Water - Dao De Jing - Chapter 8 - Minecraft Morning Musings - 道德經

This video is the fourth in my Minecraft Morning Musings series, in which I sail eastward while talking about philosophy. I'm starting with the Dao de Jing (Tao te Ching). You can find public domain copies all over the internet, but in this video is specifically reference the public domain translations by Dwight Goddard.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• water
• inflatable
• raft
• sea
• lake
• sink
• fountain
• Dao
• De
• Jing
• Tao
• te
• Ching
• Joe
• Hills
• minecraft
• vechs
• vechz
• custom
• map
• boat
• sailing
• eastward
• ocean
• islands
• palm
• trees

[tomikusan]

I have quite a mixed relationship with water. I respect its power, and I very much enjoy the sights and sounds it creates. But I absolutely detest the feeling of it - I was the subject of water torture some years ago. Getting caught in the rain and showering are both still very unpleasant experiences, though I've finally started to regain my ability to enjoy bubble baths and swimming. I suppose water - and possibly the dao - can also be described as neutral or indifferent.

[JoeHillsTSD]

@tomikusan I'm sorry to hear that. It's understandable that you'd experience water negatively afterwards, but the fact that you're beginning to move past that is quite the achievement.

[halfpixel274]

I feel like once you sail far enough, Joe, there's going to be a giant evil death fortress at the end.

[AlexKidd4Fun]

what, no pithy comment after the long pause this time? :)

[0hushpiper0]

More than anything else, this reminds me of aikido. (Appropriate, since I think aikido was based in part on taoist philosophy.) In contrast to striking arts like karate, aikido trains the practitioner to harmonize their movements with their opponent's, redirecting the opponent's movements. Like water, it is "passive"; the user seeks the path of least resistance. But far from being harmless, a trained practitioner can break an attacker's arm with little effort. Or just put him in a joint lock. :)

[Wote89]

@WileyNator It's less of an emotional context type thing and more of a "people may not actually be familiar with the stuff Joe's talking about" thing. Even if you were kidding, there may be folks that didn't realize that distinction existed. :P

[WileyNator]

@Wote89 Yeah I know I was bored and just pointed it out for shits and giggles. I didn't mean for people to take it seriously, but thats what you get on the internet when others cant' see/get the emotional context behind your statements.

[MrStupidPantsEv]

suggestions: Add a (DDJ02) or some sort of knowing what one is next as i thought this was the 8th one you have done. Also soothing music would make it nice, quite but there. Louder after you are done talking (end parts of the videos). Other wise i Love it!

[kaimialana]

Wow, this was a really excellent one, Joe.

[Wote89]

@WileyNator That's more of a quirk of Goddard's translation than anything. Most translations that I'm familiar with tend to favor rendering it not as "harms nothing" and instead go with some variation of "acts without contention". Basically, Water doesn't have an agenda; it doesn't try to *do* anything, it just *does*. And because it doesn't have any preconcieved actions, it is beneficial, because it responds to the world around it rather than trying to manipulate the world.

[NoCommentChick]

Say hi to the Occoee(sp?) for me Joe. Thx!