I obtained a copy of one of the great works of Asian literature to enlarge my appreciation of the Taoist sensibility of life and world.  Nowadays, fragmentation, seemingly intractable polarization demands that common ground be found.  Is any synthesis upon which enough of us can stand together possible?

Drown if you must.

Do not anticipate that I join you…

These words from the Zhuangzi speak for themselves:

Great understanding is broad and unhurried;
little understanding is cramped and busy.

Great words are clear and limpid;
little words are shrill and quarrelsome.

In sleep, men’s spirits go visiting;
in waking hours, their bodies hustle.
With everything they meet they become entangled.

Day after day they use their minds in strife, sometimes grandiose,
sometimes sly, sometimes petty.

Their little fears are mean and trembly; their great fears are
stunned and overwhelming.
They bound off like an arrow or a crossbow pellet,
certain that they are the arbiters of right and wrong.

They cling to their position
as though they had sworn before the gods,
sure that they are holding on to victory.

They fade like fall and winter
—such is the way they dwindle day by day.

They drown in what they do
—you cannot make them turn back.
They grow dark, as though sealed with seals
—such are the excesses of their old age.

And when their minds draw near to death, nothing can
restore them to the light

–Zhuangzi, chapt 2, Discussion On Making All Things Equal