Success is as dangerous
as failure.
Hope
is as hollow
as fear.

What does it mean that success
is as dangerous
as failure?

Whether you go up the ladder
or down it,
your position is shaky.
When you stand
with your two feet on the ground
you will always
keep your balance.

What does it mean that hope is
as hollow
as fear?
Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don’t see the self
as self,
what do we have to fear?

See the world
as your self.
Have faith
in the way things are.
Love the world
as your self;
Then
you can care
for all things.

Excerpt, Tao Te Ching vs. 13
By Lao Tsu, Trans. by Stephen Mitchell

Last evening’s philosophy discussion was on the topic of speed, or more precisely how the value, the demand for constant, unrelieved acceleration in our culture impacts us as individuals.  Accelerating to reach a goal, is standard practice in the world of business which constitutes our economy.  In effect “he who (the company) that manages to occupy the high ground first” is the company that will prevail, that will reach market penetration.  The upshot, that company will dominate in the foreseeable future even if, the product or service offered is not necessarily the best available.

Acceleration, the value of speed is a principle of warfare.  Speed is almost always an Ace, the winning card to hold in one’s hand.  Everyone understands the term, Blitzkrieg.  Or in the words of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, who well understood the effect of “lightning war,”

To move swiftly, strike vigorously, and secure all the fruits of victory is the secret of successful war.

The lines from Verse 13 of the Tao Te Ching offer an alternative to the default mode of life under the aegis of global capitalism in which we live.