Café Philosophique: The Way of Lao Tzu

bristol | miscellaneous | event notice Tuesday September 23, 2008 14:15 by Nick Thomas - The Pierian Centre info at pieriancentre dot com The Pierian Centre, 27 Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol BS2 8SA 0117 924 4512

The Pierian Centre on Friday 3rd October

Change is in the air. Autumn is here; political transitions are upon us; and financial markets go up and down like Guy Fawkes rockets. What certainties can we hang onto? Or should we abandon control, and just surrender to events? On Friday 3rd October the Pierian Centre’s Café Philosophique brings the thinking of China’s ancient sage, Lao Tzu to bear on these questions.

Taoism

Lao Tzu is revered in China as a central figure of Taoism – a contemporary and fierce critic of Confucius in the 6th century BC. His teaching gets beneath the turbulence of surface events and looks for a fundamental truth underlying the phenomena of this world. Twenty-five centuries before CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, Lao Tzu was already researching and describing what lies beyond the observable Universe. He taught that spirit and matter, energy and matter, are inseparable – and that both come from the same original source.

His analysis of the nature of the world led Lao Tzu to discuss how Mankind should live his life. The materialist basis of modern science prevents today’s philosophers and scientists from doing this, but Lao Tzu’s world view allows him to draw physics and ethics, politics and cosmology into one coherent system. The wisdom of acting in accord with Nature, both human and physical, underlies his thinking on the conduct of our lives. But what can he offer us today? Is he just a product of his times, limited by a subjective and mystical outlook? Or does he begin to seem startlingly modern in our world of sub-atomic uncertainty?

The Café Philosophique is a focused, but informal meeting of minds and mouths. Talk, thought, food and drink are the ingredients – and the result is a richer grasp of some vital aspect of 21st Century existence. They started in the Paris of Sartre and de Beauvoir, but they flourish in the Bristol of Banksy, Butcombe and broadband. As usual Roxane Loiseaux leads the evening, bringing hard-won experience of French thought and French cafes. Lubricated by good food and drink, we’ll put Lao Tzu in the spotlight and see how he measures up to our own experience of life’s stresses and strains.

We start at 6.30pm prompt on Friday 3rd October, finishing at 9.30pm. Cost is £17 (£12 unwaged) which includes delicious food & drink. The Pierian Centre is at 27 Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol BS2 8SA. If you’re interested, then do ring and book a place on 0117 924 4512 or info@pieriancentre.com. All you need bring is an open mind and an appetite for discussion!

Lao Tzu