Those who are called“recluse scholars” by the ancientsdid not conceal themselvesto shun the world.They did not declineto speak their wordsor conceal their knowledge. It was the times that were out of joint… Highest happiness is the fulfillment of aspiration.Fulfillment of aspiration for the ancientsdid not mean carriages and coronets,but that nothing more was needed…
The ancients who tended to the taoabided in calmto nourish their wisdom,butthey did not dependon their wisdom in their actions.It can be said that they preserved their calmwith wisdom.When wisdom and calmfoster one another from innate nature,harmony and order emerge. Virtue is harmonyand tao is order. Zhuangzi trans by Hyun Höchsmann and Yang Guorong,…
To be simple, pure, clear, still, level, and constant; to be impartial without action and in action to be aligned with heaven— this is the way to sustain the spirit. The swords made at Wu and Yue are kept in a box and rarely used since they are valuable. But the subtle spirit moves…
Saturday and it is bitter-cold today. It is colder in Minneapolis, 11 degrees F. A quiet question comes over and over. Would I be willing to stand alongside friends and others who live around me to oppose the roundup and extradition of immigrants from their homes and places of work? Would I oppose the…
Ingrained ideas, a high regard for oneself, abandoning the world to pursue an uncommon course, talking imposingly and disparaging others – these are the traits of conceit. This is what scholars who retreat to the hills and valleys, who find fault with the world and who are like withered trees or throw themselves into…
No Leaders Please invent yourself and then reinvent yourself, don’t swim in the same slough. invent yourself and then reinvent yourself and stay out of the clutches of mediocrity. invent yourself and then reinvent yourself, change your tone and shape so often that they can never categorize you. reinvigorate yourself and accept…
think of it by Charles Bukowski think of it, there were fellows like Kierkegaard and Sartre who found existence absurd, who battled against anxiety and anguish, nothingness, nausea, and death hanging over them like a Damocles sword while there are other men now -so empty of concern that their first thought of the day…
I dare not sleep-in today, even though it is Monday and I am retired… Retired!? Ha! So what? I am still a human being among my own kind,… I live in a small town, Batavia. Batavia belongs to the State of Illinois, which is in the midsection of the U.S. of A. I cannot…
This is a poem written by Renee Nicole Good. She is dead. She was a mother. She was many things… Renee left these words behind. They are for you and I to consider: what manner of person would choose these words, express this description of life. Also for you and I to consider: what…
It is Saturday, raining and the sky hints of snow to come. I do not mind rain in wintertime, or any time. Trees need water, a subsurface soaking. Lately rain seems to come less frequently, sometimes weeks pass with little to no moisture. Like it or not we (humans) belong to Nature, we are…
