unlearning: general 750

(As a modern city dweller far removed from the conditions and understanding of life at the times of the originating of the 道德經 Tao Te Ching) I spend as much time as possible (outdoors) to absorb all kinds of patterns in the (small pockets of) natural environments in my (urban) living context, let them sink in, let them work, and work with them on conscious and subconscious levels.

The feedback I observe in my musculoskeletal system, in my inner organs,… and my reactions to these natural patterns is one of my particular ways of communicating with my natural environments. We are living in more than one community, and it is helpful to be multilingual. Learning new languages (of all kinds) is a fascinating process. When you communicate in a foreign language, you are another version of the being you are (speaking your mother tongue). Your roots grow. You become more of a part of the context you are communicating with.

In the Taoist tradition, you do not (too) exclusively stick with human teachers. On a more profound and very practical level it is now even more accessible to me than before, why the (prescient) ancient Taoists even at their time did not want to overemphasize human ingenuity, countered anthropocentric organizing by talking about organizational patterns like 自然 being as such, 損 reducing, and 無為 non-acting and put so much emphasis on general natural patterns.