Virtue dissolves
into fame;
fame dissolves into excess;
schemes arise from a crisis;
cleverness from disputes;
strife is fueled
by obstinate adherence
to one’s views.

The work of government
should be distributed in accordance
with the approval of all.

In spring, when the rains fall
and the sun shines,
the grass and trees burst
into growth
and ploughs and hoes
are made ready.

Half of what had fallen down
becomes straight
and we
do not know
how.

Zhuangzi trans. by Hyun Höchsmann and Yang Guorong, Book 26 External Things

The stories and aphoristic sayings collected in the Zhuangzi strike me as poetic. The language is formed as a prose poem. Each word does it’s job.

Some months ago, June of last year we spent several days in Paris. The Champs-Élysées is considered the social center of Paris, a grand boulevard; the high fashion boutiques line the broad sidewalks for over a mile. My wife related to me that she observed a smartly appareled 20-something-female enter the restroom to freshen-up her makeup. Obtaining her iphone from a purse, she takes a selfie photo, replaces the phone and departs to the street outside. Likely she posted the image to a Facebook or Instagram account in one fluid motion. And so it goes. Tech and the dissolution into fame. Fame of a sort…

The lines which follow could be read as a domino effect. The first domino to topple: to seek the approval of strangers, in lieu of centering the self. And the rest – excess, schemes, disputes, strife and obstinacy.

The wide angle view of all of this, a no-holds-barred individualism produces a society which is ungovernable. A society which ‘agrees to disagree’ – recedes into the rear-view mirror. (You may object that I am imposing a pattern derived from the politico-social impasse of the current United States) Indeed I am. Americans and contemporary ‘first-world’ individuals are not to first to live, to suffer the consequence of a hyper-affluent society.

But wait! There’s hope. And we confess that we do not know how! In spring we are surprised, relieved to encounter a force of renewal! Rain and sunshine! Prepare the cultivation tools!

No matter the brown and grey desolation of winter, now – half of what had fallen down becomes straight.