A sage is subtle,
intuitive, penetrating, profound.
His depths are mysterious and
unfathomable.
The best one can do is
describe his appearance: the sage
is alert as a person crossing a winter stream; as
circumspect as a person with neighbors on all four sides;
as respectful as a thoughtful guest; as yielding as
melting ice; as simple as uncarved wood;
as open as a valley; as chaotic
as a muddy torrent.
Why “chaotic
as a muddy torrent”?
Because clarity is learned by
being patient in the
heart of chaos.
Tolerating
disarray, remaining at rest,
gradually one learns to allow muddy water to
settle and proper responses to reveal themselves.
Those who aspire to tao don’t long for fulfillment.
They selflessly allow tao to use and deplete
them; they calmly allow tao to renew
and complete them.
These days, Obama spends
a lot of time talking with younger people.
With them, he is an elder refuting the notion that things
have never been worse. “I say, ‘No, you know what? Civil War—really bad.
Jim Crow—tough. You know, our parents, our grandparents, our great-grandparents
went through stuff that was profoundly tougher than what we’re going through,’ ”
the former President said. “And I say that not to pull rank on them but,
rather, to pull them out of any kind of hopelessness
about the situation.”