Textbook knowledge: *wu wei *is the Taoist close equivalent to Vedic / Buddhist "non-attached action."The most often cited "description" of this idea is Arjuna's dilemma as laid out in the Bhagavad-Gita. To qualify, an action must be "correct" based on a perfect knowledge of all the factors affecting that action, AND, it must be free of "motivation" including desire, fear, ego, etc.
Experiential knowledge: wu wei is very akin to "being in the flow" — actions without conscious awareness, each one exactly and precisely correct in context. There is no sense of an "actor" just the actions. Favorite example: Sesshu's Long Scroll (Landscapes of the Four Seasons) — ink and color washes, 1.25 feet by 51 feet, *"Painted by Sesshu Toyo, formerly holder of the first seat at Tine-'tung, _on a sunny afternoon _in December in the eighteenth year of the Bummei era at the age of sixtey-seven." (emphasis mine)* *davew* ** On Sun, Oct 3, 2021, at 10:04 PM, David Eric Smith wrote: > I think about as opposite to nugatory as one could get. > > Wu wei more like having an affect “get itself done” without making a big > noise about doing it. A kind of more efficient getting-done by avoiding the > distractions of self-conscious effort. > > >> On Oct 3, 2021, at 11:35 PM, <thompnicks...@gmail.com> >> <thompnicks...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Speaking of words, I thought wuwei was interesting. It seems to mean >> “nugatory”. >> >> Nick Thompson >> thompnicks...@gmail.com >> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ >> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwordpress.clarku.edu%2fnthompson%2f&c=E,1,Ij17EYApMiN8t3Mmm9A7FtYZSJny8GYj9KJi_9qFqDW4BDng44ZCdRAOmpvMEA5Q9uwiAmvtySRt-GnlSnYsf-KeTfd3USCVj_1TxO26yKweInDWGpYgu3ME&typo=1> >> >> *From:* Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> *On Behalf Of *Stephen Guerin >> *Sent:* Sunday, October 3, 2021 4:02 PM >> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> >> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Newborn Heart Rate >> >> On Sat, Oct 2, 2021 at 5:57 PM <thompnicks...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> Just to be clear – and perhaps nerdishly literal minded – I would NEVER >>> claim that word play alone is science; I would only claim that it has a >>> role to play. >>> >>> On Sat, Oct 2, 2021 at 10:59 AM <thompnicks...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> You might help me distinguish between vicious DAWW and virtuous DAWW. >>>> You might exile me. But you probably won’t get me to stop. >>> >>> If we follow the virtuous DAWW, it feels like wuwei >>> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.mdbg.net%2fchinese%2fdictionary%3fwdqb%3dc%253A%252A%25E6%2597%25A0%25E4%25B8%25BA%252A%26wdrst%3d0&c=E,1,6NKjr0rPrQHfEug3lJFE3AHXuMSXXv2QKNN952DgM7cmiyEWDf3OtLL5oQZT5HU0EP29GkU3REwYBagPNmq31arungH_cMB6hCf8P-aAMVoRjw,,&typo=1>science >>> to me. Who needs action <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_(physics)> >>> when you got words? We are but meat puppets playing with nirvana >>> <https://youtu.be/Sj8UbmdV7bk?t=53>. >>> >> Nick, I absolutely see the value in wordplay (DAWW) and do think it's an >> important part of science and mathematics. >> >> I was being perhaps a little too clever in my own mind with my obtuse DAWW >> riff above. At the risk of over parsing (like the risk of explaining a >> joke) virtuous DAWW triggered the homophone of the Dao (道) and its central >> concept of wu-wei, which is often inaccurately translated as inaction but >> closer to right action / Least (stationary) action in physics for me. >> >> This then triggered lyrics of one of my favorite songs, Plateau >> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fgenius.com%2fNirvana-plateau-lyrics&c=E,1,2GvrTw2WSWTx3IBxVEZqG4474T11-mOLxHb7QY2TXHAU3HYY9bbbKyp4azluFWNnZcUNIOYLn8JBvV_v1NxxzW0KtwlH-reMefytYkKPiQ8RD0rLoHfAQA,,&typo=1> >> from the Meat Puppets, "who needs action when you got words". To me, the >> line captures your and my relationship where I'm struggling with >> generalizing the concept of Action in Complex Systems and you are working >> your thoughts out with words. I find this a healthy dialogue! >> >> And then I couldn't resist sharing the MTV unplugged concert where Nirvana >> covered the Meat Puppets song with one of the Meat Puppets playing on stage. >> The link to Youtube is to that line in the song in the performance. So the >> literal Meat Puppet playing with Nivana mutated to "we are but meat puppets >> playing with Nirvana" gave me 15 minutes of interesting private >> contemplation of a puppet master animating our puppets and wooing our puppet >> minds with Nirvana. >> >> Certainly too obtuse of references and self-indulgent to post but what the >> hell. >> >> So I really do appreciate your DAWW and was just trying to join in and play >> with your dicking. :-) >> >> .-- .- -. - / .- -.-. - .. --- -. ..--.. / -.-. --- -. .--- ..- --. .- - . >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn UTC-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam >> un/subscribe >> https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fmailman%2flistinfo%2ffriam_redfish.com&c=E,1,0hKg5nNVyMTwZ28Wq23pfo2xzn0L2FgLm2_aY_hfIXMUUAx6KpTUfo-YKuozVt1lb8EJjA7X87fFBzd8aFdoX01AOYNmoTXPY_-xdc7K1PnuBTnFm_IF7fLbsTY,&typo=1 >> FRIAM-COMIC >> https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2ffriam-comic.blogspot.com%2f&c=E,1,otdM3mXOTQrtX5ZdHAOTv1aTVkvix2uYZwVPj-M3-6CnImVf72qiapEwMPwaZzSfFfMrNZHl0ONjHZ5anf0b0Fz_3Lj17sg3wMvOvdJX&typo=1 >> archives: >> 5/2017 thru present >> https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fpipermail%2ffriam_redfish.com%2f&c=E,1,7ryShH4Oc4UvybtcosWxg-8kjjzAKC_m-Pgh_LMM1mEnYb4ZBGeSOf3MsRyMzqW_dw3cG-7viPfnObnLOXMl6OO7mElUVJewYr9PX7DBbM8O3K5dfA,,&typo=1 >> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ > > .-- .- -. - / .- -.-. - .. --- -. ..--.. / -.-. --- -. .--- ..- --. .- - . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn UTC-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: > 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
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