The teaching of a great man
is like a shadow,
following the body,
an echo
following the sound.
All questions find answers in his innermost thought.

He abides in silence
and his field of activity is not confined.
He guides people to their goals
through their movements.
His actions leave no trace
as he goes forth and returns.

His movements are
like the sun
– constant and eternal.
It can be said that he is one with all that exists.

Belonging to all that exists,
he has no individual self.
Having no self,
he does not see things as his possessions.

Those who have what they take
as their own were rulers of the past.

Those who have nothing
are the friends of heaven and earth.

Zhuangzi, trans. by Hyun Hochmann and Yang Guorong, Letting Be and Letting Stand

These words speak to me, like the outlines of a possibility, even if not yet experienced remain to be realized. Unlike the erzatz paradise that the Disney company offers in exchange for a very costly entry pass. This description has to do with a person called “a great man.” It’s irrevocably personal and I see no reason a female wouldn’t qualify…

The individual shows a style of living, described as abiding-in-silence. A manner of being described as embracing a wide field of curiosity, of exploration. Action/behavior that does not distort, leave behind scars in the path that it takes. Also, the movement of mind and body does not resist, flinch from any condition, even ecstasy, even privation, but accords everything its due. One with ALL that exists! The striking summation of the effect(s) of this person amounts to having-no-self, that is a sense of identity so spacious, so expansive and adaptive that “the world” is felt as “home”, time and place to be cultivated, celebrated. You cannot possess the world! What absurdity!

A friend posted an essay about Integrity. The upshot of his composition was the erosion of honesty, that is, a widespread dis-inclination to speak, to write, to offer a truthful re-presentation of the world. The writer offered sufficient facts to document a 70 year devolution of integrity. Who could assert any counter argument that the basket-full of charlatans, prevaricators, enforcers gathered by the Reagan White House haven’t scared and eroded the social fabric? Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, all at the forefront of Christian nationalism-might-makes-right policy making that continues to this day. Of course the strategy works if your prime value is to aggrandize yourself, “the devil take the hindmost” with everyone and everything else! Offer a front-man with a legacy in the media like Reagan and Trump, and few will pay attention to the Orc army behind the curtain! Those in power take what they have. This is a very, very old story…

There is a better alternative:  to have nothing, to belong to all that exists, to have no-self.

<Certainly all of this is controversial. I welcome any and all comments or questions.>