True

understanding in

a person has two attributes:

awareness and action. Together they

form  a natural tai chi. Who can enjoy

enlightenment and remain

indifferent to suffering

in the world?

 

This is not

in keeping with the Way.

Only those who increase their service

along with their understanding

can be called men and

women of Tao.

 

from Hua hu Ching, Chapter 53

 

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Utopians

are often especially

sensitive to the evils of the world

and, craving certainty, purity, and completeness,

firmly reject the evils as totally as possible, wishing to avoid

any compromises with them. Instead, utopians assert an

alternative vision of the world which they would like

to come into being. Their visionary belief may be

labeled “religious” or “political”—

it matters little for this

discussion.

 

They await

a “new world” which is

to come into being by an act of God,

a change in the human spirit, by autonomous

changes in economic conditions, or by a deep spontaneous

social upheaval—all beyond deliberate human control. These

believers are primarily concerned with espousing the “true”

understanding of the evil and the principles by which

people should live, gaining converts, living with the

least possible compromise until the great change

arrives. They may deliberately seek to establish

ways of living and communities which

exemplify their principles and which

may inspire others to do

likewise.⁹³

 

The most

serious weakness of

this response to the problem

of this world is not the broad vision,

or the commitment of the people who believe

in it. The weakness is that these believers have

no effective way to reach the society of their dreams.

Condemnation of social evil, espousal of an alternative

order of life, a deep personal commitment, and an effort

to live according to it, are all good and necessary, but

unfortunately alone they do not transform human

society and institutions. To do that, an instrumen-

tally effective program of achievable steps for

dealing with the evils of existing society

and for creating an improved

social order is

required.⁹⁴

 

Gene Sharp

 

 

In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will be singing.
About the dark times.

—Bertolt Brecht

 

There will be prayer, too,
but to a different god,

and dread will lurk
in the songs we sing.

Doom in the timpani
no matter what the tune,

the tune a variation
on the theme of doom.

We will sing in the dark
and try to forgive

and try not to dwell
on the lives we lived.

The music we play
will be a funeral song,

the poetry we speak,
that ancient tool

we used to believe
was the vital spark,

or if not the spark,
will be the match we strike

again and again
in the darkest dark.

 

Andrea Hollander

 

 

A certain

young man was asking

around.  “I need to find a wise person.

I have a problem.” A bystander said, “There’s

no one with intelligence in our town except that man

over there playing with the children, the one riding

the stick-horse. He has keen, fiery insight and

vast dignity like the night sky, but he

conceals it in the madness of

child’s play.” 

 

The young

seeker approached the

children. “Dear father, you who

have become as a child,

tell me a secret.”

 

“Go away.

This is not a day for

secrets.” “But please! Ride your

horse this way, just for a minute.” The sheikh

play-galloped over. “Speak quickly. I can’t hold this one

still for long. Whoops. Don’t let him kick you. This is a wild

one!” The young man felt he couldn’t ask his serious

question in the crazy atmosphere, so he

joked, “I need to get married. Is

there someone suitable on

this street?”

 

“There are

three kinds of women

in the world. Two are griefs, and

one is a treasure in the world. The first,

when you marry her, is all yours. The second

is half-yours, and the third is not yours at all. Now get

out of here, before this horse kicks you in the head!

Easy now!” The sheikh rode off among the

children. The young man shouted,

“Tell me more about

the kinds of

women!”

 

The sheikh,

on his cane horsey,

came closer, “The virgin of

your first love is all yours. She will

make you feel happy and free. A childless widow

is the second, she will be half yours. The third, who is

nothing to you, is a married woman with a child. By her first

husband she had a child, and all her love goes into that child.

She will have no connection with you. Now watch out.

Back away. I’m going to turn this rascal around!”

He gave a loud whoop and rode back,

calling the children

around him.

 

“One

more question, Master!”

The sheikh circled, “What is it? Quickly!

That rider over there needs me. I think I’m

in love.” “What is this playing that

you do? Why do you hide

your intelligence

so?”

 

“The people

here want to put me

in charge. They want me to be

judge, magistrate, and interpreter of all the texts.

The knowing I have doesn’t want that. It wants to enjoy

itself. I am a plantation of sugarcane, and at the same time

I’m eating the sweetness.” Knowledge that is acquired is not like

this. Those who have it worry if audiences like it or not. It’s a

bait for popularity. Disputational knowing wants customers.

It has no soul. Robust and energetic before a responsive

crowd, it slumps when no one is there. The only

real customer is God. Chew quietly your

sweet sugarcane God-love, and stay

playfully childish. Your face  will

turn rosy with illumination

like the red bud

flowers.

 

Let the lover

be disgraceful, crazy,

absent minded. Someone sober

will worry about things going

badly. Let the lover

be.

 

All day

and night, music,

a quiet, bright reed song.

If it fades, we

fade.

 

Jalal al-din Rumi