…one who takes his seat on the Tao and its Attributes,
and there finds his ease and enjoyment,
is not exposed to such a contingency.

He is above the reach both of praise and of detraction;
now he (mounts aloft) like a dragon,
now he (keeps beneath) like a snake;

he is transformed with the (changing) character of the time,
and is not willing to addict himself to any one thing;
now in a high position and now in a low,
he is in harmony with all his surroundings;
he enjoys himself at ease with the Author of all things;
he treats things as things,
and is not a thing to them:
where is his liability to be involved in trouble?

Union brings on separation;
   success, overthrow;
      sharp corners, the use of the file;
         honour, critical remarks;
            active exertion, failure;
               wisdom, scheming;
                  inferiority, being despised:
where is the possibility of unchangeableness in any of these conditions?

Remember this, my disciples.
Let your abode be here, – in the Tao and its Attribute.’

–Zhuangzi, The Tree on the Mountain, by Zhuang Zhou, trans. by James Legge

The quotation renders the lesson conveyed by two stories.  The story of an old tree which is left alone by the woodcutter because due to gnarled age, it is good for nothing.  The other story is of two geese, a goose that cackles and one that cannot cackle.  The mute goose is the one chosen for dinner.  The twin tales raise the issue of risk, of exposure to being assessed as a resource, fodder in the rising and falling tide of history, of the machinations of power.  In these movements of commerce, of politics, of petty professional competition, there’s seldom any personal animus.  You are merely “used” in execution of a greater cause.

What advice does the Zhuangzi offer?  Make friends with change, adapt yourself to a never static environment.  A dragon and a snake have advantages depending upon context.  Avoid digging in, the fixed position.  Is anything worth dying for when everything is always changing?  The flag now flying is not the flag of our fathers, even if it’s visibly identical.

And what about political party affiliation?  Religion?

Nothing is exempt from endless transformation.

The question hangs in suspension before me: to what am I addicted?