something in order to get something back of equal value or better. There is no generous spirit in that. Parents will give generously, because their instincts tell them that they are helping their own genes along. Therefore statistics also show that the most helpful and generous grandparent is the maternal grandmother: There is rarely any doubt about who is a child's mother! But the paternal grandfather is the least concerned... the nights are long and dark, and many men look alike. This effect is still measurable in modern humans. Not exactly a generous spirit.

Likewise a man's word is only a tool to gain some benefit. If he is perceived as unreliable, his promises are held in low esteem, so it is in his best interest to not be caught in lies. But if a man is doubted and if those who surround him do not care about him, does he then persist in being reliable? The sage does, because he is not speaking the truth to be rewarded, but because the truth is all there is. In honor or dishonor, trusted or distrusted, he continues to report what he sees and to keep his promises. To the sage the truth is not conditional on social acceptance. This is the new life: Only when everyone is going along with the truth, can we all work together seamlessly.

When you value rare things highly,
you turn honest people into thieves.
If you show people exciting things,
you will make them covetous and greedy.

These are "people", not "sages". They are v.2 humans. And so they very reasonably think: "If I don't secure control of this thing, someone else will, and I will never get access to it again." And so they go far to secure their control, or possession, even though they may need it very rarely or just like it, while someone else needs it far more. If all men were sages, or disciples or whatever your name is for v.3, then there would be no competition for such things. All things would be available as needed. The communists had some vague idea that this was how it should be, but never got around to implementing it. Because this is not something that can be organized. We need a revolution of the mind.

The Wise are guided by their belly rather than their eyes.

It is not so that an "enlightened" person no longer has a body, or the body no longer obeys the laws of nature. The laws of nature are good and right. So we will still need to eat, as in this example. But with our current soul, the restless eyes look further than our actual needs. And we become filled with desire for things we don't need. We eat to excess and do many other things to excess, because we don't approach our needs with a simple and balanced mind. In v.3, we no longer suffer from the illusion that "a little food when I am hungry makes me feel better, so tons of food will make me deliriously happy". And so on with all other things in our life.

Profiting and owning are not as good as stopping. . .
. . . When things are going really well for you, retire.
This is Heaven's way.

In our current flawed condition, we know no limit. When things are going really well for us, we want to press the advantage, even when it is not needed. True, sometimes our work can be needed for another and not for ourselves. But sometimes we are just blinded by the heady rush of success. We are on a "winning streak". What was means, became the goal. This is a known bug in the human soul v.2, which will be removed in the next upgrade.

If the people are free of avarice and desire,
even the most cunning grifter has no opportunity to corrupt them.

Unfortunately, the people – v.2 – are not at all immune to grifters or advertisers. Because we are never in balance, never quiet, never fulfilled, we think we need more of what we already know. "More is better" is the heart of avarice. In Norwegian we call avarice "havesyke", "have-sickness". We are sick to have more and more. Usually this is about objects, but depending on your personal history it could be something else, like sex or admiration. You desire more and more, because you don't know what you really lack in your life. And so the TV ads, the grifters of mass media, can con you out of your money and – most important – your time, which you could have used to upgrade your soul and become immune to their ploy.

No disaster is worse than being discontented.
No omen worse than being greedy.
Yet, if you can find contentment, it will last forever.

At the height of the Ice Age, when our current mind emerged, life was nasty and brutish and short. In a way, greed is understandable in a world of scarcity. This is still the case for many people today. Mere survival is their day to day goal, and they have no time and no mental surplus to seek to improve the soul. But today in much of the world, the basic needs of the body are easily met. But people cannot believe it. They still seek more and better of each thing they already have in plenty. This struggle is futile, and being locked into running this race does not bode well for their future. In the next upgrade of the human soul, people will no longer compete for limited resources, no longer be programmed to fight for the right to eat and mate. The actual needs will be taken care of with simple joy, without the fear that someone else may be hoarding what I need. Without fear and without worry, in simple enjoyment of life.

Because sages don't compete,
they are unbeatable.

Not only do they not compete, they cooperate. Eventually all sentient life forms that we know of, will cooperate seamlessly, for the benefit of all. Not in a hive-like state of mind, giving up personal freedom. No, we will have the freedom to help each other, and accept help, at all times. Just like you don't feel you are giving up your personal freedom just because you no longer shear your own sheep, card the wool, spin it into thread and weave your own cloth, but rather buy the cloth (or most likely the finished shirt) in the shop. You have the freedom to do these things, theoretically, but you don't want to because you can instead specialize in things that not everyone can do as well as you. And others make clothes better than you do, so you let them. Sages cooperate like this, only even more tightly integrated, without feelings of rivalry or doubt. They share thinking and even feeling, much like we cooperate in working.

This is why, as I wrote once before, it is better to serve in Heaven than to reign in Hell. When you reign in Hell, every hellion you reign over does nothing but plot your downfall. But when you serve in Heaven, every soul you serve is thinking of some way to do something good for you. Put yourself in one or the other camp and think for yourself.

***

But why do I go on and on? It should be obvious by now that the wisdom of the mystics – benevolence, contentedness and never trying to be number one – is the same at all times and on all continents. Surely if you read this, you already know in your heart that this is the path. That unless we all become like that, humanity as a whole is losing out.