It is Monday, the first Monday in May. The time comes for considering the types and number of vegetable plants which I intend to place into the ground for the growing season. Tomatoes certainly and cucumbers. What vegetables will Finlea, our grand daughter happily enjoy? The thrust of my present, — is dedicated on…
Wednesday is midweek. Another day of magnificent light… Perhaps I will be able to transport what remains of my mulch pile to a proper location somewhere in the yard. Life is a matter of making small adjustments, is it not? Small adjustments accumulate. The big picture is effected, transformed, made otherwise than if we’d…
Wednesday morning is filled with light. Struggling with my laptop, seeming to have a mind of its own, (it doesn’t) multiple apps attempted to run, and the machine locked up. Shutting it down, sure enough, upon reboot the chaos of the prior session disappeared. Thus keyboard and screen behave in concert, and I view…
GOVERNMENT is founded on the formulations of laws which define various functions in society, specify social responsibility and ensure the fair investigations of all evidence before a decision is reached. The hundred offices are organized; commerce follows its regular course; the essential needs of clothing and food are prepared for; the cattle are fed…
Regarding BENEVOLENCE as the source of kindness, RIGHTEOUSNESS as the source of the distinction between right and wrong, PROPRIETY as the rule of conduct, MUSIC as the pattern of harmony, and merging SYMPATHY with FAIRNESS —these are the characteristics of the superior man/woman. Zhuangzi trans. by Hyun Höchsmann and Yang Guorong, Book 33 Under…
Not to be severedfrom his/her primal sourceis the characteristic of the heavenly man/woman;not to be severed from his/her true nature,that of the spirit-like man/woman;not to be severed from the truth,that of the perfect man/woman. To regard heaven as the primal source,virtue as the root and the taoas the gate,and recognizing the implications of changeand…
Under the heaven the schools of particular knowledge are numerous. The advocates of each school believe in the effectiveness of their approaches and that nothing can be added to them. Where can we find now what was known as the wisdom of the tao in the past? We must reply, “it is everywhere.” Where…
Reflection upon the lines quoted from Book 32 of the Zhuangzi proved to be a dive into the deep end of a pool of rumination on epistemology. But those who are ignorantrely only on what they seeand take it to be what is common to all men. What do I mean when I write…
The attempt to produce equality with what is not equal will only result in inequality. The attempt to make certain with what is not certain will not go beyond uncertainty. One who relies only on seeing with his eyes will be led only by what he sees. It is spirit that leads to certainty….
“The goodness of service does not imply that it is the same on all occasions. Serving parents to provide contentment does not prescribe how it is to be done; in festivities enjoyment does not depend on the dishes that are used; in mourning as an expression of grief the rituals are insignificant. Rites determine…
