Thursday, June 18, 2009

Shifting Borders


One candle can light a dark room. It covers every object with shadows and light. Some surfaces lit; some surfaces dark.

What gives shape to everything, though, is not the light or the dark, but rather the shifting border between the two.

This is where depth begins.

4 comments:

The Rambling Taoist said...

A very apt description for the yin yang symbol!

I'm going to need to add your blog to my Google Reader. I'm very interested in how you seek to reconcile Christianity with Taoism. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the former, but I'll try to be open-minded. :-)

HK Stewart said...

First of all, I love the shoe.

Second, thanks for commenting. It's nice to know I'm not the only one reading my stuff.

Third, I understand your distaste for Christianity -- and religion in general.

To clarify, I don't really mean to be trying to reconcile Christianity and Taoism. I'm more interested in exploring Taoism from the vantage point of one who has spent most of the last half-century soaking in Christianity of one ilk or another.

(I grew up in a very devout Christian fundamentalist family, left it in my late 20s after the deaths of my parents, took a seven or eight year "religious sabbatical," then came back to Christianity as a liberal Presbyterian.)

Now, I've moved on to philosophical Taoism, but I still find spiritual value in my Christian past, and I'm still willing to call myself a Christian in spite of the fact I no longer believe the usual party line about Jesus as Savior, etc.

I could go on and on, but then what would I have to write about in the blog, right?

Thanks again for commenting.

The Rambling Taoist said...

Thanks for the explanation. I think a great many of us western Taoists have been down the road you speak of. I was a liberal Presbyterian for most of my early life (a lot of it in Arkansas, no less) and it took me nearly a decade to quit referring to myself as a Christian.

This is NOT to say that a person can't be Taoist and Christian, I suppose. :)

HK Stewart said...

One of my goals is to offer a broader definition of "Christianity." To most "Christians" (especially Christian fundamentalists), the message is the Man. To me, the message is the message, i.e., we are all Divine, and the best way to explore and express that Divinity is through compassion and justice.

My spiritual journey has taken me across a vast theological continent, though, and I may very well end up where you are -- eschewing the moniker altogether. And if that's the case, that'll be fine with me.

After all, it's the journey not the destination, right?

Thanks for reading -- and for your comments.