Today The New York Times featured an account of an interview with the President in the Oval Office. He was interviewed by four journalists. It is difficult to take the measure of another human being. The Homosapien is a layered mammal, quite like and unlike other quadrupeds, say your dog or cat. A member…
Every concept arises from the equation of unequal things. Just as it is certain that one leaf is never totally the same as another, so it is certain that the concept “leaf ” is formed by arbitrarily discarding these individual differences and by forgetting the distinguishing aspects. This awakens the idea that, in addition…
Once upon a time, in some out of the way corner of that universe which is dispersed into numberless twinkling solar systems, there was a star upon which clever beasts invented knowing. That was the most arrogant and mendacious minute of “world history,” but nevertheless, it was only a minute. After nature had drawn…
The first Saturday in a new year. The year is 2026. America as a republic, administered by a distribution of power, democratically – is finished. What comes next, has yet to be formed. A safe wager to be made that for now, the dismantling of the old status quo will proceed with dispatch. A…
The highest men of the ancient days traversed the virtue of benevolence as a path; They borrowed and dwelled in righteousness as a lodging for the night. They ambled in the empty space of Unruffled Repose, found nourishment in the Field Free of Longing and stood in the Garden Free of Possession. Unruffled…
In the last part of the performance, I played notes which did not have an enervating effect. I blended them with spontaneity. Hence the sounds came forth in dissonance, like a cluster of plants growing from one root, or like the music of the forest coming from no perceptible form. The sounds spread in…
Shicheng Qi came to see Lao-tsu and asked him, “I heard master, that you are a sage, so I came to see you, not minding the long journey. During the hundred days of the journey the soles of my feet became callous, but I did not stop to rest. Now I see that you…
Therefore it is said, ‘Those who know the happiness of heaven are like heaven in their actions during their life and at death undergo transformation like other things. In their stillness they embody yin and in their movement they flow outward as the yang. One who knows the happiness of heaven does not quarrel…
The sages are stillnot because they possessthe aptitude of being still.Nothing can disturb their mind—that is why they are still. When water is still,it reflects the eyebrows and the beard.It is a perfect level and the craftsman takes his rule from it.If still water has this clarity, how much greater is that of the…
Great music does not move the villagers, but if they hear “The Breaking of the Willow” or “Bright Flowers” they will be rollicking with laughter. Noble words do not stay in the minds of the multitude, and consummate words are not comprehended because common words proliferate. Two clay instruments will overpower the sound of…
