| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is
an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.
47. 1. Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes
place) under the sky; without looking out from his window, one sees
the Tao of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the
less he knows.
2. Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave
their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished
their ends without any purpose of doing so.
48. 1. He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to
increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks)
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: of something queer--yes, from that very first day when he
saw the priest and Celia together, and noted their glance
of recognition inside the house of death. He realized now,
upon reflection, that the tone of other people, his own
parishioners and his casual acquaintances in Octavius alike,
had always had a certain note of reservation in it when
it touched upon Miss Madden. Her running in and out
of the pastorate at all hours, the way the priest patted
her on the shoulder before others, the obvious dislike
the priest's ugly old housekeeper bore her, the astonishing
freedom of their talk with each other--these dark
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: seems a burning oven; so that there is no travelling here in this
dreadful season, nor is this the only danger to which the unhappy
passenger is exposed in these uncomfortable regions. There blows in
the months of June, July, and August, another wind, which raises
mountains of sand and carries them through the air; all that can be
done in this case is when a cloud of sand rises, to mark where it is
likely to fall, and to retire as far off as possible; but it is very
usual for men to be taken unexpectedly, and smothered in the dust.
One day I found the body of a Christian, whom I knew, upon the sand;
he had doubtless been choked by these winds. I recommended his soul
to the divine mercy and buried him. He seemed to have been some
|
