The Unstoppable
Huizi said to Zhuangzi, “You speak of what is useless!”
Zhuangzi replied, “You have to know what is useless before
you can speak about what is useful…
Zhuangzi said, “if a man has the capacity to wander freely,
can he be stopped? If a man lacks the capacity, then what
can induce him? There are those who are intent
on pursuing their aims or who seek oblivion and distance
from the world.
Ah! They both fail to achieve perfect knowledge
and great virtue. They fall but cannot recover;
they are ablaze like fire without considering
what they are doing.
One is a ruler and another is a subject
–that is but for a time.
In a changed age, one would not be able
to look down on the other.
Hence it is said, ‘The perfect man
leaves no trace of his actions.’
Zhuangzi trans. by Hyun Höchsmann and Yang Guorong, Book 26 External Things
What if we (Americans) are 180 degrees wrong? To say it again, ‘What if, on a granular personal level – I am 180° wrong?’
It is Monday. When reading the above quotation from the Zhuangzi I reflected upon the current policy of our American government to simply obliterate, wipe away, murder individuals and group who are perceived to be in opposition of our aims. Americans pride ourselves on having clear purposes, upon our pragmatism. We know how to engineer our way forward.
The war against Iran continues. Iran has been an adversary for a generation or two. Iran was ‘fucked over’ by America in 1953. (I was four years old) In summary this is what occurred.
Mohammad Mosaddegh, was overthrown in a CIA and MI6-orchestrated coup, known as Operation Ajax. The overthrow was driven by the UK and US to reverse the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, which threatened British economic interests. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who became a key U.S. ally, ruled with absolute power for 26 years.
That was then.
More recently, on 28 February 2026, Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, was assassinated. Within the last day or so Mojtaba Khamenei, succeeded his father as Iran’s head. Is America or Israel planning to murder him at the first opportunity?
As succinctly outlined in the Zhuangzi we are accustomed to ‘make our mark’ on history by doing what we know how to do. By no means do we exercise reason in a long term sense, accessing the consequence of our planed act, 2+2 = ? over the long term…
Thus history is a bloody saga, a blood-bath. We keep falling into this pit, speeding into a hairpin curve – with no chance of recovery, absent consideration of what we are doing.
Zhuangzi imagines there is another possibility. That is, a time will come when we (you and I) will not categorize others in terms of what we are able to do. Do positively with an ally to reap advantage from them, or do negatively as an opponent that we can move out of the way with a coup or a missile strike or a bullet to the head.
Am I willing to act without taking measure to insure reaping a benefit, leaving a mark?
A man/woman leaving no trace of his/her actions!
