The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty to the ear, or to the mind.
ZhuangziRead
Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly...
Interpretation
This quote explores the nature of reality and self-perception.
Zhuangziβs dream of being a butterfly signifies the fluidity of identity and the relationship between reality and dreams. It raises questions about the nature of existence: whether we are the dreamer or the dream, challenging us to consider how our perceptions may shape our understanding of reality and self.
In practice
During a philosophy class discussing the nature of reality, one might use this quote to illustrate Zhuangzi's ideas.
The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty to the ear, or to the mind.
Either in conflict with others or in harmony with them, we go through life like a runaway horse, unable to stop.
When people do not ignore what they should ignore, but ignore what they should not ignore, this is known as ignorance.
The true man of the past waited upon Heaven when dealing with people and did not wait upon people when dealing with Heaven.
The mind remains undetermined in the great Void. Here the highest knowledge is unbounded. That which gives things their thusness cannot be delimited by things. So when we speak of 'limits', we remain confined to limited things. The limit of the unlimited is called 'fullness.' The limitlessness of the limited is called 'emptiness.' Tao is the source of both. But it is itself neither fullness nor emptiness
All the fish needs is to get lost in the water. All man needs is to get lost in Tao.
I thought of a labyrinth of labyrinths, of one sinuous spreading labyrinth that would encompass the past and the future . . . I felt myself to be, for an unknown period of time, an abstract perceiver of the world.
To be born means being compelled to choose an era, a place, a life. To exist here, now, means to lost the possibility of being countless other potential selves.. Yet once being born there is no turning back. And I think that's exactly why the fantasy worlds of cartoon movies so strongly represent our hopes and yearnings. They illustrate a world of lost possibilities for us.
There are no separate systems. The world is a continuum. Where to draw a boundary around a system depends on the purpose of the discussion.
Life is a mess. And theology must be lived out in the midst of that mess.
I believe every chess player senses beauty, when he succeeds in creating situations, which contradict the expectations and the rules, and he succeeds in mastering this situation.
The ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way that my mathematical ideas did. So I took them seriously.
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