In an impermanent world, do we have to search for the meaning of life or does it come to us? Chuang Tzu, a Taoist, believes that a happy life comes from being with the Tao or the Way. It is about letting go the desires that come to us and changing our perspective to see the world in a larger picture. It is the growing attachment to these desires which hinder the ability to find the true nature or ultimate reality and despair and anxiety grows. To have a more meaningful and happier life is to not think of achieving a goal but to go with nature. Chuang Tzu has two types of perspectives that people follow. One being “Small Knowledge” or a “fixed cognition” where desires, concepts and distinctions form a restricted perspective. This view
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The duality is dissolved and the conventional world is seen as it is without distinguishing differences. This is when the Tao is realized and from this non-action can be practiced. Non-action is to effortlessly act because nature is what leads you. With the desires and attachment released, the Tao comes forward without even recognizing it. “The two work together as one, blending and manifesting their Characters. And this is Nature” (Merton, 75). This is where the distinction between the Self and the conventional world dissolves and uniting with the Tao. The perspective becomes limitless and there is no constraint of having desires to follow. Life can be encountered without thought because there are no alarms or obstacles since the world can be seen as impermanent. Life and death cycles will continue and how there are those with limited perspectives and are unable to be in harmony with the Tao. This can be seen in Katsushika Hokusai’s “36 Views of Mount Fuji”. In each painting, Mt. Fuji is present depending on the perspective as it is either a dominant or passive part of the piece. Nonetheless, the paintings describe of an impermanent or “floating” world because reality continues to move in each. The life cycles are unaffected by the mountain and the people around it. It shows that we need to look at …show more content…
Schopenhauer speaks about how desires brings us misery. An illusion of life is created from the accumulating desires and ways to fulfill them. “Individual manifestations of the will strive for themselves and for the own satisfaction, under the illusion that they can be satisfied by accumulating for themselves what they deny to others. Such illusion as the basis for living is itself misery” (Kimpel, 77). These desires is what creates the small mind and the outlooks of the world and become unable to understand the ideas which transcend this world. Schopenhauer has very similar beliefs to Buddhist philosophy of removing the existence itself. It is the removal of the duality or the “I” because we would forget ourselves and then become the reality. The primary concern before losing the duality is that life is full of suffering. The negative emotions like greed, jealousy, anger, e.t.c., is what causes this suffering resulting in the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation. It is from this nature that enlightenment cannot be
The duality is dissolved and the conventional world is seen as it is without distinguishing differences. This is when the Tao is realized and from this non-action can be practiced. Non-action is to effortlessly act because nature is what leads you. With the desires and attachment released, the Tao comes forward without even recognizing it. “The two work together as one, blending and manifesting their Characters. And this is Nature” (Merton, 75). This is where the distinction between the Self and the conventional world dissolves and uniting with the Tao. The perspective becomes limitless and there is no constraint of having desires to follow. Life can be encountered without thought because there are no alarms or obstacles since the world can be seen as impermanent. Life and death cycles will continue and how there are those with limited perspectives and are unable to be in harmony with the Tao. This can be seen in Katsushika Hokusai’s “36 Views of Mount Fuji”. In each painting, Mt. Fuji is present depending on the perspective as it is either a dominant or passive part of the piece. Nonetheless, the paintings describe of an impermanent or “floating” world because reality continues to move in each. The life cycles are unaffected by the mountain and the people around it. It shows that we need to look at …show more content…
Schopenhauer speaks about how desires brings us misery. An illusion of life is created from the accumulating desires and ways to fulfill them. “Individual manifestations of the will strive for themselves and for the own satisfaction, under the illusion that they can be satisfied by accumulating for themselves what they deny to others. Such illusion as the basis for living is itself misery” (Kimpel, 77). These desires is what creates the small mind and the outlooks of the world and become unable to understand the ideas which transcend this world. Schopenhauer has very similar beliefs to Buddhist philosophy of removing the existence itself. It is the removal of the duality or the “I” because we would forget ourselves and then become the reality. The primary concern before losing the duality is that life is full of suffering. The negative emotions like greed, jealousy, anger, e.t.c., is what causes this suffering resulting in the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation. It is from this nature that enlightenment cannot be