View source for Talk:Taoism

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== Tao and Taoism ==

I oppose any suggested merger of the [[Tao]] and [[Taoism]] articles, because though there is currently much overlap in them, they ARE distinct enough subjects to permit significant differentiation. As some might realize Tao is used in VERY broad ways, not all of them so much [[mystical]] as simply [[moral]] or [[ethical]], and often ''defined'' in significantly diverse ways, similar to the term "Way" is in English, or [[Dharma]] is in [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]] — or any notions of the [[God]] beyond all [[names]] is in any number of nameable spiritual or religious beliefs. Taoism, while still quite diverse in traditions, is usually a term restricted to those emphasizing mystical aspects of the word and often beliefs in various traditions of ceremonial [[magic]] believed to be in [[harmony]] with the Tao. ~ <font style= "color:white;background:silver">♞[[User:Kalki/Kalkiswords|☤]][[User:Kalki/Magic|☮]]♌[[User:Kalki|Kalki]]·[[User talk:Kalki|†]]·[[User:Kalki/index|⚓]]⊙[[User:Kalki/Chronology|☳]][[User:Kalki/Vox Box|☶]]⚡</font> 15:21, 3 April 2013 (UTC) '''P.S.''' : Despite the similarity of the articles thus far, the proposal seems to me to be almost as inappropriate as one to merge the pages for [[God]] [[Goddess]], and [[Deity]] simply into [[Theism]], or the pages for [[Brahman]], and [[Tao]] into [[The All]] or all these into [[Unity]] because they all can basically ''mean'' similar things. ~ <font style= "color:white;background:silver">♞[[User:Kalki/Kalkiswords|☤]][[User:Kalki/Magic|☮]]♌[[User:Kalki|Kalki]]·[[User talk:Kalki|†]]·[[User:Kalki/index|⚓]]⊙[[User:Kalki/Chronology|☳]][[User:Kalki/Vox Box|☶]]⚡</font> 15:31, 3 April 2013 (UTC) + tweaks
: I suggested merging them because at present they are rather short articles and, as noted, there is considerable overlap. I would certainly endorse forking ''distinct'' topics (defined in a way to avoid overlap) if the amount of material grew substantially larger. ~ [[User:Ningauble|Ningauble]] ([[User talk:Ningauble|talk]]) 15:45, 3 April 2013 (UTC)
:: I have just added a quote that was partly quoted in the Wikipedia article, specifically about '''[[Taoism]]''' and its growth as a tradition, and not about the '''[[Tao]]''', as such. I will probably seek out more of these over the next week or so, but I eventually expect the article of the Tao to be capable of most expansion, because that much more central and foundational concept is one that has been commented upon in far more diverse ways. I might work on this more within the next few days, but probably won't have time to do much right now. I definitely do plan to extend both articles considerably because MANY notions of the [[Tao]], as well as [[Brahman]] and [[the All]], were VERY impressive to me even as VERY young child, and no amount of the relatively simplistic doctrinal notions of [[God]], [[Goddess]], [[Deity]] or [[atheistic]] [[w:materialism|materialism]] which I often encountered could sway me from my extremely '''[[agnostic]] [[gnosticism]]''' which even as early as the age of 5 or 6 had been inspired by MANY mystic, scientific, ethical and religious philosophers, and explorers and innovators in MANY diverse traditions or fields, such as [[Akhenaton]], [[Abraham]], [[Moses]], [[Laozi]], [[Zhuangzi]], [[Heraclitus]], [[Pythagoras]], [[Buddha]], [[Socrates]], [[Plato]], [[Zeno of Citium]], [[Parmenides]], [[Zeno of Elea]], [[Jesus]], [[Muhammad]], [[Rumi]], [[Joan of Arc]], [[Issac Newton]], [[George Washington]],[[Thomas Paine]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[Novalis]], [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], [[Henry David Thoreau]], [[Herman Melville]], [[Victor Hugo]], [[Edgar Allen Poe]], [[Charles Darwin]], [[Charles Dickens]], [[Thomas Henry Huxley]], [[Abraham Lincoln]], [[Walt Whitman]], [[Lewis Carroll]], [[W. B. Yeats]], [[Sigmund Freud]], [[Carl Jung]], [[William James]], [[Edwin Abbott Abbott]], [[Charles Sanders Peirce]], [[Mark Twain]], [[James Branch Cabell]], [[Helen Keller]], [[Mahatma Gandhi]], [[Albert Schweitzer]], [[Albert Einstein]], [[G. K. Chesterton]], [[Wilhelm Reich]], [[H. G. Wells]], [[Lin Yutang]], [[Bertrand Russell]], [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]], [[E. E. Cummings]], [[Julian Huxley]], [[Aldous Huxley]], [[Robert A. Heinlein]], [[Walt Disney]], [[Dr. Seuss]], [[Woody Guthrie]], [[Eden Ahbez|eden ahbez]], [[Jack Kerouac]], [[John Lennon]] — and [[Albert Camus]] and his profound [[genius]] as evident in MANY writings which have given rise to the evolving modern conceptions of [[Absurdism]]. '''No matter how much I could sincerely respect and admire MANY reasonable and beautiful aspects of MANY diverse traditions, my far more extensive and expansive conceptions of [[the All]], and [[Brahman|the One]] beyond all mortal names and notions, kept me from becoming trapped in what I have always perceived to be doctrinal snares of ignorance, confusion and delusion, sometimes innocently and sometimes maliciously contrived.''' I have worked here almost a decade now and only recently have begun to speak openly of my [[Absurdist]] philosophical stances and [[Anarchistic]] ''[[w:ethos|ethos]]'' and their origins in my own experiences and those of others — because it is QUITE evident to me that often people have very little idea, or very poor ideas of what I am talking about — and I have begun to do what I can to remedy that. '''[[Blessings]] to you and to all.''' ~ <font style= "color:white;background:silver">♞[[User:Kalki/Kalkiswords|☤]][[User:Kalki/Magic|☮]]♌[[User:Kalki|Kalki]]·[[User talk:Kalki|†]]·[[User:Kalki/index|⚓]]⊙[[User:Kalki/Chronology|☳]][[User:Kalki/Vox Box|☶]]⚡</font> 16:44, 3 April 2013 (UTC) + tweaks