Another city added to that list.
This time, one that I know all to well.
I’m not a sage.
But I have their books next to my bed.
In a moment of frustration, I opened them randomly.
I got lucky.
~
The wise have no mind of their own,
finding it in the minds
of ordinary people.They’re good to good people
and they’re good to bad people.
Power is goodness.
They trust people of good faith
and they trust people of bad faith.
Power is trust.They mingle their life with world,
they mix their mind up with the word.
Ordinary people look after them.
Wise souls are children.
— Tao Te Ching, 49 (Lao Tzu, Ursula K. Le Guin)
Things are shitty today. Unfortunately, it’s nothing new.
Confucius and Lao Tzu were writing amidst the dissolution of an empire. The feudal order had already dissolved into a collection of Warring States.
The past few years have been bonkers but nothing like the collapse they were experiencing.
Amidst the self dealing around us, we have one way through the chaos.
It’s an asymmetric struggle, but repaying evil with evil only compounds the devolution of our society.
~
Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you,
and persecute you.
— Matthew 5:44 (King James Version)
That reminds me of the admonitions of a Galilean sage.
Unlike his Chinese counterparts, Jesus wasn’t a petty bureaucrat with privilege. These insights came from a working class dude on the outskirts of the empire.
And somehow, his wisdom shaped the past two millennia.
This shit don’t make sense, but it works.
~
With King Wen dead, is not culture invested here in me?
If Heaven intends culture to be destroyed, those who come after me will not be able to have any part of it.
If Heaven does not intend this culture to be destroyed, then what can the men of K’uang do to me?As in the case of making a mound, if, before the very last basketful, I stop, then I shall have stopped. As in the case of levelling the ground, if, though tipping only one basketful, I am going forward, then I shall be making progress.
The Three armies can be deprived of their commanding officer, but even a common man cannot be deprived of his purpose.
— Analects, Book 9:5, 19, 26 (Confucius, D. K. Lau)
When our institutions fail, even when the hand of fate crushes us, we still have the power to do good.
As individuals, we still own our purpose and agency. If not in politics, then in culture.
Let’s build relationships and make art to bind us together.
No matter how small, each step brings us closer “to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”
~
Despite the anger, the answer will be found through calm.
In this moment of great sacrilege, listen for that still small voice.
Its whisper is our way out.
The sun sets
On the western hills,
Quickly the valleys
Darken.
The moon rises through the pines,
In the chill of the night,
Amid the crystal sounds
Of wind and stream.
The woodcutters
Have all gone Home,
In the mist the birds
Are settling in their nests.
My friend promised to join me tonight
Alone with my Lute
I wait on the vine-strewn path.
Meng Horan (ca. 689-740, from the commentary on the Tao Te Ching 49 by John Minford)