Do not yearn for fame.
Do not make plans.
Do not set up projects.
Do not be a possessor of knowledge.

Embody to the fullest what has no end
and wander where there is no path.
Hold what is from heaven
but do not take it to be anything.

Be empty.

The highest man’s mind is like a mirror.
It does not operate anything.
It does not expect anything.
It responds without retaining.
In this way he is able to work well
with all things and not injure them.

Zhuangzi by Zhuang Zhou trans. by Hyun Hochmann, Yang Guorong, The Regulatons for Emperors and Rulers

The day after thanksgiving and again I am here at Starbucks.

The room is filled. Friends, and some old acquaintances have come by. The connections are many, and more complicated than I can fathom. I am impressed that the last two lines in this quotation from Zhuang Zhou is the very best than any of us can hope for. Simply to converse, to relate to others so that no further injury is done. “Do no harm.”

Shouldn’t that be the tagline, the word to the wise, engraved over every entry and exit door?

Prepare by not preparing. Leave room within your mind and heart, for others to make their own individual way, a path which you cannot know… My “ready-made” answers are ill suited for anyone else. Especially in the case of those closest, my/your spouse, and my/your children.