Roots of Tekgnostics Series – Lao Tzu
Lao Tzu, tekgnostic masterTekgnosticism is a methodology of autonomy by means of knowledge. It is a thought-mode or way of perception based on “Gnosis” or the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of inner, intuitive means. Tekgnosticism relies on personal intellectual and spiritual experience. The balance between the intellectual and spiritual, the head and the heart… is a binary system expressed by the ancients in the concept of yin-yang.
Operatively, tek-gnostics is utilized as an aggregate of systems and artifacts designed to make available the requisite tools (tek) needed to facilitate the direct experience (gnosis) of the unbroken thread of earth’s knowledge and wisdom. It pertains to a specific illuminative experience that expresses itself best, or more precisely, is communicated best through the medium of myth. The truths embodied in these archetypical myths are of a more personal nature than the dogmas of theology or the statements of philosophy.
The genesis of these aggregated artifacts is both ancient and modern. The ancient roots come from a myriad of sources, one of which is the Asian librarian… located in our local time-line in the sixth century BCE… known as Lao Tzu.
It is with the philosopher Lao Tzu (or 'Old Sage' -- born Li Erh) that the philosophy of Taoism popularly began. Some scholars believe that Lao Tzu was a slightly older contemporary of Confucius (Kung-Fu Tzu, born Chiu Chung-Ni). Other scholars feel that Lao Tzu’s masterpiece the Tao Te Ching, is really a compilation of paradoxical poems written by several Taoists using the pen-name, Lao Tzu. There is also a close association between Lao Tzu and the legendary Yellow Emperor, Huang-ti.
Another tekgnostic master, Dr. Timothy Leary has contemporized the unbroken thread of Lao Tzu’s understanding quite succinctly….
Consider Lao-Tzu. In the 6th Century B.C., he realizes Einsteinian relativity, senses that all is flow and evolutionary change; anticipates (in the I Ching) what computer designers will understand 2,500 years later… that energy comes in the binary code of yin-yang (off-on); forecasts (in the I Ching trigrams) what micro-geneticists will discover 2,500 years later—the triplicate function of amino-acid binding. Now reflect on the poignant destiny of Lao-Tzu. He knows that he will not be around in biological form when Watson and Crick decipher the DNA code. The time-lag problem is solved by trans-time neuro-genetic signalry. Symbolism. The (tekgnostic) Intelligence Agent called Lao-Tzu teaches the / Ching codes to domesticated primates, injects some fortune-telling hocus-pocus and thus sends down the 2,500-year CNS-RNA-DNA teletype channel this basic code.
He knows that the Confucians will distort the signal with Boy Scout moralisms (dutifully preserved in the inane Baynes-Wilhelm commentaries), knows that countless charlatans will peddle vulgar / Ching fortunes for a nickel a pop in Oriental bazaars. But he knows, also, that when external technology catches up, 21st Century Intelligence Agents will receive the dot-dash trigram message and realize that binary codes and triplicate trigrams are genetic guide posts explaining the direction and molecular structure of evolution, from the terrestrial, EE, earth, to the extra-terrestrial, E, heaven.
This, surely, is the royal road to wisdom, the highway of evolution—the two-way traffic between the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the DNA archives, via RNA messenger molecules.
Lao Tzu believed that human life, like everything else in universe, is constantly influenced by synchronistic forces. He believed “simplicity” to be the key to truth and freedom. Lao Tzu encouraged his followers to observe, and seek to understand the laws of nature; to develop intuition and build up personal power; and to use that power to lead life with love, and without (violent) force.
Earth’s mythology says that in the end Lao Tzu, saddened by the evil of men, set off into the desert on a water buffalo leaving civilization behind. When he arrived at the final gate at the great wall protecting the kingdom, the (archetypical) gatekeeper persuaded him to record the principles of his philosophy for posterity. The result was the eighty-one sayings of the “Tao-Te Ching.” This ancient Chinese text is the world’s most translated classic next to the Bible. This masterpiece is a treasure-trove of dense (in the sense that poetry is dense or concise) information.
Thus did Lao Tzu disappear into the mist of legend… leaving behind one of earth’s great philosophical master-codex of tekgnosticism.
Note: The curious should pursue the study of the Tao-Te Ching in its many translations…
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