The mornings are less warm, less humid now. I take that as a sign that Fall is at hand. Starbucks is more busy around 7AM since the beginning of the school term dictates a universal scheduling of the day, for everyone two years old (pre-shool) and upward. Some of us, even in retirement remain…
Vs. 76 Living people are soft and tender. Corpses are hard and stiff. The ten thousand things, the living grass, the trees, are soft, pliant. Dead, they’re dry and brittle. So hardness and stiffness go with death; Tenderness, softness, go with life. And the hard sword fails, and the stiff tree’s felled. The hard…
We departed Coloma Michigan late Sunday morning. The same lake house has accommodated us for ten years. Grandchildren who were infants on our first visit now approach their teen years. The oldest is now 18 and the youngest is 6. On Saturday Laura and I, our daughter, her partner, and two of four grand…
v. 69 The expert in warfare says: Rather than dare make the attack I’d take the attack; rather than dare advance an inch I’d retreat a foot. It’s called marching without marching, rolling up your sleeves without flexing your muscles, being armed without weapons, giving the attacker no opponent. Nothing’s worse than attacking what…
Saturday, May 23 of Memorial Day weekend. This weekend is prime time. It is a fold point when spring starts to feel like summer. Or not. The Midwest at this juncture in May, a day can be chilly enough to beg a winter’s coat, or edge close to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I tell myself…
Therefore Shen Dao cast aside his learningand all concern for himself,Acting only when it was necessary,and strove to be disinterested and purein his relationship with others. He said that the best knowledge is to have no knowledgeand that a little knowledge could be dangerous. Regarding himself as unqualified,he took on no projects, and laughed…
Confucius looked disconsolate and sighed. …”I was twice driven from Lu; I had to flee from Wei; the tree under which I taught was cut down in Song; I was held in a state of siege between Chen and Cai. I do not know what transgressions I had committed that brought about the hardship…
Book 31 is a brief 5 page vignette of an encounter between Confucius and an anonymous Fisherman. While on a roadway adjacent to a lake Confucius and his traveling companions are taking a break from the road. They are approached by this stranger who steps down from his boat. The man is described in…
Of my assertions,9 out of 10 are metaphorical;7 in 10 are from existing writings. Words flow on every day clarified bythe heavenly elementin our nature. The 9 assertions in 10 which are metaphoricalare borrowed from external sources to expound my arguments. It is said,“A father does not act as the matchmakerfor his own son.”This…
Huizi said to Zhuangzi, “You speak of what is useless!” Zhuangzi replied, “You have to know what is useless beforeyou can speak about what is useful… Zhuangzi said, “if a man has the capacity to wander freely,can he be stopped? If a man lacks the capacity, then whatcan induce him? There are those who…
