Protect Your Noggin

Lao Tzu emphasizes value of carving out empty space in one's life for centering, creativity, and preparation for action. We discuss this, and the concept of Sabbath in the Jewish and Christian traditions. The chapters discussed are 11, 73 and 12. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

The concept of wu wei is practically and clearly stated in this chapter. Again, this principle of acting by not acting isn't about disregarding one's duties, nor is it about being a pushover. It's about letting the natural forces of the world flow as they flow without arrogantly assuming we can step in and control the flow through force. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Lao Tzu clearly favors the feminine principle, the negative space, and the faith of a child. This last preference is especially resonant with the teachings of Jesus about being childlike. Over and over, we've been pointing to teachings from Jesus but not to create a syncretistic new way of thinking. Instead we are showing how Jesus and Lao Tzu often were teaching similar things. This has little to do with what is known as doctrine in Christian theological circles, however. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

The Sage is a savior of all people and discounts no one. She's not content with heaven, so long as anyone remains in a living hell. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Drawing from Lao Tzu chapters 16, 62, 70, snd 71, we explain one of the most important lessons of the Tao Te Ching: that it’s not really that hard to find the truth, but it’s hard to face the truth. This episode discusses the ways in which facing the truth can truly set us free. Most importantly, we become free from the fear that keeps us from truly living. Toward the end, Jeff speaks to religious leaders who fear death and points toward a way to secure fearless love without wavering. Stacie shares just a bit about why her work as a death doula is actually about abundant life now. They conclude by exploring how the fear of death and the afterlife is a chief source of unhealthy manipulation in religious circles. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Some falsely assume that the Taosurfer is free from all material attachments. While it is true that Lao Tzu's philosophy embraces the value of minimalism and is uninterested in accumulating excessive stuff, it remains aware of bodily needs and the essential tools necessary for life in this world. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

So, the Tao is sublime. Heaven, earth, and humanity are also sublime. See how there are four sublime realities  in the universe, and humanity is included? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

The language of "a million, billion, billion times smaller than a single atom is actually a direct quotation from MIT physicist Alan Lightman (Nancy Szokan, What Came before the Big Bang, Washington Post, Jan. 4, 2016). The language sounded both scientific and poetic. The Tao is sort of like that. It's the aesthetics of mathematics and the mathematics behind good art. It is the awe inspired by fractals, which demonstrate the infinite depth behind our concrete material world. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Discover what makes others tick and you'll be people smart. Understand your true self and you'll be enlightened. To confront others is gutsy. To confront your true self is heroic. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

The sage learns that seeking goodness in the world isn't so much a matter of willpower as much as it the proper tuning of the senses to taste and see that good is good. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Here, Jeff isn’t saying he’s sorry for what he said in Part 1, rather he’s providing an apologia for his perspective on academic freedom within church related schools and universities. Check out the previous part, at least the first ten minutes, before heading to this part, which is more technical and deals especially with the epistemology of William of Ockham and it’s resonance with Lutheran epistemology later on. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

If an academically free space is possible in society, it can only exist at a Christian University.  Some folks mistakenly think that the Lutheran Confessions represent a constraint on an individual believer's freedom, or a way to give churches conclusions about Scripture that allow members to bypass the important work of engaging directly with the Bible. While recognizing that the Lutheran Confessions can be misapplied in such ways, I will explain how a philosophy of knowledge (epistemology) inspired by William of Ockham and adapted by Martin Luther made it possible for laypeople to stand boldly for the Gospel with a shared Confession, despite authoritarian political and religious pressures. I will show how this same Lutheran approach to knowledge can help protect the minds of all congregation members, especially young people, from spiritual abuse and various forms of manipulation. I will offer practical suggestions about how Lutheran church-related education--whether it be in schools, confirmation classes, o

Storms blow across hills in the morning, then give way to stillness. Rain bursts from thunderclouds in the afternoon, then the evening sky enjoys silence. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Feeling a deep love for all living beings, the sage is uninterested in besting them at a verbal fight. If others ask for help finding truth, the sage is generous and obliging. If they want to feel superior, the sage is generous and obliging. It’s not that she’s a pushover; it’s that they can’t harm her. She’s not playing her enemies’ games so they can’t possibly win. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

How deep and how unfathomable! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Instead of theories and concepts, this chapter explains how Taosurfers behave and why they are misunderstood by others.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

A discussion of the concept of minimalism as understood by Lao Tzu, especially in chapters 59, 44, 48, and 80.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

Lay down philosophy and theology, so everyone can be blessed a hundredfold. Lay down virtue signaling and legalism so everyone can recover genuine compassion and begin to really care for one another. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

18. When men lose touch with the Tao, they focus on legalism and charitable giving. This leads to scheming; then great hypocrisy ensues. Genuine love breaks down in a family; then relatives start to insist on family obligations. The nation falls into chaos, then people insist on partisan loyalty.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support

17. The best leader goes unnoticed. Second best is the one who’s loved. Third best is the leader who’s feared. The worst is the leader who’s loathed. If you don’t trust people, there’ll be a lack of trust all around. Great leaders choose their words artfully. Then, when they  achieve something great, everyone owns the endeavor as if it were their idea from the start. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thepynp/support