Unironically great, I’ve been trying to integrate traditional Chinese philosophy and religion with my communist views for a long time now actually.
I’ve talked about this a bit on here but I think the metaphor of Taoism is correct even if the underlying explanation isn’t. You can explain to children how gravity and shit works and how that causes the seasons but it’s just fucking numbers. You tell them that Persephone is in Hades and Demeter is mourning her absence and they understand it perfectly. Now obviously the gods aren’t literally real but meaning is often better explained by metaphor than science.
It’s my sincere belief that there is lots of meaning in religion and philosophy that has yet to be discovered by science. Scientists discover universal principles, poets explain them.
You can explain to children how gravity and shit works and how that causes the seasons but it’s just fucking numbers. You tell them that Persephone is in Hades and Demeter is mourning her absence and they understand it perfectly.
on the contrary, bill nye perfectly explained axial tilt causing seasons to millions of children, and that greek myth shit is needlessly complicated and stupid as hell compared to “look at ball tilt”
a garden is perfectly beautiful on its own without talking about faeries instead of the nitrogen cycle
bill nye perfectly explained axial tilt causing seasons to millions of children, and that greek myth shit is needlessly complicated and stupid as hell compared to “look at ball tilt”
Except axial tilt merely explains the change in weather. It doesn’t account for the experience of the changing of seasons like trees losing their leaves. Sure, you could pull out more science but having to explain cosmology, biology, and weather systems to a kid who asks “Why is it cold in the winter?” is kinda silly. Otherwise, you’re just telling them about an abstraction of an abstraction interpreted through your elementary school science teacher.
You’re not Bill Nye with a team of writers and a TV show budget. Your you and presumably being asked on the fly by your kid.
dunno how to break this to you but winter is cold because there’s less light
Except axial tilt merely explains the change in weather. It doesn’t account for the experience of the changing of seasons like trees losing their leaves
that happens because the leaves are there to pick up on sunlight and there is less sunlight in winter so many trees kill the leaves to save resources in winter
the less sunlight is also why it is cold
I feel like it’s not that much of a leap to incorporate knock on effects like autumn leaves while still keeping things comprehensible to kids.
The tilt of the earth changes how much daylight places get through the year. The natural world grew within and alongside this pattern, and reflects it. Trees take advantage of spring and summer daylight, storing energy to rest through winter.
Anything you recommend reading if I want to explore the intersection of Taoism and Marxism?
Can tell you that Mao created a Criticize lin, criticize Confucius campaign. Westerners take this as destroying eastern religions, but on the contrary it was designed to center Marxist aspects of specific religions in discussions and teachings. Essentially it was an extension of liberation theology
That sounds like a worthwhile read, is there a good starting point for that specific part of the topic?
Essentially it was an extension of liberation theology
that sounds like a really clunky metaphor that’s trying too hard to Christianise Chinese religion. They’re entirely different
Honestly, I’ve just been reading the classic Tao texts. It’s been a personal project and I don’t think there’s much of an academic interest. At least until I saw this.
Best way would be to just read the Dao De Jing (essentially a short collection of poetic philosophical points), which is the core text, and then the Zhuangzi (a larger text created over centuries, expanding on the topic with various characters - quite humorous). With the latter, being the product of dozens of authors, in a few chapters you can feel the philosophy being bent towards “actually, political hierarchies and wealth disparity are natural law and therefore cool”, but they rather stand out.
Ursula Le Guin’s translation is my favorite, but the differences between translations are interesting - both texts have a lot of fun with the ambiguity of language.
I like to do the same, from the perspective of Indian philosophy especially as it’s my own background.
There is already similarity and even borrowings in Western philosophy from the East and elsewhere. I’m of the opinion that if capitalism developed somewhere else in the world besides Europe, communism would have still arisen, although maybe by a slightly different philosophical path.
I’m interested to see what other cultural traditions could have offered in these alternative timelines so to speak
