ten years in the world of people

 

Weary, I yearn for the forest and hills;

Against my will, ten years have I spent

In the world of people.

 

Burning incense, I take leave of the assembly,

Shunning worldly affairs, I depart.

The mist invites me and

I know that it is time to rest.

 

Those of little talent are not

Guests fond of mountains.

Men of little virtue do not

Make companions for gathering leaves.

 

Should someone ask, “When will you come back?”

I would reply, “The white clouds and the green water

Are boundless and serene.”

 

Jiun Onko Sonja

beautiful things grow out of shit

“What would be really interesting for people to see is how beautiful things grow out of shit, because nobody ever believes that, you know. Everybody thinks that Beethoven had his string quartets completely in his head, they somehow appeared there and formed in his head, and all he had to do was write them down and they would be kind of manifest to the world.

“But what I think what’s so interesting, and what should be a lesson everybody should learn, is that things come out of nothing. Things evolve out of nothing. You know, the tiniest seed in the right situation turns into the most beautiful forest. And then the most promising seed, in the wrong situation, turns into nothing.

“And I think that this would be important for people to understand because it gives people confidence in their own lives to know that that’s how things work. If you walk around with the idea that there are some people who are so gifted, they have these wonderful things in their head, but you’re not one of them, you’re just sort of a normal person, you could never do anything like that, then you live a different kind of life, you know.

“You could have another kind of life where you can say, where you say, ‘Well, I know that things comes from nothing very much and start from unpromising beginnings, and I’m an unpromising beginning, and I could start something.'”

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