A Bird, Low And Slow
The following is an exchange between Confucius and Grand Duke Ren, a friend and a follower of the tao.
Ren said, “Allow me to relate to you the way of avoiding death.
In the Eastern Sea there are birds called Yidai.
They fly low and slowly as if they lacked strength.
They fly near to one another and stay close when the roost.
They do not take the lead or fall behind.
They do not take the first place to eat but prefer what has been left.
They fly in an unbroken line so that men cannot injure them from the outside.
Hence they are safe from calamities.The straight tree is the first to be cut down. The well of sweet water is the first to run dry. Your mind is set on demonstrating your knowledge to astound the ignorant and to rectify yourself by revealing the errors of others. You shine forth as if you were carrying with you the sun and moon. This is why you cannot avoid calamities.
I once heard a saying of an accomplished man: ‘Those who are proud achieve little. What they claim to have achieved will not last and their fame will fade.’
Who can set aside success and fame and return to being one of the multitude? The tao permeates all but the man/woman of the tao does not stand guarding it. His/her virtue is pervasive but he/she does not display it. Simple and undistinguished, he may seem devoid of reason. He erases the traces of his action and relinquishes rank and power and success and fame. He does not admonish others and they do not admonish him. The perfect man does not seek to become renowned.
Why then do you relish doing this?”
Zhuangzi by Zhuang Zhou trans. by Hyun Hochsmann and Yang Guorong, Book 20 The Tree on the Mountain
I entertained a conversation with myself having to do with involvement in local politics. Political engagement, I mean giving active assist to someone who seeks election to office, or even campaigning myself for office, then to bear responsibility of representation… Work which someone has to do. At least in a democracy that is how it seems to me. It is a difficult job, with insufficient compensation, not unlike a calling to teach children.
And then there is the brute reality that a way of life, the peaceable conduct of relationship between associates, the care and education of children is being eviscerated by the security force of the administration in power. The events in Minneapolis Minnesota are certain to be replicated in other places in due time. A natural urge is to “do something.”
Do! Do what!? Defending liberty is an abstract thought, start to finish. Hasten to inquire what manner of liberty am I to defend? Liberty for whom in contrast to what servitude? Liberty is a slippery word. Easy to twist, a polarity often reversed in common conversation. Liberty defended by some, easily amounts to someone else’s servitude…
Closely following a line of thought offered by the Grand Duke Ren, “What point after all, to die on a barricade given a significant segment of Americans desire servitude?”
4 thoughts on “A Bird, Low And Slow”
There is no easy answer as to what we can or even should do to stop our nation’s march towards subserviences, brutality, and ultimately, weakness. Many of our fellow citizens are under the false impression that bullying, whining, and name calling is equivalent to some kind of machismo. My sense is that our neighbors who have bought into this fabrication have felt disenfranchised at some point. That we are suffering from an overabundance of immigrants, or gay people, or African Americans and that thuggery is an answer to making them feel better about themselves. The truth is that their lives will not improve under this goon, and more than likely their lives will deteriorate as the country swirls down the drain.
How do we talk to them and have them wake up? This question has been asked millions of times over the course of the past 10 years and we still do not have a definitive answer. But there is a solution and it will take a great deal of work on the part of people who still have the drive and the energy to become involved. Those who have embraced apathy and those who have said that their vote makes no difference MUST be stirred up. They MUST understand that it’s a group effort and that without their vote, their energy, their involvement we will all become victims of this cruel and entitled regime of old white rich men. It is up to us to make that happen.
To stir the apathetic to conviction is a “big ask”. Even so, what would a popular rejection for the regime in power mean? According to their universe of discourse a win registered by those who oppose them and the atavistic society they’d create, means the election was “stolen.” The results of such an election would summarily be declared invalid by those who have power. That’s the nature of realpolitik.
More than enough of us will support them. The Trump party has no intention to voluntarily leave.
Unfortunately the alternative to attempting to work through the system by encouraging a qualified electorate to vote is to use force. As we are well aware, the right wing is incredibly well armed and as the sane members of our armed forces are removed one by one, it leaves the psychotic generals who are pledging fealty to Trumpism over the US Constitution. Theyse people are too hungry for that feeling of unfettered power, so it would appear that ours would be a futile effort in the case of a inter-politcal all out battle. But perhaps it will come down to either accepting a cruel and iron-fisted overlord or studying guerrilla warfare, at which point I will try to remember that I’ve had a fairly decent life up to this point. We all must do what we feel is right. There’s very little in between.
I think biding our time to await further developments is best for now.
These lines from The Tao te Ching are relevant: