TAO 23- Being a Gaian

Nature uses few words:
when the gale blows, it will not last long;
when it rains hard, it lasts but a little while;
What causes these to happen? Heaven and Earth.
Why do we humans go on endlessly about little
when nature does much in a little time?
If you open yourself to the Tao,
you and Tao become one.
If you open yourself to Virtue,
then you can become virtuous.
If you open yourself to loss,
then you will become lost.
If you open yourself to the Tao,
the Tao will eagerly welcome you.
If you open yourself to virtue,
virtue will become a part of you.
If you open yourself to loss,
the lost are glad to see you.
When you do not trust people,
people will become untrustworthy.

We have lived on Gaia but for a blink in cosmic time

We have no effect in the great scheme

Gaia and Thermodynamics will continue with or without us.

How we live is what counts.

Why we insist that we rule the world is beyond my comprehension.

Thermodynamics is all that is and has been.

When we accept that our purpose is to live in balance

To dissipate, not conquer, then we will be happy.

When we understand non-linear system dynamics

When we accept our place and purpose

When we trust science and reject superstition

We will live as Gaians.

TAO 24- Some Things Can't Be Changed

Those who stand on tiptoes
do not stand firmly.
Those who rush ahead
don't get very far.
Those who try to outshine others
dim their own light.
Those who call themselves righteous
can't know how wrong they are.
Those who boast of their accomplishments
diminish the things they have done.

Compared to the Tao, these actions are unworthy.
If we are to follow the Tao,
we must not do these things.

Lesson:  All the intellectual babbling, chest pounding, righteous legislating, bragging about saving the world one solar stove at a time, and political leadership makes no difference at all.

Unless and until we accept that 
Thermodynamics is the driving force of the Universe, oblivious to all human efforts to the contrary, we will continue to run blindly beyond Gaia’s ability to maintain homeostasis.  We do so at our own peril.

TAO 25- Genesis

Before the universe was born
there was something in the chaos of the heavens.
It stands alone and empty,
solitary and unchanging.
It is ever present and secure.
It may be regarded as the Mother of the universe.
Because I do not know its name,
I call it the Tao.
If forced to give it a name,
I would call it 'Great'.

Because it is Great means it is everywhere.
Being everywhere means it is eternal.
Being eternal means everything returns to it.

Tao is great.
Heaven is great.
Earth is great.
Humanity is great.
Within the universe, these are the four great things.

Humanity follows the earth.
Earth follows Heaven.
Heaven follows the Tao.
The Tao follows only itself.

Genesis:  In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.

Big Bang:  The universe began as a singularity, maybe.  We cannot describe the first 10^-30 second of this event, nor know what occurred before.  What is gravity; when did this force of nature begin to effect creation?  This is a wonderful and delicious mystery, comparable to the religious miracles of believers.

It is clear that at this moment time became directional as we understand it with our feeble ability. The concept of negative time running 90 degrees to the real time arrow is as incomprehensible as the imaginary square root of negative 1.

The universe began in chaos.  It did not then suddenly become mechanistic ala Newton- just to meet our expectations.

The only reality:  energy flows, complexity increases at the expense of enthalpy, life is the consequence, and we are insignificant in comparison.

TAO 26- Do Nothing- Let Thermodynamics.

Heaviness is the basis of lightness.
Stillness is the standard of activity.

Thus the Master travels all day
without ever leaving her wagon.
Even though she has much to see,
she is at peace in her indifference.

Why should the lord of a thousand chariots
be amused at the foolishness of the world?
If you abandon yourself to foolishness,
you lose touch with your beginnings.
If you let yourself become distracted,
you will lose the basis of your power.

Lao Tsu argues that to do nothing is action.  That flies in the face of everything our modern, educated, politicized society believes.  How can we possibly sit by and do nothing?  Should we not fight for what is right?  Should we not marshal the armies to save Gaia?  Where are the laws preventing carbon excess beyond the geophysiology of this speck of dust in the universe?

If you truly grok thermodynamics you won’t get lost in the foolishness of society.  You’ll sit by and not add to the problem, you’ll become a solution in harmony and balance.  Your only purpose is to dissipate energy.  If along the way you succeed in showing others this reality, you are truly powerful.

TAO 27- What is a Steward?

A good traveler leaves no tracks,
and a skillful speaker is well rehearsed.
A good bookkeeper has an excellent memory,
and a well made door is easy to open and needs no locks.
A good knot needs no rope and it can not come undone.

Thus the Master is willing to help everyone,
and doesn't know the meaning of rejection.
She is there to help all of creation,
and doesn't abandon even the smallest creature.
This is called embracing the light.

What is a good person but a bad person's teacher?
What is a bad person but raw material for his teacher?
If you fail to honor your teacher or fail to enjoy your student,
you will become deluded no matter how smart you are.
It is the secret of prime importance.

If we are to be true stewards of our speck of dust in the universe, we need to be wise.  We need, above all else, to understand, to grok, to intuit our place in the homeostasis of this planet.

Gaians live without leaving tracks.  We have no carbon footprint.  We have no ownership. That idea is meaningless.  We are part of the process of dissipating high quality energy into heat- nothing more, nothing less.

To be a steward is to teach.  Just as thermodynamics demands that energy flows from high to low, so should information flow.  The Elders teach the Professors, who in turn teach the Willing.  The person beginning to understand has the responsibility to pass the knowledge to the neighbor.

There is energy.  There is matter.  They are the same.  There is information that determines and records the relationship.

TAO 28- Limitless Possibilities

Know the masculine,
but keep to the feminine:
and become a watershed to the world.
If you embrace the world,
the Tao will never leave you
and you become as a little child.

Know the white,
yet keep to the black:
be a model for the world.
If you are a model for the world,
the Tao inside you will strengthen
and you will return whole to your eternal beginning.

Know the honorable,
but do not shun the disgraced:
embracing the world as it is.
If you embrace the world with compassion,
then your virtue will return you to the uncarved block.

The block of wood is carved into utensils
by carving void into the wood.
The Master uses the utensils, yet prefers to keep to the block
because of its limitless possibilities.
Great works do not involve discarding substance.

Lao Tsu reiterates the balance, the Yin and Yang, necessary to participate in life.  To understand the balance is to live within the very simple law of thermodynamics.  Thermodynamics is the creative and balancing force in the universe.

We can alter and use it, as a tool.  We can burn coal, the dissipative end product of ancient life, to produce electricity to light the bulb that leaves heat as a residue.  But we should not forget the process from high to low energy.  Energy, governed by thermodynamics, is a limitless possibility. 

TAO 29- Gaia and the TAO

Do you want to rule the world and control it?
I don't think it can ever be done.

The world is a sacred vessel
and it can not be controlled.
You will only make it worse if you try.
It may slip through your fingers and disappear.

Some are meant to lead,
and others are meant to follow;
Some must always strain,
and others have an easy time;
Some are naturally big and strong,
and others will always be small;
Some will be protected and nurtured,
and others will meet with destruction.

The Master accepts things as they are,
and out of compassion avoids extravagance,
excess and the extremes.

Why do we as a species think we can control Gaia?

Our purpose in life is to dissipate energy as efficiently as possible.  That doesn’t mean sucking every last drop of oil from the crust and converting it to carbon dioxide, thereby reducing the stored energy from the sun, more rapidly than homeostasis allows..  It doesn’t mean micromanaging every aspect of the human economy at the peril of our resources.  It doesn’t mean that the excess of one group balances the poverty of another.

It means that we are an insignificant player in a bigger event.  Until we understand and participate, we lose.  Gaia doesn’t care.