the highest good is like water

kadir nelson

 

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.
 

The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,

Chapter 8

 

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the benefit of engagement in politics

only love can do that

 

Forget the self and you’ll help others.

Deshan Xuanjian

 

The spiritual benefit of engagement in politics comes from going into rather than away from the imperfection. And if you are diving right into the heart of delusion, naturally this means into the heart of your own delusion. There’s always a chance that such a plunge might increase self-knowledge more than it increases self-righteousness.

The point here is that you have to forget all that spiritual stuff about what a good person you are or intend to be someday, something that is anyway unlikely to be attained. The spirituality in politics might not be visible to others or even to yourself. Down there in the heart of delusion you look like a demon too, just like the rest of us. You’ll have to adapt your fashion sense to having horns and fangs.

This is the force of Bismarck’s famous comment about the art of the possible: in order to bring about any sort of transformation you have to work with what is actually the case, rather than what you might have wished for or pretended — in the world, in others, in yourself.

When I accepted how the world is, I noticed that empathy is part of how it is. It’s not easy to explain; it doesn’t have a reason. Empathy seems to be a basis for spiritual work — for the bodhisattva way. Empathy also doesn’t seem to be entirely personal. We didn’t work for change because we liked each other or the people who might benefit; there was empathy even when people were behaving in ways that I might find painful.

 

John Tarrant

bring me the rhinoceros

 

the wise person teaches by example

ieshia evans

 

When people

find one thing beautiful,

another consequently becomes ugly.

When one man is held up as good,

another is judged

deficient.

 

Similarly, being and

non-being balance each other;

difficult and easy define each other;

long and short illustrate each other;

high and low rest upon each other;

voice and song meld into harmony;

what is to come follows upon

what has been.

 

The wise person

acts without effort and teaches

by quiet example. She accepts things as they

come, creates without possessing, nourishes without

demanding, accomplishes without taking credit.

Because she constantly forgets herself,

she is never forgotten.

 

The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,

Chapter 2

 

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vigorous adherence to what is correct

beautiful trouble: a toolbox

 

Devotion to truth

enables a revolution.

 

The hexagram Ko announces the arrival of a time of revolution. A set of conditions, internal or external or both, is ready to pass away in favor of a more beneficial situation. What enables this transformation is your conscious and vigorous adherence to correct thought and behavior.

No revolution in outer things is possible without a prior revolution in one’s inner way of being. Whatever change you aspire to in your affairs must be preceded by a change in heart, and active deepening and strengthening of your resolve to meet every event with equanimity, detachment, and innocent goodwill. When this spiritual poise is achieved within, magnificent things are possible without.

The revolutions of others are enabled also when we refine the fire of goodness and truth inside ourselves. Sincere commitment to higher things travels outward in powerful waves from the superior person, and all those around are affected by this. Indisputably, to lead one’s inner self to truth and peace is to lead the outer world to truth and peace. A beneficial revolution is assured to one who takes this path now.

 

from The I Ching, or Book of Changes

Hexagram 49, Ko / Revolution

 

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a choice between fear and love

laurie lipton

 

The world is

like a ride at an amusement park,

and when you choose to go on it, you think it’s real,

because that’s how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up

and down and round and round and it has thrills and chills

and it’s very brightly colored and it’s very loud.

And it’s fun, for a

while.

 

Some people

have been on the ride

for a long time, and they begin to

question: ‘Is this real? Or is this just a ride?’

And other people have remembered, and they come

back to us and they say ‘Hey! Don’t worry, don’t

be afraid — ever — because this is just a

ride.’ And we kill those

people.

 

…We always kill

those good guys who try and

tell us that — ever notice that? — and we

let the demons run amok. But it doesn’t matter,

because it’s just a ride, and we can change it any time we want.

It’s only a choice. No effort. No worry. No job. No savings

and money. Just a choice, right now, between fear and

love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks

on your door, buy bigger guns, close yourself

off. The eyes of love, instead, see all

of us as one.

 

Here’s

what we can do

to change the world, right

now, into a better ride. Take all that money

we spend on weapons and defense each year and, instead,

spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world,

which it would do many times over — not one human being

excluded — and we can explore space together,

both inner and outer, forever.

In peace.

 

Bill Hicks