Plague Journal, To Step Back
Tao te Ching
By Lao Tsu
Translation by Stephen Mitchell
8 The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things without trying to.
It is content with the low places that people disdain.
Thus it is like the Tao.
In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don’t try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
When you are content to be simply yourself
and don’t compare or compete,
everybody will respect you.
9 Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people’s approval
and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity
Today is our last full vacation day in Michigan. We plan to go blueberry picking. I look forward to walking along the rows of blueberry bushes, with focus on picking of the tasty little blue berries. I am interested to speak with farm employees when I encounter them, to hear the story of the season. Every growing season is 
different. Living directly from the produce of the soil, the confluence of sun and rain is endless adventure. Ingenuity and patience are called for. I am instructed and inspired by the stories.
Living close to the great lake is to be reminded of one’s link with Nature. To be human is to be an extension of the great energy exchange which is 
Nature, — raw, primal, cause and effect. There is no work-around, no opting out of the great exchange. By the lake, a walk on the beach in either direction brings one to the foot of giant ancient dunes adjacent to the sandy beach that have been gouged, decimated by the force of the wind driven waters of the lake.
I found an attractive, stout, seven foot long pole lying on the beach. The 
weathered staff reminded of the scene in the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille movie, The Ten Commandments. “Moses” lifts his rod to effect a passageway through the waters of the Red Sea for a fleeing crowd of immigrants. Given the good fortune of finding a similar appearing staff, I felt confident that I should be able to halt the wave action of Lake Michigan.
Here is the lesson that I learned. One can feel anything at all, or nothing at all — lifting a staff over one’s head, performing a gesture of magical intention, MAKES NO DIFFERENCE. The waves continued to roll and churn. Nature is nothing else — just indifferent cause and effect: sublime, awe inspiring, worthy of respect.
Why not simply be content to be oneself?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1LZk2Dq3Ro
Southern Cross”
(originally by Crosby, Stills & Nash)
Got out of town on a boat goin’ to southern islands.
Sailing a reach before a followin’ sea.
She was makin’ for the trades on the outside,
And the downhill run to Papeete Bay.
Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas.
We got eighty feet of the waterline.
Nicely making way.
In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you.
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away.
Think about how many times I have fallen,
Spirits are using me, larger voices callin’.
What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world,
Lookin’ for that woman, girl,
Who knows love can endure.
And you know it will. And you know it will.
When you see the Southern Cross for the first time,
You understand now why you came this way.
‘Cause the truth you might be runnin’ from is so small.
But it’s as big as the promise, the promise of a coming day.
So I’m sailing for tomorrow, my dreams are a dyin’.
And my love is an anchor tied to you, tied with a silver chain.
I have my ship and all her flags are a flyin’
She is all that I have left and music is her name.
Think about how many times I have fallen,
Spirits are using me, larger voices callin’.
What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world,
Lookin’ for that woman, girl,
Who knows love can endure.
And you know it will. And you know it will.
So we cheated and we lied and we tested
And we never failed to fail, it was the easiest thing to do.
You will survive being bested.
But somebody fine will come along make me forget about loving you.
At the Southern Cross.
One thought on “Plague Journal, To Step Back”
During the beginning of what was to become three decades of being a T’aiChi Ch’aun player {and, ultimately talked into becoming a teacher), I was, as are most serious students, introduced to The Way. One learns that in ‘life’ as in taiji, which is a martial art, to be victorious one has to be completely non-aggressive, to be ‘soft’. We are taught by the classics that a force of a thousand pounds is defeated with three ounces. Taiji, baugua, kung-fu and many other techniques are called the ‘Internal Arts’ – which means, regardless of whatever confused, lengthy explanation one might hear about ‘hard/soft or fast/slow’, the Internal Arts originated in China – the ‘External Arts’ (Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and such) came into existence outside of China. The dojo I originally attended is owned and operated by a fellow who was (is? – I don’t know how that works) an Olympian and many ‘heavy hitters’ (pun intended) show up there. I was fortunate; the ‘classics’ state that taiji is an ancient Chinese exercise for Health, Self-defense and Spiritual development – and all my teachers were focused on the martial – when you learn what a particular posture or movement is for, you can ‘internalize’ it better (going from; “Oh, wasn’t that a pretty circle” to “Ah, that is a toss”). And improving a move, improves the other that is promised. Much of what is learned in taiji can be directly translated to living, and living with ‘peace’ closer at hand. I have stated this because, next to hearing my self talk, I enjoy reading my words as well – what one of my past Masters realized, in my case, was a great ‘hinderance’. I’m working on it (honest !)
Blessings