Late in life I’ve lost my country.
Everywhere there is the malice of unearned
power, top to bottom, bottom to top,
nearly solid scum. Very few can read or write.
Lucky for me we winter in this bamboo thicket
near a creek with three barrels of bird food.
With first light things seem a little better.
defend the rights of all people
I would teach patriotism
in the schools, and teach it this way:
I would throw out the old maxim, ‘My country,
right or wrong,’ etc., and instead I would say,
‘My country when she is right.’ Because
patriotism is supporting your country
all the time, but your government
only when it deserves it.”
And the King shall answer
and say unto them, Verily I say unto you,
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the
least of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto me.
Then shall he say also
unto them on the left hand,
Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for
the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred,
and ye gave me no meat:
I was thirsty, and ye
gave me no drink:
I was a stranger,
and ye took me not in:
naked, and ye clothed me not:
sick, and in prison, and
ye visited me not.
People
who treat other people
as less than human must not be
surprised when the bread they have
cast on the waters comes
floating back to them,
poisoned.
…In spite of spectacular strides
in science and technology, and still unlimited ones
to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of
the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological
abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have
become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like
birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned
the simple art of living together
as brothers.
We
have lost the
power even of imagining what
the ancient idealization of poverty could
have meant: the liberation from material attachments,
the unbribed soul, the manlier indifference, the paying our way
by what we are or do and not by what we have, the right to
fling away our life at any moment irresponsibly—
the more athletic trim, in short,
the moral fighting
shape.
The highest
good is like water,
which benefits all things and
contends with none. It flows in low
places that others disdain, and
thus it is close to
the tao.
In living,
choose your ground well.
In thought, stay deep in the heart.
In relationships, be generous.
In speaking, hold to the truth.
In leadership, be organized.
In work, do your best.
In action, be
timely.
If you compete with no one,
no one can compete with you.
ebooks & apps of the Tao the Ching, I Ching,
Hua hu Ching, and Art of War for
You
can now buy
Tao te Ching as part of a
five-app bundle of Taoist classics
for iPhone or iPad for less than
the cost of one hardcover
book.
