Imbolc \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Valentine Moon<\/p>\n
This last week was a bust as far as Latin or the book. \u00a0It was spent in the emotional and rigorous task of restoration, order to books, objets d’art, the new furnace. \u00a0Hardly wasted effort, but the effect on forward progress was substantial.<\/p>\n
You may notice that I’ve added a quote by Lao-Tze over the weather. \u00a0In it he advises the way of wu wei, of non-action, or, better of going with the flow, following the path life offers rather than overburdening it with goals, timelines, projects. \u00a0It’s not a huge difference from the Dalai Lama’s notion that the world does not need more successful people. \u00a0This week I’ve allowed the pace of the week to set my pace. \u00a0The result has been less frustration, less impatience.<\/p>\n
When the way opens again for work with Latin and the novels, I will be ready to do that.<\/p>\n
Though. \u00a0There is that tiny, niggling fact that I have northern European roots, not Chinese. Wu wei to my Teutonic ancestors would not have made much sense. \u00a0Set the goal, plow ahead, damn the obstacles. \u00a0Blitzkrieg. \u00a0Dynamite. (Nobel) The onward rush of history, it’s progress through material reality. \u00a0These are not the thoughts or inventions of people who follow the Watercourse Way.<\/p>\n
Nor, for that matter, is the other ethnic blood in my veins, Celtic. \u00a0Hot-blooded, quick to laugh, quick to anger. \u00a0Impatient with oppression. \u00a0Creative and dreamy. \u00a0Living in this world and the other world. \u00a0In one case the rational tank rolls over barriers; in the other the emotional\u00a0maelstrom cooks up revolution and poetry and love.<\/p>\n
Wu wei is a corrective, another way of being in the world. \u00a0And we need it. \u00a0It leavens our energetic attempts to mold the world with a willingness to listen to how the world might mold us.<\/p>\n
It’s for another time, but the long run application of Taoist and even Confucian principles have produced a moral and ethical sink in contemporary China. \u00a0They are not the whole way. \u00a0We need each other.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imbolc \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Valentine Moon This last week was a bust as far as Latin or the book. \u00a0It was spent in the emotional … Continue reading Moving forward by taking no action<\/span>