Afternoon Matinee: Protest - 16 Military Wives

Performed by The Decemberists

Sixteen military wives

Thirty-two softly focused, brightly colored eyes

Staring at the natural tan

Of thirty-two gently clenching wrinkled little hands

Seventeen company men

Out of which only twelve will make it back again

Sergeant sends a letter to five

Military wives whose tears drip down from ten little eyes

Cheer them on to their rivals

'Cause America can, and America can't say no

And America does, if America says it's so, it's so

And the anchor person on TV

Goes La de da de da

Fifteen celebrity minds

Leading their Fifteen sordid, wretched, checkered lives

Will they find the solution in time

Using their Fifteen pristine, moderate, liberal minds

Eighteen academy chairs

Out of which only seven really even care

Doling out the garland to five

Celebrity minds, they're humbly taken by surprise

Cheer them on to their rivals

'Cause America can, and America can't say no

And America does, if America says it's so, it's so

And the anchor person on TV

Goes la de da de da, de di de da de da

La de da de da, de di de da de da

Fourteen cannibal kings

Wondering blithely what the dinner bell will bring

Fifteen celebrity minds

Served on a leafy bed of sixteen military wives

Cheer them on to their rivals

Cause America can, and America can't say no

And America does, if America says it's so, it's so

And the anchor person on TV

Goes la de da de da, de di de da de da

La de da de da, de di de da de da

La de da de da, de di de da de da

La de da de da, de di de da de da

La de da de da, de di de da de da

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Taoist and Buddhist Tweets 115

Ta-Wan

So you think you are analytical - I think you are staring at the wall.

So you think you are spiritual - I think you speak mumbo-jumbo.

So you think you are religious - I think you have a closed off mind.

So you think you are happy - I say stop thinking and you will be.

So you think I have it all worked out - I know for sure you can't.

And this is why I exist in bliss,

knowing the only certainty,

is this.

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

Bit by Bit - Chapter 23, Part 8

Trey Smith

Nan-Jung Chu said, "When a villager gets sick and his neighbors ask him how he feels, if he is able to describe his illness, it means he can still recognize his illness as an illness -- and so he isn't all that ill. But now if I were to ask about the Great Way, it would be like drinking medicine that made me sicker than before. What I would like to ask about is simply the basic rule of life-preservation, that is all."

Lao Tzu said, "Ah - the basic rule of life-preservation. Can you embrace the One? Can you keep from losing it? Can you, without tortoise shell or divining stalks, foretell fortune and misfortune? Do you know where to stop, do you know where to leave off? Do you know how to disregard it in others and instead look for it in yourself? Can you be brisk and unflagging? Can you be rude and unwitting? Can you be a little baby? The baby howls all day, yet its throat never gets hoarse -- harmony at its height! The baby makes fists all day, yet its fingers never get cramped -- virtue is all it holds to. The baby stares all day without blinking its eyes -- it has no preferences in the world of externals. To move without knowing where you are going, to sit at home without knowing what you are doing, traipsing and trailing about with other things, riding along with them on the same wave -- this is the basic rule of life-preservation, this and nothing more."
~ Burton Watson translation ~

Another quintessential example of wu wei. It is not not-doing; it is more doing without egoic designs. It's one thing to philosophize about it, but quite another to live it!

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

As The Picture Crumbles

Trey Smith

Those of you who have gone through a major move -- especially one that involves a drastic downsizing -- know what I'm going through right now. I diligently have been working on this project for the entire month and, as November moves closer, we are less than one week away from our moving sale. Almost all of the culling and packing is complete. My focus this week is to sort and prepare the items we hope to sell as well as to begin the major cleaning phase (which will go into full gear AFTER the sale).

I liken this project to a jigsaw puzzle in a frame. At the beginning, all the pieces were in place and the picture was that of our home in South Bend. Little by little, I have removed bits of the overall picture. At first, those parts removed were around the fringes. The picture of home still predominated. As I have progressed, that picture has become very fuzzy. For quite some time, the picture sort of resembled home, but it was obvious that something was seriously amiss.

Now that I am within 2 weeks of vacating the premises, the frame (the house itself) remains much the same. The picture (home), however, is missing almost all of its pieces! I putter around as always, but I am increasingly puttering around in place that looks and feels foreign to me. The only space left in the house that closely resembles its former self is my office -- the computer room. Every other room has been stripped of its hominess.

I will take a day trip to Ocean Shores today or tomorrow to ferry more of our belongings up north. Jaz and the vacuum cleaner will return to South Bend with me. On Thursday, I will go fetch Della and Lily. From Thursday afternoon through Saturday night, our little family will be back in our house for the moving sale. Though we all will be here, it will no longer feel like home. For one last time, we will be embracing the frame...that now lacks the picture that once went with it.

Yang Zhu, Chapter 7

DUTY TO THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

YANG CHU said:

"There is an old saying, 'We must pity the living and part with the dead.' This is a good saying.

"Pity does not merely consist in an unusual feeling.

"So we may give the feverish rest, satiety to the hungry, warmth to the cold, and assistance to the miserable; but for the dead, when we have rightly bewailed them, to what use is it to place pearls and jewels in their mouths, or to dress them in state robes, or offer animals in sacrifice, or to expose effigies of paper?"

Translator of Yang Zhu's Garden of Pleasure is Anton Forke. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Yang Zhu label below.

On the Nature of the Zhuangzi

Scott Bradley

Burton Watson, in his preface to Experimental Essays on Chuang-tzu (Victor Mair, ed.; 1983), makes several interesting observations, some of which I will share here.

When he was commissioned to translate four classics of Chinese philosophy, he purposely left the Zhuangzi until last, first because he hoped that this would better prepare him to render this more difficult work, and second, because it gave him something to look forward to. In the case of the latter, he points to the way in which the Zhuangzi presents "flights of language so rapturous that they threaten to go beyond the borders of meaning." And this, he implies, requires the translator to follow him 'out there', to somehow imagine what this experience entails. And that, in my opinion, was very much what Zhuangzi himself hoped to accomplish.

Another reason he gives for having looked forward to his work with the Zhuangzi is "the incomparable wit and humor that lie at the heart of the Chuang-tzu" which he describes as "the single most potent device employed by the writer to jar the reader out of his mundane complacencies and waken him to the possibility of another realm of experience." If we require "jarring", then humor seems a particularly humane way to go about delivering it. And it is also a skillful means very much in harmony with its end, namely to enable our carefree and playful wandering.

However, he goes on to say this same humor and playfulness renders the Zhuangzi especially difficult to understand. "If he parodies so many others, is it not possible that he parodies himself as well?" How do we know what to take seriously, and what not? Perhaps, none of it. Surely, if we have captured the meaning then we need no longer take any of it seriously. Isn't this the whole point?

Finally, on a more critical note, in grappling with what he sees as the central experience advocated by the Zhuangzi, namely the "realm of nondualistic thinking", Watson seems to fall into the trap of believing that the Zhuangzi cannot have been meant to stand alone, but must have had "some similar exercises [to Zen koans] or set of practices that were meant to accompany the book and assist the student." To my thinking, this is equivalent to saying the Mumonkan or Blue Cliff Record, two compendiums of Zen koans, should have come with books of "answers". The whole point, of course, is that there are no answers, only the possibility of experiencing a meta-awareness of the non-dual. The Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi are themselves a koan.

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

BP - Fukushima Is Collapsing - The Worst Is Coming...

That Didn't Take Long At All!

Trey Smith

In this morning's post, I mentioned that it wouldn't be surprising to learn that the NSA has spied on numerous world leaders, including allies. Well...only a few minutes after reading the article about German outrage re the alleged NSA spying on Chancellor Merkel, I read this from the Guardian:

The National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another US government department, according to a classified document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The confidential memo reveals that the NSA encourages senior officials in its "customer" departments, such the White House, State and the Pentagon, to share their "Rolodexes" so the agency can add the phone numbers of leading foreign politicians to their surveillance systems.

The document notes that one unnamed US official handed over 200 numbers, including those of the 35 world leaders, none of whom is named. These were immediately "tasked" for monitoring by the NSA.

The revelation is set to add to mounting diplomatic tensions between the US and its allies, after the German chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday accused the US of tapping her mobile phone.

After Merkel's allegations became public, White House press secretary Jay Carney issued a statement that said the US "is not monitoring and will not monitor" the German chancellor's communications. But that failed to quell the row, as officials in Berlin quickly pointed out that the US did not deny monitoring the phone in the past.

This is the problem with ubiquitous spying. Everybody and their uncle gets caught up in the dragnet. Friend or foe doesn't matter! When you have the capability to tap into all forms of electronic communications, you probably will do so indiscriminately. What's to stop you?

If you really think about it, the NSA is like a Peeping Tom. I bet they get their jollies off of the fact that they can "look in" on a-n-y-b-o-d-y they damn well want to whenever they want to. They can watch all of us as we undress, figuratively speaking.

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Try Not To Be A Dick

Performed by Emily Yates

In twenty-odd years of living

I have had the chance

To learn some of life’s lessons

Like, When you go outside Wear pants.

I’ve given quite a bit of thought

To our statutes and laws

But there’s one simple principle

That supersedes ‘em all …

It's try not to be a dick

Cover your mouth when you sneeze so others don’t get sick

Stay out of the fast lane if you are drivin’ slow

It won’t always be easy ’cause other drivers suck, I know, just

Try not to be a dick

When you stand on the escalator

Please step to the right

So if I need to pass you

We won’t have to fight

The concept’s pretty simple

A child could comprehend

That you should turn your blinker on

Before you ’round the bend

It's try not to be a dick

Cover your mouth when you sneeze so others don’t get sick

Stay out of the fast lane if you are drivin’ slow

It won’t always be easy ’cause other drivers suck, I know, just

Try not to be a dick

When you’re peacefully assembling

In a public place

And the cops come to disperse you

With their tear gas and their mace

The urge to fight against them

Will be quite strong

But instead of violence just

Sing them this song, say

Try not to be a dick

Cover your mouth when you sneeze so others don’t get sick

Stay out of the fast lane if you are drivin’ slow

It won’t always be easy ’cause other drivers suck, I know, just

Try not to be a dick

So if you’re one of those people

As all of us can be

Kindly take a minute

Lend your ear to me

You don’t have to be perfect

Neither do I

All that we can really do is

Give it a try, and

Try not to be a dick

Cover your mouth when you sneeze so others don’t get sick

Stay out of the fast lane if you are drivin’ slow

It won’t always be easy ’cause other drivers suck, I know, just

Try not to be a dick

Try not to be a dick

(repeat ad nauseum)

~ from Emily Yates Does Everything ~

Taoist and Buddhist Tweets 114

Ta-Wan

Why am I in bondage?

That thought.

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

Bit by Bit - Chapter 23, Part 7

Trey Smith

Nan-jung Chu asked to be allowed to repair to his quarters. There he tried to cultivate his good qualities and rid himself of his bad ones; and after ten days of making himself miserable, he went to see Lao Tzu again. Lao Tzu said, "You have been very diligent in your washing and purifying -- as I can see from your scrubbed and shining look. But there is still something smoldering away inside you -- it would seem that there are bad things there yet. When outside things trip you up and you can't snare and seize them, then bar the inside gate. When inside things trip you up and you can't bind and seize them, then bar the outside gate. If both outside and inside things trip you up, then even the Way and its virtue themselves can't keep you going -- much less one who is a mere follower of the Way in his actions."
~ Burton Watson translation ~

An hourglass filled completely with sand cannot accept any more sand. A glass filled to the brim cannot take any more liquid. A mind littered with hubris and ghosts cannot be filled with peace and virtue -- There's no room!

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

Hold On a Second...You're Even Spying On Me?

Trey Smith

When the revelations first broke about the NSA's widespread spying apparatus, German Chancellor Angela Merkel didn't get all that excited. Following cues from Washington, her reaction was quite muted. In fact, only a few months in, she viewed the information as much ado about nothing. All major nations conduct spying and, besides, America and Germany are strong allies.

That was then and this is now. Merkel, who viewed the spying on innocent Germans as not that big of a deal, is now steamed. Why the big change? According to recent reports, the German intelligence service has discovered that the NSA was targeting Merkel too! It seems that the US has been collecting data and who knows what else from Merkel's cell phone.

This new revelation shouldn't be all that surprising. In recent weeks, it has been reported that the leaders in Mexico and Brazil -- again, two allied nations -- were targeted. Given time and more investigative reporting, we may soon learn that more leaders of allied nations are being monitored.

As long as the chief targets of this ubiquitous spying are faceless nobodies of the unwashed masses, the elite truly don't give a damn. Peons should have no expectation to a right of privacy. The powers that be need to know what we are up to at all times. But when members of the elite figure out that they too have been swept up in this ever growing web of surveillance, only then will heads start to roll. It is when it begins to dawn on them that federal contractors are listening in to their backroom deals and quasi-legal wheeling and dealing that these programs stand a chance of being pared back.

Yang Zhu, Chapter 6

THE IDEAL LIFE

YANG CHU said:

"Yuan Hsie lived in mean circumstances in Lu, while Tse Kung amassed wealth in Wei.

"Poverty galled the one, and riches caused uneasiness to the other.

"So poverty will not do nor wealth either."

"But what then will do?"

"I answer enjoy life and take one's ease, for those who know how to enjoy life are not poor, and he that lives at ease requires no riches."

Translator of Yang Zhu's Garden of Pleasure is Anton Forke. If you missed any posts in this series, please utilize the Yang Zhu label below.

Who's To Blame?

Scott Bradley

A friend with whom I have extensive debates on the general state of the world recently visited; he is the eternal optimist, and I the pessimist. However, my political pessimism is tempered by a belief that, in the end, everything is just fine, whatever happens. If humanity manages to destroy the earth and itself in the process, that will have just been the way of it, part of the unfolding of this great Mystery which will not itself be any worse for wear, and really has no vested interests in that or any other outcome, in any case. All is well.

Nevertheless, humanity itself does care, as it rightly should, given that it does. That we all die does not obviate the essential impulse to life that we all share. However, when the inevitability of our death informs our living, we live more authentically, if not "better". Similarly, that humanity, earth, this solar system, and this particular universe shall all eventually come to an end should not dissuade us from enjoying the living moment or the historic trajectory of the human experience, but should, nonetheless, inform that moment and that history. It's simply a question of keeping things in perspective, which, to my thinking is what the view from Dao is really all about. Walking two roads, in this instance, is caring, on the one hand, and being free from care on the other.

In the context of caring then, the question arises, if humanity is itself on a trajectory toward a death of its own making, who is to blame? This assessment of blame is simply to identify the root cause(s) so as to ameliorate the situation if possible, not to pass moral judgment. In the American context, is the 'government' to blame? Or is it the multi-nationals and ultra-rich that have bought and paid for that government? Or is it the American citizens who have ultimately accepted this turn of events? We hear that Americans are 'upset', but very few indeed have taken to the barricades.

Part of the reason for my personal pessimism is that I see the root cause of our self-destruction, earth-destruction and others-destruction as being the building blocks of these larger entities, namely human beings, humanity itself. It is true that the institutions of organized humanity take on a life of their own, but I see the expression these 'lives' take as being a reflection of humanity itself. Therefore, though we must certainly work to change the character of our institutions into expressions of the better side of ourselves, the most essential work, it seems to me, is to transform humanity itself. And although this too must involve a dialectic between the individual and his or her societal institutions (for they do indeed mold human beings), that cannot take place without a change in the human character.

And changing humanity, of course, requires changing individual human beings. And this means changing myself — which is probably why I am so pessimistic.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

BP - How the 'Know Nothing' Press Extended the Shutdown

The Silent Enemy

Trey Smith

We have previously discussed how Congress and the White House continues to spend hundreds of billions on foreign wars without pause but have failed to address an emerging global threat to humanity: antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. It is part of the lunacy that governs this nation. We spend wildly on wars while largely ignoring a threat that could endanger the entire population. Recently, Thomas Frieden, director of the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, put it in the starkest terms to try to get someone to pay attention. Indeed, Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, has warned that we are moving into a “post-antibiotic era.” That means “an end to modern medicine as we know it. Things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill.”

The CDC has been presenting data on the rise of bacteria resistance to carbapenems, the most powerful antibiotics that represent our final line of defense. CDC is reporting the appearance of the bacteria now in every state and what it describes as the realization of the “nightmare” scenario for the medical field. Frieden puts the estimate now at over 2 million Americans with infections each year that are resistant to antibiotics. Of those, at least 23,000 people die as a result. To get perspective, we have been waging wars for over ten years at a cost of over a trillion dollars after 3000 were killed by Islamic fanatics. Almost ten times that number are dying each year from this crisis and we are looking at an exponential increase. Yet, few members of Congress have even mentioned this threat or the need for a “war on resistant bacteria.” It just doesn’t get you the same popularity and votes as demanding more defense appropriations. While money has been gradually increased in recent years, it is still a fraction of our appropriations given to pork projects and war efforts.
~ from The End Of Modern Medicine: CDC Reports Millions Faced With Drug-Resistant Bacteria And Rising Death Toll As Washington Ignores The Emerging Crisis by Jonathan Turley ~

You want to know one of the primary reasons WHY there are antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria? It is because we overuse antibiotics! Instead of only using them when needed, the marketplace is flooded with them.

The meat industry is largely to blame. Cows, chickens and pigs that are destined to be served on American dinner tables are force-fed antibiotics. That keeps them healthy enough -- often in unsanitary conditions -- to pass inspection and to become the meat that you meat-eaters eat! Meat producers follow this strategy because (surprise, surprise) it cuts costs and increases profits.

Health advocates have been warning for years that this doomed strategy would lead us to where we find ourselves today, but the powers that be didn't care. As long as those short-term profits kept rolling in, our political leaders and the corporate meat industry was more than willing to turn a blind eye. And now, it doesn't matter if you are a meat-eater or not; this vexing problem can strike A-N-Y-O-N-E at any time. Even worse, there's not a whole helluva lot you can do about it!

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Mothers Of The Disappeared

Performed by U2

Midnight, our sons and daughters

Were cut down and taken from us.

Hear their heartbeat

We hear their heartbeat.

In the wind we hear their laughter

In the rain we see their tears.

Hear their heartbeat, we hear their heartbeat.

Night hangs like a prisoner

Stretched over black and blue.

Hear their heartbeats

We hear their heartbeats.

In the trees our sons stand naked

Through the walls our daughters cry

See their tears in the rainfall.

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Taoist and Buddhist Tweets 113

Ta-Wan

The loss of self and the finding of the one true self in a motion:

the discovery of infinite bliss.

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

Bit by Bit - Chapter 23, Part 6

Trey Smith

Nan-Jung Chu packed up his provisions and journeyed for seven days and seven nights until he came to Lao Tzu's place. Lao Tzu said, "Did you come from Keng-sang Ch'u's place?"

"Yes Sir," said Nan-Jung Chu.

"Why did you come with all this crowd of people?" asked Lao Tzu.

Nan-Jung Chu, astonished, turned to look behind him.

"Don't you know what I mean?" asked Lao Tzu.

Nan-Jung Chu hung his head in shame and then, looking up with a sigh, said, "Now I've even forgotten the right answer to that, so naturally I can't ask any questions of my own."

"What does that mean?" asked Lao Tzu.

"If I say I don't know, then people call me an utter fool," said Nan-Jung Chu. "But if I say I do know, then on the contrary I bring worry on myself. If I am not benevolent, I harm others; but if I am benevolent, then on the contrary I make trouble for myself. If I am not righteous, I do injury to others; but if I am righteous, then on the contrary I distress myself. How can I possibly escape from this state of affairs? It is these three dilemmas that are harassing me, and so, through Keng-sang Chu's introduction, I have come to beg an explanation."

Lao Tzu said, "A moment ago, when I looked at the space between your eyebrows and eyelashes, I could tell what kind of person you are. And now what you have said confirms it. You are confused and crestfallen, as though you had lost your father and mother and were setting off with a pole to fish for them in the sea. You are a lost man - hesitant and unsure, you want to return to your true form and inborn nature but you have no way to go about it - a pitiful sight indeed!"
~ Burton Watson translation ~

We each carry so much psychological baggage with us. It is almost like our ghosts crowd us out!

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

Fido Getting Jerked Around

Trey Smith

There is a recent report that 580 pet dogs and cats in the US have died after eating jerky-type treats. The FDA suspects that these treats have been imported from China, but they can't be sure. Why can't they be sure?

Manufacturers of pet foods are not required to state the country of origin for each ingredient in their products.

We see the big food conglomerates fighting labeling of GMOs for human consumption. We've seen them also fight having to list the country of origin for products used by humans. And why do they fight such initiatives tooth-and-nail? Because they don't want us to know the crap they put in the products we buy!!

Wholesome, healthy and safe ingredients can cut into a corporation's profit margin. Since profits are god, we certainly can't have that! So, in order to keep prices within reach of middle America, companies search for and utilize a variety of questionable ingredients and this "stuff" helps to maintain a company's market share and profits.

Now we know that it is not only we humans who ingest substandard food; our pets also are made sick or less healthy by the commercial crud we feed them.