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Friday, June 28, 2013

Bit by Bit - Chapter 17, Part 9

Trey Smith

"From the point of view of differences, if we regard a thing as big because there is a certain bigness to it, then among all the ten thousand things there are none that are not big. If we regard a thing as small because there is a certain smallness to it, then among the ten thousand things there are none that are not small. If we know that heaven and earth are tiny grains and the tip of a hair is a range of mountains, then we have perceived the law of difference.
~ Burton Watson translation ~
What is a human being to an ant...or a humpback whale? What we view as significant differences among those of our species might well be lost on other life forms. By the same token, most people can't tell one ant or one whale from another.

To view the Index page for this series, go here.

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