35

She who is centered in the Tao
can go where she wishes, without danger.
She perceives the universal harmony,
even amid great pain,
because she has found peace in her heart.

Music or the smell of good cooking
may make people stop and enjoy.
But words that point to the Tao
seem monotonous and without flavor.
When you look for it, there is nothing to see.
When you listen for it, there is nothing to hear.
When you use it, it is inexhaustible.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, trans. by Stephen Mitchell

A Saturday in late August, cool with sunshine. How is this not paradise? Would you and I desire (imagine) a surrounding more commodious, accommodating to our minds, and bodies? To consider by chance of fate – I am not confined to a trench in Donbas Ukraine, filthy, certain of death’s possibility. But I, due to a mere twist of fate will enjoy the Batavia Farmer’s Market today…

There is a foundational connection between all things, and I mean all, without any exceptions.

Still many are seduced by the sizzle of the Vanity Fair of Capitalism, and in due time are left without the happiness or the well-being we were promised. Untold swaths of humanity become mind-fucked, soul-less, addicted, manifestly drained of agency as a result choosing this and that, the products and services so appealing that are offered by the descending arc of Capitalism. I think it is proper to capitalize the term. I am inclined to write any of the major religious traditions, I begin with a capital letter. Capital-ism is the reigning faith of America, perhaps always was the dominant ideology. I cringe inwardly upon reflection, European immigrants, earliest settlers from Europe assumed the entire continent was theirs for the taking… Taking = profiting. 

Personal concerns notwithstanding, the purity of a late summer squash blossom is stunning. Words cannot be found to do justice to such brilliance of yellow. That’s not all. What about the bumble bees who dive into these blossoms, busying themselves with nectar perhaps, or pollen, (I do not know) – but the industrious work of the bee delights me!

Such as this, isn’t “this” enough? Even with my pain and problems. What is this that delights and interests me? What is this felt connection with the bee and with the flower? I cannot explain it.

No carnivalesque pitchman required – to convince me that his/her “free” product will make me happier…

What do you think? Does the blossom and does the bee point to the Tao?

More! There’s always more since the Tao is inexhaustible. Enjoy this anthem of resistance. You, and I are not a victim. Rise up! Live your life with resolve. Refugee by Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers.