80

If
a country is governed wisely,
its inhabitants will be content.
They enjoy the labor of their hands
and don’t waste time inventing
labor-saving machines.

Since they dearly love their homes,
they aren’t interested in travel.
There may be a few wagons and boats,
but these don’t go anywhere.
There may be an arsenal of weapons,
but nobody ever uses them.

People enjoy their food,
take pleasure in being with their families,
spend weekends working in their gardens,
delight in the doings of the neighborhood.

And even though the next country is so close
that people can hear its roosters crowing and
its dogs barking,
they are content to die of old age
without ever having gone to see it.

Tao Te Ching by Lao-tsu, trans. by Stephen Mitchell

Verse 80 is next to the final verse contained within this collection. Perhaps eighty one verses is enough to offer a many dimensional contour of life with others, a life within what we mean by nature.

The assumption presented by these lines has to do with administration of society in total. Government relationships that are mindful of how imperative that all stake-holders contribute in a manner that is satisfying personally. Finding pleasure in one’s work! I doubt there could be a more radical idea. 

Under the aegis of American capitalism, have we ever dedicated a scintilla of effort to consider how work could be made more satisfying? More efficient, and more profitable of course! Nowadays there are no end of consultants offering to show how your company can become more competitive, with fatter margins…

This Way-making alternative is neither simple, nor naïve. Resources are on hand to protect a society against the inevitable. Still the emphasis is away from militarism, facing away from the faux aura of “dying for one’s country.” What is offered by mindful administration is the infinite satisfaction available within immediate and concrete ordinary experiences. Our chances of thriving are greatly enhanced by the immediacy and concreteness of ordinary experience. Temptation to wealth and grandeur are regarded as a negative. Travel here and there as a distraction, luxury cruising as filler for a shallow life, has no appeal.

Everybody has to die.

Being content to depart in a timely fashion seems a hallmark of a life-well-lived to me.