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The great Way is easy,
yet people prefer the side paths.
Be aware when things are out of balance.
Stay centered within the Tao.
When rich speculators prosper
While farmers lose their land;
when government officials spend money
on weapons instead of cures;
when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible
while the poor have nowhere to turn-
all this is robbery and chaos.
It is not in keeping with the Tao.
53
Tao Te Ching, a New English Version, copyright ©️ 1988 by Stephen Mitchell, published by HarperCollins. All rights reserved.
When you see a perfectly balanced tightrope walker holding a pole, the main object of wonder is his stillness. It’s very pleasing to see him remain static; he even seems to a possess some sort of magical quality. However, while his stillness steals our sights, it’s a disguise to what’s really going on. If he were just doing nothing, why can’t anyone do it?
The virtuosity of a tightrope walker is not in his ability to do nothing, it’s in his ability to bend his body and his mind, in the opposite direction to the forces of the world around him. Like a wine connoisseur, who detects imperceptible textures and tastes, the tightrope walker is hipper-sensitive to the spontaneous imbalances; a change in the wind, a menacing thought, a judgemental stare, a note misplayed.
An ever-changing world (and mind) keeps the Master on his toes. He becomes whatever the moment requires of him: sometimes its starting a revolution, others its brushing his teeth. The Master needs not motivation, hope or desires; just his natural response to find balance.
Quote of the Week
“The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest. What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him?
No, thank you,' he will think. 'Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, although these are things which cannot inspire envy.”Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
Song Picks of the Week (Classical Edition)
I’m not including these in the official playlist, but if you want to find more of my favorite classical pieces you can check them out on my playlist Classic Good. Over 10 hours of some of the best classical music in the history of music.
Thank you very much!
Until next Tuesday,
Daniel