33

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.
If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.

If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, trans. by Stephen Mitchell

No one has a say regarding the time into which they are born, or the parents to whom they were one hundred percent entrusted, etc., etc.. With a few minutes of such reflection you realize how much of your life you never had any control over. How much you ask? It seems, nearly all of it, every scintilla of the context of my life, has never been controlled, that is the result of my will. Free will, effective decision making, choice, – all of that, pure illusion. An unlikely story, which I’d like to believe.

So what’s left? Have I been, and am I now simply a steel ball being knocked around as if in the pinball machine of life, dumbly following the “laws” of physics? Maybe not!

A few lines, elegant, to the point, verse 33 suggests that appreciation, akin to connoisseurship: a keen engagement with family history, parents, grandparents; then knowledge of regional (geographic, social, political) history of places I’ve lived, and last, knowledge of national history, the myths, stories we’ve told ourselves as a people, etc., etc.. Wow! How deep do those wells go? Very, very deep, – deeper than one can say. But all of these figure in and are my context.

The point of this passage: context is the pivot point of what has been possible, and what will be possible for my life. To “know” as a matter of a penetrating appreciation of the factors that have brought me to this place in time, is key to self-mastery, the “go-pedal” to true power. Nothing happens in a vacuum, something does not come from nothing. The point of the Tao, way-making is 100% due to what one’s context allows,…

Possibility comes from context.

So, living with regret, that I was not dealt a “better” hand at birth, or if I’d gone to another school, and what if I became an engineer rather than a philosopher, etc., etc.. All of such is counterfactual history, idle speculation, simply a dithering away of my time. What matters, the only thing that matters is to play the hand that I hold, with as much mindfulness as I can muster.

To play the cards persistently, and well, no matter what…

According to the Tao contentment with “what is” is authentic riches. The pattern(s) of one’s life can be embraced with understanding and appreciation. You and I are the cutting edge, the point-of-the spear of a very long future-making project. Everyone is involved. No one is excluded…

Agency with resolve, in the dynamic flow of the present, – an enduring role is yours and mine to claim…

How about a tune? This one supplies a beat by which we can move ahead. West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys.