No. 24

He who stands on tiptoe
doesn’t stand firm.
He who rushes ahead
doesn’t go far.
He who tries to shine
dims his own light.
He who defines himself
can’t know who he really is.
He who has power over others
can’t empower himself.
He who clings to his work
will create nothing that endures.
If you want to accord with the Tao,
just do your job, then let go.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, translation by Stephen Mitchell

Saturday, daybreak in full sunshine is our last day of family vacation on the eastward shore of Lake Michigan. We continued the tradition of blueberry picking yesterday at the Bumblebee Acres farm. It takes a while to fill the white bucket with berries picked one or two at a time, slowly progressing down the row, conversing with your partner-in-harvest, unless one chooses to pick in solitude. In any case the process cannot be rushed, made more efficient,…

There I caught sight of a weathered, oxidized, tow hook and chain looped around, enfolded by the trunk of an old elm tree. The bark of the elm was painted with light green patina of lichen. A heavy chain disappeared into the tree trunk. Life and time and symbiosis, yet another metaphor, example of how-things-might-be, how everything might be.

A conversation came back of several weeks ago with a gentleman and his son at Great Lakes Dragaway. Brian, the car owner and I reflected upon the serendipity one feels to recognize that a race car functions as if it were a living organism. Brian related his car seemed “happy” when the air pressure in the slicks was set at a given psi without a variation as small as a quarter pound of pressure either way. A sweet-spot of performance, tuning to the need of the machine, driver, car, track surface, and myriad other details in harmonious synchronicity… A racers definition of paradise!

Do and let go…

The first photo in the series shows Nate, Brian’s son, smiling to anticipate that someday Dad will know that he is ready to launch the eight second race car, toward the timing lights at the race track.