The Rambling Taoists

Jesus Holds a Press Conference

2013-06-18T18:30:00.001-07:00

Trey Smith

We live in a nation in which our presidents go out of their way to flash their Christian credentials. George W. Bush claimed to talk to God frequently when deciding what policies and initiatives to pursue. While Barack Obama hasn't gone that far, references to Jesus and God are included in many of his most important speeches.

This has gotten me to thinking about Jesus and his ministry. What if Jesus had proclaimed the "Good News" in the way that the Bush and Obama administrations have run our country? What if he had gone out of his way to protect the powerful and wealthy at the expense of everyone else? What if he had proclaimed that the "Kingdom of God" was top secret information?

Imagine the following press conference.

Jesus: I'd like to thank you all for coming on such short notice. I've been working around the clock on a new initiative I will call "The Kingdom of God Is At Hand." I truly believe this new initiative with revolutionize our world. Okay, I am open for questions.

Jerusalem Post: Hmm. I like the title of your new initiative. Can you tell us a little about it?

Jesus: No can do. It's top secret. If I told you, I'd have have to kill you.

Jerusalem Post: Sir, how can it revolutionize the world if you don't tell us what it entails?

Jesus: You've just got to trust me on this one. I promise it is a great program.

Rome Tribune: With all due respect, how can we decide if a program is good or bad if we don't know anything about it?

Jesus: Well, I am good, so any program I support must be good as well.

Damascus News-Times: Mr. Christ, that's gobbledygook. It's circular reasoning. If we knew something about the program and judged it to be bad, then we might determine that you aren't as good as you claim to be.

Jesus: Hey, judgment is mine alone! Since God and I are one, you have no right to question us...er...me. If I say it's good, it is damn well good.

Nazareth Times: What kind of an explanation is that? Look, you asked us all here for a press conference to announce this new initiative. You haven't told us any of the particulars and you keep sidestepping our questions. Why have a press conference at all if you aren't going to tell us anything substantive?

Jesus: You want something substantive, Judas? Fine. While I can't go into the details, I just want everyone to know that me and my disciples are watching, reading and listening into everyone's communications. Since all of you have a few skeletons in your closets, we have the goods on you. Next question.

Thessalonian Review: I wanted to ask you a question about the recent event in the Temple. You gave a very impassioned speech about the evils of the tax collectors and moneychangers, but when the local authorities voted to start an investigation, you quashed it. What's up with that?

Jesus: We need to look forward, not backward.

Thessalonian Review: But that doesn't match up with your speech. Looking at my notes, you said these folks were turning the Temple into "a den of thieves."

Jesus: They are thieves, no question, but we need these thieves to keep our economy moving. If I had them all jailed, we would enter a deep recession and no one wants that.

Nazareth Times: So, in essence, you are saying that the monied interests industry in the Temple is too big to fail?

Jesus: I suppose so, but PLEASE, don't quote me on that.

Damascus News-Times: In another one of your public speeches, you said something like "those who live by the sword will die by the sword." I was wondering if you would explain this statement in light of the fact that you recently announced in your much covered foreign policy address that we are in a state of perpetual war?

Jesus: My, look how the time has flown! I'd like to thank you all for coming, but I've got important things to do. Before you go, please help yourselves to the wine, bread and fish I conjured out of nothing.

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Call It Democracy

2013-06-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

Performed by Bruce Cockburn

padded with power here they come

international loan sharks backed by the guns

of market hungry military profiteers

whose word is a swamp and whose brow is smeared

with the blood of the poor

who rob life of its quality

who render rage a necessity

by turning countries into labour camps

modern slavers in drag as champions of freedom

sinister cynical instrument

who makes the gun into a sacrament --

the only response to the deification

of tyranny by so-called "developed" nations'

idolatry of ideology

north south east west

kill the best and buy the rest

it's just spend a buck to make a buck

you don't really give a flying fuck

about the people in misery

IMF dirty MF

takes away everything it can get

always making certain that there's one thing left

keep them on the hook with insupportable debt

see the paid-off local bottom feeders

passing themselves off as leaders

kiss the ladies shake hands with the fellows

open for business like a cheap bordello

and they call it democracy

see the loaded eyes of the children too

trying to make the best of it the way kids do

one day you're going to rise from your habitual feast

to find yourself staring down the throat of the beast

they call the revolution

IMF dirty MF

takes away everything it can get

always making certain that there's one thing left

keep them on the hook with insupportable debt

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

TYT Extra - Cenk Goes Off on the Mainstream Media

2013-06-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

Trey Smith

If you don't like a little profanity, the video below might not be to your liking. Cenk really goes off on the mainstream media for the generally lousy way in which they are covering the NSA revelations story. Personally, I don't blame him in the least. You should hear how I scream at the TV sometimes! In this case, I share his anger.

Bit by Bit - Chapter 16, Part 8

2013-06-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

Trey Smith

Those in ancient times who wished to keep themselves alive did not use eloquence to ornament their knowledge. They did not use their knowledge to make trouble for the world; they did not use their knowledge to make trouble for Virtue. Loftily they kept to their places and returned to their inborn nature. Having done that, what more was there for them to do? The way has no use for petty conduct; Virtue has no use for petty understanding. Petty understanding injures Virtue; petty conduct injures the Way. Therefore it is said, Rectify yourself, that is all. When joy is complete, this is called the fulfillment of ambition.
~ Burton Watson translation ~

For all our efforts to correct others in their thinking or behavior, the only person each of us truly can correct is ourselves. Until we can get our own own houses in order, who are we to criticize others?

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

TYT Extra - PRISM: Just The Beginning of Spying on You

2013-06-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

Trey Smith

Other than The Guardian and a few writers/reporters here and there, a good deal of the mainstream media is trying its darnedest to bury as much of this story as possible. Along with Glenn Greenwald, Cenk Uygur is doing the rest of us a great service by continuing to focus on this ever-evolving story by explaining the various aspects of it. In the video below, Uygur shows how PRISM really is only the tip of the iceberg!

By the way, here's the link to the AP report that Cenk references. Happy reading!!

I Ching: Hexagram 37 - The Lines, Part 4

2013-06-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

Six in the fourth place means:
She is the treasure of the house.
Great good fortune.

It is upon the woman of the house that the well-being of the family depends. Well-being prevails when expenditures and income are soundly balanced. This leads to great good fortune. In the sphere of public life, this line refers to the faithful steward whose measures further the general welfare.

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.

Not-One Is Also One II (Revisited)

2013-06-18T04:03:00.000-07:00

Scott Bradley

Original publication date: May 10, 2010

To know what is Heaven’s doing and what is man’s is the utmost in knowledge. Whoever knows what Heaven does lives the life generated by Heaven. Whoever knows what man does uses what his wits know about to nurture what they do not know about. To last out the years assigned you by Heaven and not be cut off in mid-course, this is the perfection of knowledge.
~ from Zhuangzi, Chapter 6, A. C. Graham translation ~

This opening statement is understood by Dr. Ziporyn to be ‘a tentative position, perhaps a traditional stance, which is then considered, analyzed, and deconstructed.” Graham similarly sees it as a ‘preliminary formulation’ with which Zhuangzi finds difficulties and then ‘reformulates’ in the form of a paradox to resolve those difficulties. Zhuangzi’s difficulties, however, have to do with the ability of one to know and articulate the truthfulness of the statement, not its content. In other words, he might very well have agreed with the statement in principle, but saw no way that one could know its validity — unless, of course, one had actually achieved the knowledge of which it speaks. Such a one would be a True Man and a True Man has True Knowledge.

Such a one could formulate that knowledge in the words of this statement but they would still suffer from the difficulties that Zhuangzi finds in them. This is because words cannot recreate the experience which gives them birth and only that experience can know their validity. It is for this reason that it is said, “Those who know do not speak; those who speak, do not know.”

But Zhuangzi speaks; does he therefore not know? I suspect he did not, for though he had made many excursions into the vast wilds of open nowhere, that very wandering actually precludes any claims to True Knowledge. Always, it is The Radiance of Drift and Doubt that is the substance of his experience. Therefore these True Men of old are purely hypothetical sages and their True Knowledge is likewise hypothetical. It bears saying also, in Zhuangzi’s defense, that though he spoke, he did so for the purpose of demonstrating that his speaking was also a mis-speaking. These are spill-over-goblet words and let us not be so silly as to try and hold them firmly to our breasts as ‘truth’. Let us rather learn from their intimations of ‘truth’ as they pour forth as an offering to the Mystery beyond all knowing.

What are spillover-goblet words? It is thought that such a vessel was used in the performance of rituals; when full the vessel tipped out its contents and was thus able to be re-filled, only to be automatically emptied again. We are told in Chapter 33 that Zhuangzi used spillover-goblet words for unbroken extension of his meanings. This is apparently a reference to the use of the term in Chapter 27 where we read: "These spillover-goblet words give forth (new meanings) constantly, so that all are harmonized through their Heavenly Transitions."

Zhuangzi understood that language, by its very nature, is beholden to the definition of words and the perspectives of those that use them, and for this reason, could never convey True Knowledge. Not only are the meanings of words subject to the unique perspective of each individual, they are constantly changing with the evolutions of time. The moment something definitive is said about Reality, therefore, it must be deconstructed lest it be thought to be the final word on the subject. Thus we are told that Zhuangzi remained uncommitted to any one position, never looking at things exclusively from any one corner.

As we consider this passage in the context of others considering the relationship between Heaven and the Human we will see that they are often contradictory, for Zhuangzi was careful to never let any one perspective become the definitive ‘truth’. Like Tian Pian and his teacher Peng Meng, he taught the eschewal of all positive teachings. Thus, Zhuangzi here offers us a goblet full of content, telling us what is the utmost knowledge, and then tips it over lest we think we can achieve any such thing. Is this not a ‘teaching’ far greater than anything ‘positive’? Despite all the words, is this not a teaching without words?

It might also be profitably noted that this approach is contrasted with that of Confucius who, though he changed his mind numerous times and professed to draw his sustenance from the Great Root, allowed his likes and dislikes and his desire to win out over others, to reify his teachings: "Each of his crowings became a measure, each of his words became a model..."

Graham presents the entire statement with which we begin as a quote and suggests that it may be one formulated by Zhuangzi himself or borrowed from some other source. Ziporyn likewise offers it as a quote, but only the first sentence; the following three sentences are offered as the musings of Zhuangzi himself. No other translation consulted offers it as a quote at all. Does this matter in terms of our understanding of it? Since, as stated below, Zhuangzi was probably in agreement with the content of the statement, probably not. Though I do not know.

Given Graham’s inclination toward speculation regarding Zhuangzi’s intellectual pilgrimage and his assertion that he might have, at one time, been, first a Confucian, and then a Yangist teacher of the ‘nurture of life’ school, I am surprised that he did not suggest that this statement has Yangist origins. The final sentence of the quote seems clearly to echo the Yangist precept that the preservation of one’s life is the truest prompting of the one’s heart (to use a term ascribed to Zhuangzi and thought by Graham to be an indication of his Yangist roots) and should be followed at all times.

How then are we to deal with this statement which Zhuangzi himself tells us has serious deficiencies? I would suggest that we are intended to treat it as ‘true’ and thereby to attempt to learn what it means, and therein, what our limitations are in trying to do so. It is always in finding and affirming our limitations that that which is beyond all limits becomes accessible to us.

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

TYT - Will We EVER End The War On Terror?

2013-06-18T01:30:00.000-07:00

I Ching: Hexagram 37 - The Lines, Part 3

2013-06-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Nine in the third place means:
When tempers flare up in the family,
Too great severity brings remorse.
Good fortune nonetheless.
When woman and chile dally and laugh
It leads in the end to humiliation.

In the family the proper mean between severity and indulgence ought to prevail. Too great severity toward one's own flesh and blood leads to remorse. The wise thing is to build strong dikes within which complete freedom of movement is allowed each individual. But in doubtful instances too great severity, despite occasional mistakes, is preferable, because it preserves discipline in the family, whereas too great weakness leads to disgrace.

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 Will of the People?

2013-06-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

Trey Smith

The White House on Saturday called on Tehran to "heed the will of the Iranian people", after the moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani was elected as the country's new president.

In a statement, the Obama administration congratulated Iran's voters on having the "courage in making their voices heard" in the face of censorship and intimidation. It added that Washington remained open to engagement to reach a diplomatic solution to concerns over Tehran's nuclear program.
~ from White House Says Tehran Must 'Heed Will of People' on Rouhani Victory by Matt Williams ~

In today's episode of American Exceptionalism, we have the US President -- a man who rarely listens to "the will of the people" -- urging the newly-elected leader of another nation to do what American leaders typically don't do themselves.

Americans say no to war...and yet the old wars continue and new ones appear on the horizon.

Americans want living wage jobs...and yet neither the President nor Congress wants to focus on that issue at all.

Over and over again, polls show that a majority of Americans want universal healthcare...and yet even the public option -- a very watered down version of it -- was pulled from consideration.

Americans want clean air and water...and yet little is being done to clean up and protect either.

Americans want the national focus to switch from Wall Street to Main Street...and yet Wall Street continues to be the sole focus of the political elites.

More recently, Americans say that they don't want to be spied on by their own government...and yet President Obama defends almost every spying program conducted by his administration.

Instead of addressing the newly-elected Iranian president, maybe President Obama should utter those words again...while looking in the mirror!

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Winnebago Warrior

2013-06-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

Performed by Dead Kennedys

Roughing it in the great outdoors, guidebooks tell us where to go

Winnebago warrior

Slow down traffic climbing hills, thirty gallons to the mile

Honey, quick, the polaroid

Winnebago warrior

Brave as old John Wayne

Winnebago warrior

A true yankee pioneer

Stop at Stuckey's for a meal, blab all day on the CB

Winnebago warrior

Littered campgrounds, folding chairs, feed Doritos to the bears

Honey, quick, the polaroid

Winnebago warrior

Brave as old John Wayne

Winnebago warrior

A true yankee pioneer

Kill some fish down by the creek, hang their picture by the sink

Show your grandson who's the boss

Tie your two toat-goats to the front, U-Haul trailer full of souvenirs

That you buy along the way

Winnebago warrior

Brave as old John Wayne

Winnebago warrior

A true yankee pioneer

Yankee pioneer

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

What Has Gotten Into Al Gore?

2013-06-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

Trey Smith

You remember Al Gore, don't you? He served as Vice President under Bill Clinton for 8 years (1993–2001). Back then, he was a loyal centrist Democrat. Today, however, he almost sounds like a left wing commie -- at least compared to other leading Democrats!

On Friday, he spoke out about two major issues: the Keystone XL Pipeline and the revelations about the NSA. He did not laud President Obama by offering weak nudges. He didn't fall all over himself trying to concoct excuses for why Obama seems to be moving in the wrong direction. No, he voiced his objections strongly.

As reported in The Guardian, here is what Al had to say about the pipeline project.

Al Gore has called on Barack Obama to veto the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, describing it as "an atrocity".

The former vice-president said in an interview on Friday that he hoped Obama would follow the example of British Columbia, which last week rejected a similar pipeline project, and shut down the Keystone XL.

"I certainly hope that he will veto that now that the Canadians have publicly concluded that it is not safe to take a pipeline across British Columbia to ports on the Pacific," he told the Guardian. "I really can't imagine that our country would say: 'Oh well. Take it right over parts of the Ogallala aquifer', our largest and most important source of ground water in the US. It's really a losing proposition."

No equivocating there. No mealy-mouthed platitudes either. He basically threw down a gauntlet.

Turning to The Guardian again, here is what Mr. Gore had to say about spygate.

The National Security Agency's blanket collection of US citizens' phone records was "not really the American way", Al Gore said on Friday, declaring that he believed the practice to be unlawful.

In his most expansive comments to date on the NSA revelations, the former vice-president was unsparing in his criticism of the surveillance apparatus, telling the Guardian security considerations should never overwhelm the basic rights of American citizens.

He also urged Barack Obama and Congress to review and amend the laws under which the NSA operated.

"I quite understand the viewpoint that many have expressed that they are fine with it and they just want to be safe but that is not really the American way," Gore said in a telephone interview. "Benjamin Franklin famously wrote that those who would give up essential liberty to try to gain some temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Once again, Al isn't pulling punches. He is staring the Obama administration in its grill and challenging them to live up to their own rhetoric.

Rather than following in the footsteps of Bill Clinton, it appears Al is borrowing a page from the Jimmy Carter playbook. Carter was only a so-so president, but he's been a great ex-president. Al Gore is turning into a really darn good ex-vice president!

Bit by Bit - Chapter 16, Part 7

2013-06-17T11:11:00.000-07:00

Trey Smith

The so-called scholars in hiding of ancient times did not conceal their bodies and refuse to let them be seen; they did not shut in their words and refuse to let them out; they did not stow away their knowledge and refuse to share it. But the fate of the times was too much awry. If the fate of the times had been with them and they could have done great deeds in the world, then they would have returned to Unity and left no trace behind. But the fate of the times was against them and brought them only great hardship in the world, and therefore they deepened their roots, rested in perfection, and waited. This was the way they kept themselves alive.
~ Burton Watson translation ~

You can only teach those who wish to be taught. You can only model for those wishing to see. If you try to force teaching or modeling on those who are not receptive, it will all be for naught.

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

Why Glenn Greenwald?

2013-06-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

Trey Smith

For an American, the traditional home for the kind of story Snowden was planning to reveal would have been the New York Times. But during extensive interviews last week with a Guardian team, he recalled how dismayed he had been to discover the Times had a great scoop in election year 2004 – that the Bush administration, post 9/11, allowed the NSA to snoop on US citizens without warrants – but had sat on it for a year before publishing.

Snowden said this was a turning point for him, confirming his belief that traditional media outlets could not be trusted. He looked around for alternative journalists, those who were both anti-establishment and at home with blogging and other social media. The member of this generation that he most trusted was the Guardian commentator Glenn Greenwald.
~ from Edward Snowden: How the Spy Story of the Age Leaked Out by Ewen MacAskill ~

When I was growing up, the most trusted newsman in America was the venerable Walter Cronkite. I don't know if he truly deserved this designation during his broadcast career at CBS News, but he sure was a progressive stalwart once he retired!

These days there simply aren't that many traditional journalists that deserve much trust. All too often, their reporting is lazy and they too easily accept whatever the government feeds them.

But I can tell you one thing. If I had my hands on some potentially explosive information -- particularly the kind that points to wrongdoing in the US government -- there is no journalist I would feel more confident in handing over the information to than Glenn Greenwald. I have followed his columns and reports for over three years. As readers know, I quote him extensively. He strikes me as a man of integrity, principle and dedication. In a word, Glenn Greenwald is my hero!!

I don't use that word lightly. Greenwald embodies the kind of attributes that a good reporter should. If you read his columns, it is more than obvious that he digs far below the surface of the topic he is reporting on. He makes well thought out arguments and he presents them in a point-by-point methodical manner. Most importantly, unlike so many of his brethren these days, he understands that the journalistic profession is an adversarial one. It is the job of journalists to take nothing the authorities say at face value.

This is not to say that the competent journalist should automatically assume that public officials or corporate bigwigs are lying. What it does mean is that you listen to the "official" pronouncements and then you set out on a journey to try to discern if those pronouncements are true or not. If after doing your research you determine the statements to be true, you report that. On the other hand, if your research indicates the statements are not true, then you report that.

It really is quite simple. It's too bad that Greenwald is the exception, not the norm.

I Ching: Hexagram 37 - The Lines, Part 2

2013-06-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

Six in the second place means:
She should not follow her whims.
She must attend within to the food.
Perseverance brings good fortune.

The wife must always be guided by the will of the master of the house, be he father, husband, or grown son. There, without having to look for them, she has great and important duties. She must attend to the nourishment of her family and to the food for the sacrifice. IN this way she becomes the center of the social and religious life of the family, and her perseverance in this position brings good fortune to the whole house.

In relation to general conditions, the counsel here is to seek nothing by means of force, but quietly to confine oneself to the duties at hand.

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.

Not-One Is Also One I (Revisited)

2013-06-17T04:03:00.000-07:00

Scott contacted me last week to say that he had suffered a "death" in the family: his trusty laptop computer. Since this is what he wrote his posts on before sending them to me, he is being forced to take a writing hiatus. Once he is able to find a replacement, things should get back to normal. Until that time, we will be reposting some of his writings from 2010 and, maybe, 2011. ~ Trey

Scott Bradley

Original publication date: May 9, 2010

It seems an act of mercy to put the Conclusion of this study at the beginning, the study itself being, by virtue of its analysis of several similar texts, both wordy and repetitive.

The ‘issue’ at hand is the relationship between “Heaven” and “Human” as expressed by Zhuangzi and his apparent school. The issue, as it concerned Zhuangzi, largely pivots on whether deliberate activity is any less spontaneous then what he calls spontaneous activity. And this is tantamount to asking whether the ‘sage’ is truly different from an ‘ordinary’ person. He concludes that, though different, they are, in fact, both expressions of the Heavenly. A product of Nature, man cannot help but act naturally. All human expression is Nature expressed. In the end, even that which is not-one is One.

Spontaneous activity is that which issues from one’s immersion in the inexplicable and formless flow of life within. Its expression is harmony, since it is a following along with Reality rather than a separation and subsequent opposition to it.

Deliberate activity, on the other hand, is mediated by the analytical mind. The most fundamental prerequisite to analysis is the self-other dichotomy; it is necessary to be other-than something in order to ‘know’ it. Deliberation is an act of separation. It is this separation that most concerns Zhuangzi. He sees this distancing of ourselves from our rootedness in Mystery, the unknowable, inexplicable Source of all that is, as the cause of our every fear and general lack of peace.

Yet, is not this deliberate activity equally an authentic expression of the Human? If Reality is One, how could we say otherwise? Of the billions now living and the billions now extinct, has this not been the near universal expression of the Human? Zhuangzi’s answer is a simple, yes, it has and yes, it is. What deer do and birds do is what deer and birds are.

Why should humanity be any different? Is the “twittering of baby birds” any different than the debates of the philosophers? The wind blows through the forest and the various shapes and hollows of the trees give forth as many sounds as there are trees; is there really any difference between them? Zhuangzi would have us see ourselves, in our entirety, as expressions of Nature.

Spontaneous and deliberate activities are both expressions of our humanity. However, what is apparently unique about the Human is that it possesses the ability to choose how to relate itself to Reality, whether in union and agreement, or in separation and opposition, harmony or disharmony. This apparent ability to choose is a given of Nature and its exercise, how ever exercised, is likewise an expression of Nature. The consequences of that choice, however, determine the nature of one’s life experience.

Disharmony is an estrangement from our rootedness in the ever-transforming and ungraspable flow of life so as to assert a self with a fixed identity. Harmony is a surrender into that flow where no such identity can abide. The assertion of a self-identity results in a fear of its loss through death and the ceaseless task of establishing its reality and validity in opposition to not-self, the other. It is an expression of humanity which is estranged from what is most fundamentally human, its rootedness in Mystery.

Harmony, on the other hand, is the truest expression and realization of the Human. If there is a ‘value’ implied here, it is the value of what is humanity in its fulfillment as opposed to what is not. Following along with ‘what is’ allows a life lived to the fullest, in peace and enjoyment of the gift. Opposing ‘what is’ issues in a life of fear and despair. ‘Virtue’, de, the true expression of Reality in the individuated myriad of things, is it’s own reward.

Yet, what difference peace or despair? Of what consequence is either in the vast, all-encompassing One which is Reality? Can anything be lost? Can anything be gained? The vast and finely meshed net of Reality encompasses all—nothing is lost, all is assured, all is affirmed. Reality is One. The human being can harmonize with it and likewise realize oneness. Yet even in not-oneness, how could the human being be lost to the One? Not-one is also One.

All this having been said, the argument having been made, Zhuangzi would not have us forget that our understanding is incapable of understanding anything of all that we have attempted to explain. We cannot analyze and dissect so as to come to an understanding of what is Heaven and what is Human, what is deliberate and what is spontaneous. Rather, it can only be ‘understood’ in the experiential living of it. Our verbal ponderings are but approximations pointing us back to life itself, where alone the imponderable is expressed.

Similarly, Zhuangzi does not speak of choice, or worry over questions of free-will (which this discussion might have spawned), for these can have no resolution apart from their expression in life itself, and this is sufficient unto itself.

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

TYT - God Saved Boehner From Coup, Say Conservative Reps

2013-06-17T01:30:00.000-07:00

I Ching: Hexagram 37 - The Lines, Part 1

2013-06-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Nine at the beginning means:
Firm seclusion within the family.
Remorse disappears.

The family must form a well-defined unit within which each member knows his place. From the beginning each child must be accustomed to firmly established rules of order, before ever its will is directed to other things. If we begin too late to enforce order, when the will of the child has already been overindulged, the whims and passions, grown stronger with the years, offer resistance and give cause for remorse. If we insist on order from the outset, occasions for remorse may arise-in general social life these are unavoidable -- but the remorse always disappears again, and everything rights itself. For there is nothing easily avoided and more difficult to carry through than "breaking a child's will."

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.

Witness for the Defense

2013-06-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

Trey Smith

In my 2:00 p.m. post today, I referenced an explosion Thursday at a chemical plant in Louisiana. At this early juncture, it is unclear what caused the explosion. But that didn't stop one public official for providing a bit of testimony for the defense.

"It's a sad day in Geismar, and particularly for the Williams Olefins work family, and frankly for the petrochem community in this area," Ascension Parish Sheriff Jeffrey Wiley said. "It's an industry that practices safety every second of every day, but regrettably, things do happen."

Now Wiley, as the local sheriff, won't be leading the investigation into the accident, but I would think his department might provide some assistance. Consequently, it sounds quite odd that he is defending the company BEFORE any determination has been made. With his personal sentiments already expressed, I suppose we should be glad that he won't be in charge of the investigation because it sure sounds like he is more than ready to exonerate Williams Olefins.

I see this problem more and more often these days. As soon as there is some type of incident or accident, too many public officials -- sometimes including some of the principles who will be involved in the investigation itself -- make public statements that condemn or exonerate the "accused" before much is known about the cause or contributing factors. If the results of the investigation turn out to be what the public official stated at the outset, it leads to the suspicion that the investigation was conducted in such a manner as to arrive at a predetermined conclusion.

So, I have some advice for public officials across the country: Shut your pie hole! When some type of accident or incident occurs in your community, it's okay to express sadness at the loss of life and injuries that have occurred. Other than that, don't say anything else. Don't try to defend or prosecute the potentially culpable parties before the facts are gathered.

Afternoon Matinee: Protest - Cruel War

2013-06-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

Performed by Peter, Paul and Mary

The Cruel War is raging, Johnny has to fight

I want to be with him from morning to night.

I want to be with him, it grieves my heart so,

Won't you let me go with you?

No, my love, no.

Tomorrow is Sunday, Monday is the day

that your Captain will call you and you must obey.

Your captain will call you it grieves my heart so,

Won't you let me go with you?

No, my love, no.

I'll tie back my hair, men's clothing I'll put on,

I'll pass as your comrade, as we march along.

I'll pass as your comrade, no one will ever know.

Won't you let me go with you?

No, my love, no.

Oh Johnny, oh Johnny, I fear you are unkind

I love you far better than all of mankind.

I love you far better than words can e're express

Won't you let me go with you?

Yes, my love, yes.

Yes, My Love, Yes.

~ from Lyric Wiki ~

Fire in the Sky

2013-06-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Trey Smith

If I told you that government officials possessed ironclad proof that an imminent threat to this nation had the capacity to create a 9/11′s worth of injuries and deaths every year at an annual economic cost of a quarter trillion dollars, ask yourself: Would you say we should do something about it?

I’m guessing you would. Out of a basic sense of patriotism, you would probably at minimum support some new security regulations and investments in enforcing those regulations, even if that meant paying slightly higher taxes. After all, you profess to love America, and that’s the least we should do in the face of such a threat to our country, right?

Now ask yourself: Would your response to the original query change if you discovered that the threat at hand was not from a terrorist, but from unsafe workplaces — and that because of that unaddressed problem, these casualties and costs have already become a fact of life in America? Come on, admit it — your response probably would change. Yes, many who would reflexively support more regulations and enforcement in the face of a foreign terrorist threat would suddenly scoff at more regulations and enforcement in the face of unsafe workplaces. Why the double standard?
~ from America’s Greatest Threat: Unsafe Work Conditions by David Sirota ~

I have held onto this Sirota column for a month because I knew it wouldn't be that long before we had another deadly accident in the workplace. Right on cue, there have been two explosions with fatalities and injuries -- both in Louisiana -- within the past two days. The first one happened on Thursday in Geismar at a chemical plant. One person died and 73 were injured. The very next day a nitrogen plant only 10 miles from the chemical plant exploded resulting in one death and 7 injured.

While Americans tend to be more worried and frightened by potential terrorist attacks, far more people die each year at work -- often because of greed and lax safety standards. Sirota is right to ask "Why the double standard?"

It is an easy question to answer. Our political leaders drive the unrealistic fear of imminent terrorism, while covering up for the shortcomings of workplace safety. Terrorism is a moneymaker for the elite. Worker safety is a cost. Faced with the choice of making oodles of money versus spending it, corporations and their political lackeys almost always choose the former.

Bit by Bit - Chapter 16, Part 6

2013-06-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

Trey Smith

From this we may see that the world has lost the Way, and the Way has lost the world; the world and the Way have lost each other. What means does a man of the Way have to go forward in the world? What means does the world have to go forward in the Way? The Way cannot go forward in the world, and the world cannot go forward in the Way. So, although the sage does not retire to dwell in the midst of the mountain forest, his Virtue is already hidden. It is already hidden, and therefore he does not need to hide it himself.
~ Burton Watson translation ~

For me, this snippet is about estrangement. We often know that we are behaving in disharmonious ways, but we feel as if we can't help ourselves. It's like eying a third piece of luscious chocolate cake. In our mind, we are very certain that consuming it will lead to indigestion, but our desire takes over and, before we know it...burp...it disappears. Later, we beat ourselves up as we roil with gut pain.

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

The Penalty of Poverty

2013-06-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

Trey Smith

On the housing front, things have been looking up for Della and I...sort of. In the last 3 weeks, we have been contacted by three different sites and already have participated in the initial interviews for two of them (Westport and Ocean Shores). Both are relatively close AND on the southwest Washington coast.

While both of these plus another one in Shelton look somewhat promising, we have run into a bit of an obstacle: the penalty of poverty. On Friday, the manager of the complex in Ocean Shores called to say that our initial application had been denied (though there IS a way around this). What's the problem? We understandably have dings on our credit report.

For the last three months, we have been trying to survive on a mere $756/month. Due to Della's hospitalization during the last week of March and her inability to work since, we are being slammed with medical bills. All told, I'd say the total tab to date is somewhere between $2,000 - $3,000! We simply do not have the money to pay them and so late notices are showing up at the credit agencies.

Here is the proverbial catch-22. If we had the requisite funds to pay these bills, we probably would be doing well enough to stay current on our mortgage and thus have no reason to move. The sole reason we are being forced to move is that we are so cash poor. And yet, being so cash poor negatively impacts our credit score which might jeopardize our ability to qualify for subsidized housing!

I certainly understand that the apartment managers and the corresponding federal agency (HUD or USDA) want to insure that the people whom they rent to will pay their subsidized rent regularly and on time. That is a no-brainer. But expecting those of us mired in poverty to have pristine credit scores is completely unrealistic, particularly when these scores are impacted negatively by a medical emergency.

As noted above, we have been told that there is a possible avenue around this quagmire. We have to write up a detailed explanation of WHY our credit score is not pristine and, in many instances, a requirement waiver will be granted. I certainly hope this happens to be the case or, when our home is finally foreclosed on, we will be living in our little car!

I Ching: Hexagram 37 - The Image

2013-06-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Wind comes forth from fire:
The image of THE FAMILY.
Thus the superior man has substance in his words
And duration in his way of life.

Heat creates energy: this is signified by the wind stirred up by the fire and issuing forth from it. This represents influence working from within outward. The same thing is needed in the regulation of the family. Here too the influence on others must proceed from one’s own person. In order to be capable of producing such an influence, one’s words must have power, and this they can have only if they are based on something real, just as flame depends on its fuel. Words have influence only when they are pertinent and clearly related to definite circumstances. General discourses and admonitions have no effect whatsoever. Furthermore, the words must be supported by one’s entire conduct, just as the wind is made effective by its duration. Only firm and consistent conduct will make such an impression on others that they can adapt and conform to it. If words and conduct are not in accord and not consistent, they will have no effect.

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.

How to Nourish Life VI: Just Be Thickless

2013-06-16T04:03:00.000-07:00

Scott Bradley

King Hui's cook explains how it is that he can turn the prosaic and somewhat gruesome activity of butchering an ox into a joyful dance. He used to study oxen, he tells us, so that all that he saw was an ox. But now, he "encounter(s) it with the spirit". This is made possible when, "[His] understanding consciousness, beholden to its specific purposes, comes to a halt, and thus the promptings of the spirit begin to flow." (Zhuangzi, 3:4; Ziporyn)

One would think that studying an ox so as to know how best to cut it up would be the most effective way to go about doing so. But though such a procedure might be a necessary place to begin, it does not lead to an activity that "advances beyond mere skill". This requires something altogether different; and this entails a certain receptiveness where previously there was only assertiveness. The "understanding consciousness" imposes itself on things; it artificially divides them according to its own "purposes". Encountering them with the spirit, on the other hand, allows things to present themselves as they actually are, rather than how we imagine them.

"I go by Heaven's unwrought perforations. . . . I go by how they already are . . ." The secret to his success in allowing butchery to become a spiritual experience lies in following along with, adapting to, encountered reality, rather than trying to impose himself upon it. An "ordinary cook . . . hacks"; he attacks the job and gets it done, but misses the joy.

"Heaven's unwrought perforations" is tianli. This, according to Ziporyn, is the only use of li in the Inner Chapters and the first known use of the binome tianli in Chinese literature. Here, it is used to speak of the natural divisions within the body of the ox. In the rest of the Zhuangzi li begins to be used to speak of "principles" which one might discover in nature. Still later, tianli became a technical term in Neo-Confucianism where it describes "Heavenly Principles" which, once known, can be followed and applied to life. Thus, we see what was originally an openness to the concrete and unique become a tool of the "understanding consciousness" by which to once again impose itself on life and reality. This pattern repeats itself endlessly; an original insight which runs counter to the 'normal' human inclinations, is subsequently re-integrated into those inclinations. Is this not the essence of religion?

In allowing a spiritual receptiveness to guide his work, the cook effectively gets out of the way so as to allow things to happen. This is seen by analogy in the effectiveness of a knife whose edge "has no thickness": "When that which is thickless enters into an empty space, it is vast and open, with more than enough room for the play of the blade." The narrowest space is "vast and open" when that which enters it is thickless. And this, of course, speaks to Zhuangzi's summary of sagacity in the closing remarks of the Inner Chapters: "It is just being empty, nothing more." (7:13) Here, to be empty is to be thickless.

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