3 Responses to Lao Tsu and Sufism

1. Peter says:

   December 10, 2022 at 9:24 am

   Maybe, yes?

   Once when Nasreddin Hodja was serving as qadi, one of his neighbors came to him with a complaint against a fellow neighbor.

   The Hodja listened to the charges carefully, then concluded, “Yes, dear neighbor, you are quite right.”

   Then the other neighbor came to him. The Hodja listened to his defense carefully, then concluded, “Yes, dear neighbor, you are quite right.”

   The Hodja’s wife, having listened in on the entire proceeding, said to him, “Husband, both men cannot be right.”

   The Hodja answered, “Yes, dear wife, you are quite right.”

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2. Modaser Shah says:

   December 17, 2022 at 2:19 pm

   Exactly. Aristotelian logic says A is A, never not A. This is ideology, which, so far as I can tell, has been able to resist becoming an ideology. Hegel’s logic which ,instead of talking about BEING ( A IS A ), includes the process of BECOMING. When Lao Tsu says: the way that has been put into words, is not the WAY, he attempts to prevent a fixed interpretation: i.e., ideology. Hence each generation and, if possible, each person, needs to come up with their interpretation of their THESIS and THEIR ANTITHESIS, followed by the SYNTHESIS, which will lead to another antithesis and so on. ( Not everyone can be expected to do this , hence the need for teachers and pirs, or gurus ).
   Thus , just as an example, the meaning of the word 7 skies in the Qur’an, can hardly remain fixed from age to age, the degree of knowledge astronomers have arrived at, and that is accepted at the moment, cannot be ignored or dismissed. This does not , of course, exclude future revisions of the accumulated knowledge and the process of hermeneutics or interpretation. This is similar to the Budhist concept of Shunyata or emptiness. Thus: ” Form is emptiness, emptiness is form ,” this is considered , by some, as the essence of that philosophy. Early Sufis have been known to have come in contact with Budhist monks and also the teachings of Lao Tsu, through Chinese Muslim mystics and schloars.
   Words and concepts are not capable of capturing truth and reality for all times. This is the reason Sufis have always stressed dierect EXPERIENCE of reality and truth. Thus it has been possible to resist the temptations of a fixed interpretation, i.e., ideology., whether political , religious, cultural , philosophical etc..
   Thank you for your input.

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3. sufiways says:

   February 14, 2023 at 2:23 pm

   The second sentence should read: ” This is ideology, which SUFISM,as far as I can tell, has been able to resist becoming .”

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