Overall Significance
Ge Xuan's significance can be directly attributed to the Lingbao school which was founded by Ge Chaofu, the grand nephew of Ge Hong. While this school contained dissolved teachings which were handed down to Ge Hong and in turn to Ge Chaofu, both of these figures are important in the history of Daoism today. Ge Xuan's life was dedicated to reading and following the various scriptures handed to him from various spirits after his parents passed when he was the age of sixteen. Ge Xuan is known for many other feats, as he was an accomplished Alchemist. He had many gifts such as mind control, the power to levitate, heal the sick, and also the ability to exorcize evil spirits. Ge Xuan would occasionally use these gifts to entertain at various social events. Throughout history he received many names and titles, often denoting his beliefs or skill set. Ge Xuan finally achieved immortality in true style, disappearing in the night with a gust of wind leaving only two things, his clothes as he was wearing them and enough legend to last many centuries.
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“The hypothesis I wish to advance is that ... the language of morality is in ... grave disorder.... What we possess, if this is true, are the fragments of a conceptual scheme, parts of which now lack those contexts from which their significance derived. We possess indeed simulacra of morality, we continue to use many of the key expressions. But we have—very largely if not entirely—lost our comprehension, both theoretical and practical, of morality.”
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