Talidong Reflections

By  Andrew Talidong According to Han Feizi (c. 280 - 233 BCE), the best way to get people on your side is to speak in their favor. Try to hide your intentions, speak like you favor their ineterests...  Oh wait–isnt that what's the Democrats and Republicans doing with their American voters? Even here in the Philippines, BBM and his lot try to persuade others to the point of emotional manipulation. Latching on every opportunity to make the Dutertes as bad as possible.  That is politics. Persuade idiotic voters as much as possible. Reading the whole chapter where this came from, Section 12 of "Han Feizi", he wrote the art of persuasion as if it is a survival guidebook for officials, with passages such as: " The important thing in persuasion is to learn how to play up the aspects that the person you are talking to is proud of, and play down the aspects he is ashamed of. " In governance he says: " If you wish to urge a policy of peaceful coexistence, then be sur...

By Andrew Talidong "知者不博，博者不知。 [Those who truly know are not widely learned; those who are widely learned do not truly know.]" - Laozi, Tao Te Ching Chapter 81 The quote distinguish two terms: "truly know" means the embodied understanding of knowledge through practice and insight, while a "learned" person is someone who has accumulated a lot of information through study and reading.  A simple way to read it is: "widely learned" = knows many things, has read a lot. "truly know" = understands the underlying truth or way of things This passage from Chapter 81 of the Tao Te Ching contrasts two ways of engaging with knowledge.  "知者不博 (zhī zhě bù bó)  [Those who truly know are not widely learned.]"  Those who mastered a particular craft, skill, or knowledge are not necessarily those who might we considered as "learned". Basing from this passage, people "who truly know" doesn’t need vast, scattered inf...

 By Andrew Talidong "好一则博，以一行万。 [Love the One, and you will encompass everything; act from the One, and ten thousand things are moved.]" - Xunzi (c. 313–238 BC), Xunzi Chapter 21 Seeking knowledge and skills is an impormant goal throughout my life: from childhood and to my adulthood. In fact, throughout my years in school I have many interests: from reading history, science, and mathematics. I learned so many trivial facts yet retained so little. In college, despite "reading" a full textbook, most of the information would be lost in a single week, worse, less than three days. Even outside academia, I struggle to manage my finances despite me watching finance gurus on the internet. Why is that? Why do I struggle every single time in my attempt to acquire knowledge and skills? Xunzi's vision of concentrated understanding talks about having deep mastery of the core principle, "the One" (一, yi), to handle many complex situations more effectivel...