“What do you mean by virtue not being manifested?” “Nothing is so level than still waters –this can be a paradigm. There is inner preservation and no outer movement. Virtue is the perfect cultivation of harmony. Even though this is not manifested in the person, things cannot be without it.“ Zhuangzi by Zhuang Zhou,…
Duke Âi said,‘What is meant by saying that his powers were complete?’ Confucius replied,‘Death and life,preservation and ruin,failure and success,poverty and wealth,superiority and inferiority,blame and praise,hunger and thirst,cold and heat; these are the changes of circumstances, the operation of our appointed lot.Day and night they succeed to one another before us,but there is no…
One week before Thanksgiving. The weather has been distinctly unfall-like. The days have been comfortable, nearly too warm for a jacket along the Fox River valley just west of Chicago. There has been no frost to speak of. Yesterday with almost seventy degree weather I busied myself raking and mulching leaves. The ideal is…
When Confucius went to Chû, Jieyû, the madman of Chû, as he was wandering about, passed by his gate, called out, ‘Oh Phoenix, Oh Phoenix, how is your virtue degenerated! The future is not to be waited for; the past is not to be sought again! When good order (Tao) prevails in the world,…
A (master) mechanic, called Shih,on his way to Khî, came to Khü yüan,where he saw an oak tree,which was used as the altar for the spirits of the land. It was so largethat an ox standing behind itcould not be seen.It measured a hundred spans round,and rose up eighty cubits on the hillbefore it…
When has one written or said enough? That is, said enough, leaving space for the reader, room enough for freedom of reflection, allowing a companion to the conversation to “make up” their own mind. It is always a judgment call. One additional thought rattles around my mind. The crux of my reaction, my aversion…
Holy Sonnets: Batter My heart, Three-person’d God By John Donne (1572–1631) Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurp’d town to…
Moira was the name given by the Greeks to this realm of the incalculable and of sublime and eternal limitedness; and they set it round their gods like a horizon beyond which they could neither see nor act, —with that secret defiance of the gods which…
We haveaccustomed ourselvesto believein two kingdoms,the domain of purposes and volition,and the domain of chance. In this latter domaineverything is done senselessly, there is a continual going to and frowithout any one being able to saywhy or wherefore. We stand in aweof this powerful realmof the great cosmic stupidity,for in most instanceswe learn to…
The neologism that I used was borrowed as is all language. We inherit a manner-of-speaking, labels which by mutual agreement we decide point to a thing, or an experience, or… As you can imagine any language affords an infinite number of pieces by which to “play” on the game board. Grammar, the rules of…
