let us know our aims

Our task

as humans is to find

the few principles that will calm the

infinite anguish of free souls. We must mend

what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable

again in a world so obviously unjust, give happiness

a meaning once more to peoples poisoned by

the misery of the century. Naturally, it is

a superhuman task. But superhuman

is the term for tasks we take

a long time to accomplish,

that’s all.

 

Let us

know our aims then,

holding fast to the mind, even if

force puts on a thoughtful or a comfortable

face in order to seduce us. The first thing is not to

despair. Let us not listen too much to those who proclaim

that the world is at an end. Civilizations do not die so easily,

and even if our world were to collapse, it would not have

been the first. It is indeed true that we live in tragic

times. But too many people confuse tragedy with

despair. “Tragedy,” D.H. Lawrence said,

“ought to be a great kick at misery.”

This is a healthy and immediately

applicable thought. There are

many things today

deserving such

a kick.

 

If we are

to save the mind we must

ignore its gloomy virtues and celebrate

its strength and wonder. Our world is poisoned

by its misery, and seems to wallow in it. It has utterly

surrendered to that evil which Nietzsche called

the spirit of heaviness. Let us not add to this.

It is futile to weep over the mind,

it is enough to labor

for it. 

 

But where

are the conquering virtues

of the mind? The same Nietzsche listed

them as mortal enemies to heaviness of the spirit.

For him, they are strength of character, taste, the “world,”

classical happiness, severe pride, the cold frugality of

the wise. More than ever, these virtues are

necessary today, and each of us can

choose the one that suits

him best.

 

Before the

vastness of the undertaking,

let no one forget strength of character.

I don’t mean the theatrical kind on political

platforms, complete with frowns and threatening

gestures. But the kind that through the virtue of its purity

and its sap, stands up to all the winds that blow in

from the sea. Such is the strength of character

that in the winter of the world

will prepare the

fruit.

 

Albert Camus 

 

weapons are tools of evil


 

Weapons are tools of evil,

shunned and avoided by everything

in nature. Because people of tao follow

nature, they want nothing to

do with weapons.

 

Un-evolved people are eager

to act out of strength, but a person of tao

values peace and quiet. He knows that every being

is born of the womb of tao. This means that his

enemies are his enemies second, his own

brothers and sisters first.

 

Thus he resorts to weapons

only in the direst necessity, and then uses

them with utmost restraint. He takes no pleasure in victory,

because to rejoice in victory is to delight in killing.

Whoever delights in killing will not

find success in this world.

 

Observe victories as

you observe a death in the

family: with sorrow and mourning.

Every victory is a funeral

for kin.

 

Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu,

Chapter 31


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it’s simple to become a sage

muhammad ali portrait - Version 2

a king was born

 

It’s simple 

to become a sage: all

that’s required is to burn up,

 die, and cool into

ashes.

 

Rise early, 

then, and set fire to

all you think and feel and 

believe. Look beyond the smoke 

of that pit into what is left: 

emptiness filled with 

emptiness. 

 

Breathe it in. 

Pour it out. Circulating 

the Oneness without stopping, 

endlessly renewing your determination, 

working steadily day after day and

year upon year, you’ll find 

yourself alert, rested, 

illuminated.

 

Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 18

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accept everything that is

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Enlightenment

comes only when you accept

everything that is — without resistance,

without quarrel, in complete stillness. This is

the only, the simplest, the necessary

ground of being for complete

realization.

 

The opportunity

to dwell in quiet acceptance

exists in every moment — sitting, bathing,

cleaning, cooking, working, wherever.

When that moment passes,

it is present in the next.

Just embrace

it.

 

Wei wu Wei Ching, Chapter 2

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