Author Archives → Brian
participation with life
Courage
is the measure
of our heartfelt participation
with life, with another, with a community,
a work; a future. To be courageous is not necessarily
to go anywhere or do anything except to make conscious those
things we already feel deeply and then to live through the unending
vulnerabilities of those consequences. To be courageous is to seat
our feelings deeply in the body and in the world: to live up to
and into the necessities of relationships that often already
exist, with things we find we already care deeply
about: with a person, a future, a possibility
in society, or with an unknown that
begs us on and always has
begged us on.
all the celestial angels and maidens
what you should know to be a poet
all you
can know about animals
as persons. the names of trees and flowers
and weeds. the names of stars and the movements
of planets and the moon. your own six senses,
with a watchful elegant mind. at least
one kind of traditional magic:
divination, astrology, the
book of changes,
the tarot;
dreams.
the illusory demons
and the illusory shining gods.
kiss the ass of the devil and eat shit;
fuck his horny barbed cock, fuck
the hag, and all the celestial
angels and maidens
perfum’d and
golden–
& then
love the human:
wives husbands and friends
children’s games, comic books, bubble-gum,
the weirdness of television and advertising.
work long, dry hours of dull work
swallowed and accepted and
lived with and finally
lovd. exhaustion,
hunger,
rest.
the wild
freedom of the dance, extasy
silent solitary illumination, entasy
real danger. gambles and
the edge of
death.
not loathing not savoring
Rock slab seat
legs folded sitting alone
Not loathing noise
not savoring silence
The carefree clouds concur
tao gives rise to all forms
The Tao
gives rise to all forms,
yet it has no form of its own.
If you attempt to fix a picture of
it in your mind, you will lose
it. This is like pinning a
butterfly: the husk is
captured, but the
flying is
lost.
Why not be
content with simply
experiencing
it?
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
You
can now buy
Hua hu Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.
