When those who pursue knowledge
do not see the influences of their ideas they are not content.
When debaters cannot present their views in an orderly manner
they are not content.
When a critic finds nothing which can be faulted
he is not content.
They are all confined by external restrictions.

And further more…

Those who have strength pride themselves
in performing difficult tasks.
Those who are audacious and courageous
thrive in times of tribulation.
Those who can wield swords and spears
take pleasure in fighting.
Etc., etc…

Those who fluctuate with circumstances are only content when there is change. If they find opportunity they will turn it to their advantage. They all follow the same path with the regularity of the season and do not change themselves. They are caught up in external things and urge their bodies and inner nature to succumb to the pressure of things.

They do not return to themselves in all their life.

Ah, this is sad.

Zhuangzi trans. by Hyun Hochsmann and Yang Guorong, Book 24 Xu Wugui

“Return to the self”

Perhaps offering a definition for this phrase shows that one misunderstands the point… This advice surely is different for each of us. Who doesn’t discover him/herself to be a marionette of circumstances? Not that one is ever detached from what the body and mind requires to function. In my case that amounts to a 2/3 cup of cheerios and about a cup of milk in a bowl every morning. How many books do I really need in order to be satisfied? Surely a good deal less than I own. I can only hold one at a time in order to read. I think the thrust of the text is invariably we permit circumstance to occupy us with with how we deploy our inherited gifts, or the skills gained through education, or due to our profession.

The author declares that you and I are not the author of our own lives. Utterly predictable, an “effect” of circumstances would be the summation of a “normal” person’s life. Without a scintilla of self-reflection. Never that pause, in order to return to the center.

Yes, the center escapes definition, and maybe that’s the tao.

Marionettes…

We are sad, even tragic mammals.