Is Descartes’ Rule Finished? The Future Is Deep Ecology
As views and beliefs flow with the times, deep ecology is here to stay.
What I like about the Tao (from ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tze) is that it tells us that we’re walking backward. Facing the past. Feet in the here and now, and our backs to the future. That’s why we train to have a strong back.
Why not walk forward so we can see where we’re going? Later, I read that many other teachings say the same thing. There’s no other way. Because the past is the only thing we can see clearly. And we need strong backs to be courageous in facing the unknown future.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
– Soren Kierkegaard
If we train our body-mind connection, we can feel our feet in the here and now for most of our waking hours. Personally, it took me quite a bit of training. Not so easy, but I learned it by embodying my own life. Dancing. Physically connecting to nature. Meditating outside and hearing the birdsong.
“The only way to move into the future is backward, as if sitting in the back of a moving boat, looking out over the wake, seeing the next moment only after we have passed through it.” — The Buddhist Review