The Corruptible Nature of Power

Trey Smith

It's said that 'power corrupts,' but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible.
~ from The Postman by David Brin ~

Since the days of the Taoist sages up until the current era, one thing that has plagued humankind is the penchant of the strong to bully and victimize the weak. I don't see this predilection ever changing. We humans like to take the easy road and it is far easier to force others to conform to our will than it is to try to reason with them peaceably.

In the US, the strong victimize the weak in a multitude of ways. Both in foreign and domestic policy, the strong -- as epitomized by the government -- physically brutalize those who refuse or are reluctant to accede to the demands of the corporate state. With foreign countries, we attack militarily. Within our own borders, the police manhandle a good number of citizens -- many of whom aren't breaking any laws!

The rich bully the poor by stigmatizing poverty and railing against the "freeloaders" who come to expect government handouts as a means of survival. While demonizing those who beg for morsels of bread, the accusers themselves always have THEIR hands out for special favors and a steady flow of taxpayer dollars. In other words, those in need must beg for crumbs and be castigated for it, while those not in need reap exaggerated benefit after exaggerated benefit.

The most insidious way the strong victimize the weak is through official disinformation. Knowing that their true intentions are neither equitable nor noble, the powers that be spend all their time crafting lies to so befuddle the masses that the people can't tell up from down! This is how you turn the idea of universal health care into a fear of death panels or the notion of the right to privacy into full-time mass surveillance.

Throughout the centuries, many people have looked to organized religion to serve as a buffer between the strong and the weak. Religion, it is thought, will soften the ravages the strong inflict upon the masses. But it has done nothing of the kind! It is yet another tool those in power utilize to keep the people down and firmly under the boot heel. Organized religion is just as top-down as society itself.

I wish I had an answer to this vexing problem, but I don't. In fact, owing to the proclivities of the human species, I don't think there is an answer and that is why I believe that our singular species ultimately is doomed. Power will always attract the corruptible and each of us is corruptible in one manner or another.

I Ching: Hexagram 61 - The Lines, Part 6

Nine at the top means:
Cockcrow penetrating to heaven.
Perseverance brings misfortune.

The cock is dependable. It crows at dawn. But it cannot itself fly to heaven. It just crows. A man may count on mere words to awaken faith. This may succeed now and then, but if persisted in, it will have bad consequences.

Translator of this version of the I Ching is Richard Wilhelm. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the I Ching label below.

Building on Zhuangzi VII

Scott Bradley

I'll close this series with some final looks at the same passage considered in the previous post, this time using Ziporyn's translation:

From the point of view of the Course [Dao], no thing is more valuable than any other. But from the point of view of itself, each thing is worth more and all the others are worth less. And from the point of view of convention, the value of things is not determined by themselves.
(Zhuangzi, 17)

All three of these points of view are entirely affirmable. All three can be simultaneously exercised. This in itself is profoundly significant.

It is the view from Dao which makes this simultaneity of walking different roads possible, of course. Without this view, each individual remains fixed in its own narrow self-absorption. Illuminated by the view from Dao each individual can continue to pursue its own self-interests, as all things must and, indeed, as life itself requires them to do, but now its isolated individuality is tempered by a larger view. Now its white-knuckled grip on its own self-importance can be relaxed. Since all things are of equal value, the individual thing discovers its value as intrinsic and need not judge other things as of less value in order to prop up its own.

This helps to illustrate what Ziporyn means by Zhuangzi's "holistic omnicentrism". Centrism is the idea that one thing is the center. Unicentrism is the idea that there is One and things derive their value from this One. Omnicentrism understands how each and every thing is its own center and is thus the source of its own value. This was Guo Xiang's insightful interpretation of Zhuangzi: "Each thing self-generates, without recourse to anything that goes beyond itself." Or again, "It is all individual beings that form the very substance of heaven and earth, and it is each being's self-so that aligns true to itself. 'Self-so' means what is so of itself, without being done by anyone or for any purpose."

This omnicentrism is also holistic. The understanding that each thing has its own intrinsic worth also understands that this worth does not rest in comparison with other things, but in the view from Dao where all things are of equal value. Self-affirmation is thus universal affirmation. In this way, one's necessary self-interest is transformed into a universal interest.

Again, Guo Xiang makes this connection when he suggests that the sage "vanishingly unifies self and other" or "vanishingly disappears into things". This disappearance could easily be misunderstood as the loss of individuality if one does not remember that what makes it possible is precisely the preceding radical affirmation of individuality.

Thus, the universal affirmation of things that is the Dao-perspective also affirms things in their own intrinsic centrism, yet enables them to likewise affirm all other things in theirs.

You can check out Scott's writings on Zhuangzi here.

TYT - How Republicans Win On Budget Cuts

I Ching: Hexagram 61 - The Lines, Part 5

Nine in the fifth place means:
He possesses truth, which links together.
No blame.

This describes the ruler who holds all elements together by the power of his personality. Only when the strength of his character is so ample that he can influence all who are subject to him, is he as he needs to be. The power of suggestion must emanate from the ruler. It will firmly knit together and unite all his adherents. Without this central force, all external unity is only deception and breaks down at the decisive moment.

Translator of this version of the I Ching is Richard Wilhelm. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the I Ching label below.

The Weight

Trey Smith

I no longer recognize my country.

Back in 1997, after two years living in China, and five more living in Hong Kong, during which time, as a correspondent for Business Week magazine, I slipped in and out of China regularly as a journalist to report on developments there, I got a good dose of life in a totalitarian society. When I alit from the plane in Philadelphia where my family and I were about to start a new chapter of our lives, I remember feeling like a big weight had been lifted off my chest.

The sense of freedom was palpable.

Almost immediately, though I got an inkling that something was amiss. An art teacher in Upper Dublin, the suburban town where we had bought a house, had just been arrested, charged with theft of $400 in school art supplies. Of course, my initial reaction was, “Great school district we’re in, if the teachers are stealing from the school!”

The teacher, Lou Ann Merkle, who had been arrested and finger-printed pending arraignment, was fired and was facing trial on a felony charge of stealing public property. But in a few weeks, as I followed the story in the local weekly paper, it became clear that there had really been no theft (she was taking old supplies which were being replaced with new ones, intending to bring them to a local community center used by low-income children who went there for day care and after-school care. Moreover, when stopped by the principal and told to return the supplies, she grudgingly complied. She was arrested anyway later). I learned over subsequent weeks of news reports that Merkle actually was being hounded by an obsessive power-tripping school administration simply for being an “activist” and outspoken teacher. A school board hearing I attended was packed in December of that year with over a hundred angry parents and former students of Merkle’s demanding that the board drop its case against her. It did not, but a county judge had the good sense to do exactly that, ruling that “no crime occurred here.” (Merkle, who got her job back with back pay, later sued the school district and won a significant judgment against it.)

This was one small example of government tyranny run amok but since then I have seen it become the norm in a United States where people are now being arrested for almost everything -- kids jailed without trial for shoplifting, hitchhikers jailed for arguing, correctly, with cops that it is not illegal for them to thumb for a ride, non-white youths in many cities stopped and frisked for “walking while black or Hispanic” and then getting busted on trumped up charges (resisting arrest, assaulting an officer, disturbing the peace, etc.) when the cops find no guns or drugs on them, protesters beaten and gassed and jailed for simply trying to exercise their First Amendment rights.

But that is just the surface.
~ from The Police State of America by Dave Lindorff ~

Americans are now shouldering a tremendous weight. Not only are far too many of us struggling to get by from month-to-month, but all of us now carry the weight of knowing we are being watched, listened too, scrutinized, analyzed and targeted. While we cannot know for certain if each of us is being spied on constantly, we know enough now to be sure that we are being spied on frequently.

One of the grave problems with persistent surveillance is that it overburdens the collective consciousness of a society. Energy that might have been used for innovation and creativity is lost to worry and anxiety. This is as true for those who act as if government spying is no big deal as it is for those civil libertarians who are consumed by the topic. If a person assumes that they are being watched most of the time, then they will think and behave differently than they would otherwise.

Mass domestic surveillance is like a cancer. It grows insidiously and, if not kept in check, it will overwhelm ANY society. In time, people will take it for granted and, if this comes to be, the fabric of the American ideal may be forever lost.

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Livin' On A Chain Gang

Performed by Skid Row

Turn on the TV, 'Cause I got nowhere to go

Seems that there's a little trouble down in Mexico

A 13-year-old boy robs a store so he can eat

And they got him doing time while killers walk the streets

A hungry politician is the wolf that's at the door

Hell-bent on submission and feedin' on the poor

We could stare into the sun if we would open up our eyes

But we paint ourselves into a corner colored in white lies

Busted on a rockpile

Getting dusted in the heat

Shackled to the system

And draggin' my feet

I'm riding on a breakdown

Another whiteknuckled shakedown

Feels like I'm livin' on a chain gang

I'm riding on a breakdown

A suicidal shakedown

Feels like I'm livin' on a chain gang

A con man's intuition can wash your sins away

Send your contribution and he'll save your soul today

What can he know, has he been through hell and back

He takes the cash and drives it home in a brand new Cadillac

Spitting at the guard dog, burning in his wicked deal

Screamin' down the railroad with no one at the wheel

I'm riding on a breakdown

Another whiteknuckled shakedown

Feels like I'm livin' on a chain gang

I'm riding on a breakdown

A suicidal shakedown

Feels like I'm livin' on a chain gang

Faith healin', superstition

Cold-blooded criminal mind

Getting off on high position

Hey brother can you spare a dime

To get me off this slaughter line

I'm riding on a breakdown

Another whiteknuckled shakedown

Feels like I'm livin' on a chain gang

I'm riding on a breakdown

A suicidal shakedown

Feels like I'm livin' on a chain gang

I'm riding on a breakdown

Another whiteknuckled shakedown

Feels like I'm livin' on a chain gang

I'm riding on a breakdown

A suicidal shakedown

Feels like I'm livin' on a chain gang

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Taoist and Buddhist Tweets 93

Ta-Wan

Hanging the washing out to dry.

Painting birds onto the sky.

Drawing images with my mind.

That in a moments time,

I'll no longer find.

You can check out Ta-Wan's other musings here.

Bit by Bit - Chapter 22, Part 10

Trey Smith

"The bright and shining is born out of deep darkness; the ordered is born out of formlessness; pure spirit is born out of the Way. The body is born originally from this purity, and the ten thousand things give bodily form to one another through the process of birth. Therefore those with nine openings in the body are born from the womb; those with eight openings are born from eggs. [In the case of the Way] there is no trace of its coming, no limit to its going. Gateless, room-less, it is airy and open as the highways of the four directions. He who follows along with it will be strong in his four limbs, keen and penetrating in intellect, sharp-eared, bright-eyed, wielding his mind without wearying it, responding to things without00 prejudice. Heaven cannot help but be high, earth cannot help but be broad, the sun and moon cannot help but revolve, the ten thousand things cannot help but flourish. Is this not the Way?
~ Burton Watson translation ~

Tao, the Way, the Grand Mystery...is all around us. We cannot see it as a specific finite entity because it is not separate from anything and everything. It is like air or [empty] space. We cannot grasp it, but it grasps us.

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

The Whole Point Is to Be Adversarial

Trey Smith

Seymour Hersh has got some extreme ideas on how to fix journalism – close down the news bureaus of NBC and ABC, sack 90% of editors in publishing and get back to the fundamental job of journalists which, he says, is to be an outsider.

It doesn't take much to fire up Hersh, the investigative journalist who has been the nemesis of US presidents since the 1960s and who was once described by the Republican party as "the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist".

He is angry about the timidity of journalists in America, their failure to challenge the White House and be an unpopular messenger of truth.
~ from Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the "Pathetic" American Media by Lisa O'Carroll ~

Hersh has it soo right. The mainstream media has become so lazy and pathetic that we should scrap the whole enterprise and start over. The whole point of journalism is to be adversarial to government dictates. Governments lie and so you never take what a government official says at face value. You assume that the statement is false until you can prove that its true...or not.

The mainstream media has committed the same sin as too much of organized labor. The higher ups have gotten so use to schmoozing with government leaders that they don't want to piss them off and lose their access to the DC in crowd. And what is the best way to avoid pissing them off? Serving as their lapdogs!

I Ching: Hexagram 61 - The Lines, Part 4

Six in the fourth place means:
The moon nearly at the full.
The team horse goes astray.
No blame.

To intensify the power of inner truth, a man must always turn to his superior, from whom he can receive enlightenment as the moon receives light form the sun. However, this requires a certain humility, like that of the moon when it is not yet quite full. At the moment when the moon becomes full and stands directly opposite the sun, it begins to wane. Just as on the one hand we must be humble and reverent when face to face with the source of enlightenment, so likewise must we on the other renounce factionalism among men. Only be pursuing one's course like a horse that goes straight ahead without looking sidewise at its mate, can one retain the inner freedom that helps one onward.

Translator of this version of the I Ching is Richard Wilhelm. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the I Ching label below.

Building on Zhuangzi VI

Scott Bradley

The River God in the 17th Chapter of the Zhuangzi plays the dunce and asks all the necessary questions for the Ocean God to explain to us the implications of his perspectival relativism. By what standard then can we know how to judge between things? he asks. The Ocean's response is worth quoting in full:

Observing (things) by way of Dao, things have no 'worthwhile' or 'worthless'.
Observing them by way of things, each considers itself 'important' while all consider others 'less important'.
Observing them by way of common-convention, 'honorable' and 'contemptible' are not defined by individuals [but communally].
(Lusthaus)

Instead of one standard, the Ocean gives three. And what seems even more remarkable, he does not judge between them; take your pick. But then this is what the view from Dao suggests we do. As Lusthaus tells us, “Zhuangzi does not present Dao as a meta-criterion, but as one criterion among three . . . .” The “Dao-standard” is “standard-less”, and for this reason allows for the other two. But we want the ‘best’ way, the surest way. This, however, is not on offer. The case has been made for a relativism so broad as to disallow any fixed and sure meta-standard, and if we are to be consistent, we cannot now declare this view, the view from Dao, as any more valid than the other two.

But, like the River God, we again ask, how should we then conduct ourselves in the world? Zhuangzi’s answer, I believe, is that life itself would have us choose the one that most enriches our life experience. And this is the view from Dao, the view that embraces the world in such a way as to lead us away from contention and strife, both within and without.

The way of humans generally is to affirm themselves and to reject others. This is because our self-affirmation is a function of the discriminating mind — for something to be right, other things must be wrong. All the world is seen as either/or, not both/and. For this reason, the Confucians declare themselves right and the Mohists wrong, and vice versa. Zhuangzi suggests we view them both as we would the sound of the wind blowing through the forest trees and crevices. Is it a symphony or a cacophony? The view from Dao enjoys the former; the view from self distresses at the latter. Take your pick.

Conventional norms are an extension of individual prejudice. We collectively decide what is acceptable and what is not, and then use this to judge those within the collective and those without. But collectives acquire a life of their own, become “principalities and powers” (to use the biblical term), that can militate against their own subjects. Are the policies of the U.S. government, both foreign and domestic, really in the best interests of its people, or does it in fact have its own interests in mind — its own power and self-preservation?

You can check out Scott's writings on Zhuangzi here.

TRNN - Gov't Shutdown Reflects Struggle Within Capitalist Republican Elite

I Ching: Hexagram 61 - The Lines, Part 3

Six in the third place means:
He finds a comrade.
Now he beats the drum, now he stops.
Now he sobs, now he sings.

Here the source of a man's strength lies not in himself but in his relation to other people. No matter how close to them he may be, if his center of gravity depends on them, he is inevitably tossed to and fro between joy and sorrow. Rejoicing to high heaven, then sad unto death-this is the fate of those who depend upon an inner accord with other persons whom they love. Here we have only the statement of the law that this is so. Whether this condition is felt to be an affliction of the supreme happiness of love, is left to the subjective verdict of the person concerned.

Translator of this version of the I Ching is Richard Wilhelm. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the I Ching label below.

You Could Say That I'm One of the Lucky Ones

Trey Smith

It is not uncommon at all for those of us with a form of autism to go through life without ever having an intimate teenage or adult relationship. I suppose, in this regard, you could say that I'm one of the lucky ones. While culling through boxes of old keepsakes, I came across a satchel filled with old love letters.

Upon reading a few, they seemed so quaint. I sounded like your average lovestruck teenager! Some made me laugh and a few made me tear up. Many exposed the angst I suffered from unrequited love.

While it was nice to go strolling down memory lane, I realized that, in the overall scheme of things, I can count the total number of girlfriends on less than two hands and the number of "serious" relationships on less than one hand. I have a niece who has dated more times in one year than I have in 50+ years! In fact, I think most teenagers probably have dated more in high school than I did from junior high until now.

By my count, I had two girlfriends in junior high, 1 during my high school years, two during college and two (both of whom I married...at separate times) post-college. Of those 7, three could be categorized as "serious" ones.

My first real girlfriend in junior high told a friend of mine years later that I was a rather strange boyfriend. Not only did I never kiss her, I never even tried to hold her hand! It's not that I didn't want to do those things -- plus a few others -- it is more that I have trouble reading people and so I couldn't tell if she would be receptive.

To remedy this problem, I usually waited for the young lady to make the first and, sometimes, the second move.

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - A Change Is Gonna Come

Performed by Sam Cooke

I was born by the river in a little tent

Oh, and just like the river, I've been running ever since

It's been a long, a long time coming

But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die

'Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky

It's been a long, a long time coming

But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie, and I go downtown

Somebody keep telling me don't hang around

It's been a long, a long time coming

But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother

And I say, brother, help me, please

But he winds up knocking me

Back down on my knees

Oh, there been times that I thought I couldn't last for long

But now I think I'm able to carry on

It's been a long, a long time coming

But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Taoist and Buddhist Tweets 92

Ta-Wan

You believe "I am unawakened" because you believe in "I".

You can check out Ta-Wan's other musings here.

Bit by Bit - Chapter 22, Part 9

Trey Smith

Confucius said to Lao Tan, "Today you seem to have a moment of leisure - may I venture to ask about the Perfect Way?"

Lao Tan said, "You must fast and practice austerities, cleanse and purge your mind, wash and purify your inner spirit, destroy and do away with your knowledge. The Way is abstruse and difficult to describe. But I will try to give you a rough outline of it.
~ Burton Watson translation ~

That which is crammed full of who knows what -- the egoic human mind -- is not very receptive to the Grand Mystery. It would be like trying to pour salt into a salt shaker that has no room. All you would end up with is a pile of salt on the floor.

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

So Out of Step

Trey Smith

Within the past week, the series finale of Breaking Bad was aired. Not only did I not watch the finale, I have never seen as much as one episode. The same goes for Glee, Mad Men, Game of Thrones or even The Simpsons.  When it comes to the few quality TV programs that still have mass appeal, I score a big fat zero.

Mind you, I'm neither proud nor ashamed of this happenstance.  It's just the way it is.  There are few programs on TV anymore that I watch with regularity.  I'm not really sure why -- I read far more than I watch.

While this circumstance is not particularly irksome to me, it does mean I am the odd man out of many conversations in the community.  Someone will remark about the latest episode of whatever program and almost everyone else knows what they are referring to.  When asked my opinion, I tell folks that -- since I am unfamiliar with the program referenced -- I have none.

What amuses me is the disbelief that my chosen ignorance engenders.  People are often dumbfounded that I have never watched THEIR favorite program.  They want to know if I live in cultural vacuum! 

Knowing my peculiar personality, so many people are truly stunned that I have never watched even one episode of The Simpsons.  You should really check it out, they urge, but this has never motivated me to do so.  Again, I really can't offer an explanation as to why. 

I Ching: Hexagram 61 - The Lines, Part 2

Nine in the second place means:
A crane calling in the shade.
Its young answers it.
I have a good goblet.
I will share it with you.

This refers to the involuntary influence of a man's inner being upon persons of kindred spirit. The crane need not show itself on a high hill. It may be quite hidden when it sounds its call; yet its young will hear its not, will recognize it and give answer. Where there is a joyous mood, there a comrade will appear to share a glass of wine.

This is the echo awakened in men through spiritual attraction. Whenever a feeling is voiced with truth and frankness, whenever a deed is the clear expression of sentiment, a mysterious and far-reaching influence is exerted. At first it acts on those who are inwardly receptive. But the circle grows larger and larger. The root of all influence lies in one's own inner being: given true and vigorous expression in word and deed, its effect is great. The effect is but the reflection of something that emanates from one's own heart. Any deliberate intention of an effect would only destroy the possibility of producing it. Confucius says about this line:

The superior man abides in his room. If his words are well spoken, he meets with assent at a distance of more than a thousand miles. How much more then from near by! If the superior man abides in his room and his words are not well spoken, he meets with contradiction at a distance of more than a thousand miles. How much more then from near by! Words go forth from one's own person and exert their influence on men. Deeds are born close at hand and become visible far away. Words and deeds are the hinge and bowspring of the superior man. As hinge and bowspring move, they bring honor or disgrace. Through words and deeds the superior man moves heaven and earth. Must one not, then, be cautious?

Translator of this version of the I Ching is Richard Wilhelm. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the I Ching label below.