How States Use the Fear of Death
About this episode
The episode discusses the manipulation of fear of death by leaders and explores early Taoism's relationship with Chinese mythology.
Tao Te Ching 74 starts by suggesting that people don't naturally fear death. Then it suggests that nefarious leaders try to instill a fear of death in those they dominate in order to control them. We discuss how this applies to contemporary times. Then Jeff shares some of the emerging research he's doing into the extent to which early Taoism applied, evolved, rejected, or ignored archaic Chinese mythological frameworks. He'll come back to that theme after this summer's reading agenda and report back. The question in practical terms is this: when the "Mysterious Mother" or the "Great Carpenter" are mentioned, are these to be taken as deities? Are they symbolic?
People in this episode
Hosts: Jeff Mallinson, Stacie Mallinson
Topics covered
- fear of death
- Taoism
- control by leaders
- Chinese mythology
- symbolism
Keywords
- fear of death
- Tao Te Ching
- Taoism
- Chinese mythology
- control
- symbolism
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Tao Te Ching
More episodes of Protect Your Noggin
- Reflections on the Flow of Water
- Soften to Stay Strong
- Are We in Hopeless Times?
- How to Be Happy according to Aristotle and Lao Tzu
- Letting Go of Dogmatism
- A Taosurfer's Buyer's Guide
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Protect Your Noggin podcast page.