Tag Archive for '道 (Dao)'

String theory and the eleven dimensions

Published on July 14, 2008 in Science. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

I’ve heard about string theory for some time now, but I’ve never taken the time to learn more about it until now. I basically spent a good few hours watching free videos online, and now I’m telling you about what I did. You’re in for a treat.

First, you might find it interesting to watch these two YouTube videos on the first ten dimensions. They are great illustrations of the concepts found in the first chapter of Rob Bryanton‘s Imagining the Tenth Dimension (book, website). If you get lost after about the 5th or 6th dimension, don’t worry – I did too. Re-watching the later parts helps with understanding a little better, though.

Then comes the better part. If you have time to kill, watch NOVA’s 3-hour The Elegant Universe series on string theory and why it’s such an amazing prospect. There actually used to be only ten proposed dimensions, but after five different string theory ideas were introduced, all with very different math, Edward Witten came along and proposed an eleventh dimension to unite all these ideas.

It’s interesting to note how the strings in string theory actually closely resemble Laozi’s ancient idea of a Dao. If I didn’t hate math so much, I think I’d love to be a string theory physicist.

The Universe, yourself included

Published on April 12, 2007 in Life and 道 (Dao). 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

universeA while back, I wrote about this idea of becoming “one” with the universe. Before I go on, I need to first establish the idea that, throughout time, the basic principles of the Universe, as a whole, have never changed. Even when the world undergoes cycles of big bangs and shrinkages, even when solar systems collapse and reform, even when seasons change, the Universe, as a whole, remains unmoved.

Pi can always be described as the ratio 3.14. A circle’s circumference will always, just helplessly, be a little greater than three times its diameter. An equilateral triangle will always have equal sides and three angles of 60º. The three angles of all triangles will always add up to 180º. A wave’s frequency will always be inversely proportional to its wavelength. Gravity will always be proportional to the masses of the two objects. A physicist would be able to give you a whole slew of constants and physical relationships that most people haven’t even heard of. These are all bits and pieces of what I like to call the “definition” of nature.

Of course, these numbers are only mere representations of nature. I hope my main idea isn’t obscured by this. The important thing is that there exist (∃) features in the universe that are constant and everlasting. Continue reading ‘The Universe, yourself included’

Above the realm of good and evil

Published on April 3, 2007 in 道 (Dao). 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , .

A quote from the second chapter of the 道德經 (Dao de jing):

天下皆知美之爲美。斯惡已。皆知善之爲善。斯不善已。故有無相生、難易相成、長短相較、高下相傾、音聲相和、前後相隨。是以聖人處無爲之事、行不言之教。萬物作焉而不辭、生而不有、爲而不侍、功成而弗居。夫唯弗居、是以不去。

All in the world recognize the beautiful as beautiful; herein lies ugliness.
All recognize the good as good; herein lies evil.

Therefore:
Being and non-being produce each other;
Difficulty and ease bring about each other;
Long and short delimit each other;
High and low rest on each other;
Sound and voice harmonize each other;
Front and back follow each other.

Therefore the sage abides in the condition of wu-wei (無為, unattached action),
And carries out the wordless teaching.
Here, the myriad things are made, yet not separated.

Therefore the sage produces without possessing,
Acts without expectations,
And accomplishes without abiding in his accomplishments.

It is precisely because he does not abide in them that they never leave him.

Translation was modified from Charles Muller‘s original work. (BTW, look how concise ancient Chinese can be! Love it.)

In the True world, there is no good or bad. Everything is relative. What’s good to one person may be bad to the next. What’s to say flunking out of high school is bad, if it helps you find you who you really are? Who says all millionaires are happy? If it rains, you can’t have your picnic, but the plants will flourish, and you’ll have water to drink. And so, there’s an intricate balance of yin and yang that we can all truly come to appreciate when we stop making ourselves the center of the universe, and start thinking of the self as just a tiny bit of it.

So what’s this whole Dao (道) thing?

Published on March 18, 2007 in 道 (Dao). 11 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

What is this Dao that you hear about? 何謂道？ (For my spiel on my preference for “Dao” instead of “Taoism,” see the FAQs.) 老子 (Lao zi, also “Lao tze” or “Lao tse”) opens the 清靜經 (Qing jing jing) with:

大道無形，生育天地；
大道無情，運行日月；
大道無名，長養萬物。
吾不知其名，強名曰道。
The great Dao has no shape, yet gives birth and nourishes heaven and earth.
The great Dao has no emotion, yet moves all heavenly objects.
The great Dao has no name, yet cultivates all things.
I know not its name; I am forced to call it “Dao.”

and 道德經 (Dao de jing, Tao te ching) with the following:

道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。
The Dao that can be put into language is not the enduring and unchanging Dao.
The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.

Dao is in everything. It is the universal Truth. A waterbottle works because it has its own Dao. A knife and fork can coordinate together on your plate because of the Dao they share. You need to use the bathroom every few hours because of an intrinsic reason behind the way your body works, Dao. Some of us are attracted to movies and TV shows because of a Dao behind it all. Continue reading ‘So what’s this whole Dao (道) thing?’