Far East

Map Of Death

Ugh. Just got through (barely) the week from hell. Literally. As this is the summer study season, everybody and their grandma is out to study English. And as there are only so many qualified teachers, some of us eminence grises get some pretty crazy schedules. Like dawn to waaaay past dark.

And to cap off such a lovely schedule, I got an extra-special present. A map. To a school that I had never been before, to an area I was very unfamiliar with in a Taipei suburb. Not only were the classes very early in the morning, but I had worked a fifteen hour day the previous day (not actual teaching hours, but travel, preparation, etc.). I got on my scooter and followed the map.

And as it turns out, whoever had drawn the map was someone who owned a car. Because I found myself in rush-hour traffic on the highway on a scooter. Not something you want to try at home (or anywhere else) ever. So, after narrowly avoiding being hit by a car going in excess of 75 mph, I managed to get off the freeway and finally found my way to the school. Just another fun and wacky day in Taipei.

Nobody's Saviour

Political prediction: another Saturday Night Massacre. Geopolitical prediction: Nuclear first-strike on Iran. The cupboards are getting bare in the military department, but we still have some grade A nuclear materials to deliver to the mullahs, courtesy of the USAF. Everybody who talks about Iran prefaces their views with 'we don't have the troops, blah, blah, blah, Iraq Quagmire'; sigh, you reality-based biyatches. Don't you know that history's actors are not constrained by real-world events, but in fact shape reality?

Nothing will touch any of history's actors until it gets bad for business. And that looks to be a long ways off, well after 2009. Grand Jury? Butler Report, part deux.

Moment Of Living Dangerously

Ahem. Been away for awhile, especially if you include all the non-posts (Confucius, et al.). Largely this has been due to a couple of factors: real busy schedule, and typepad being truly unworkable. They seem to have worked out most of the kinks, though my schedule remains unchanged, at least for the next month or so.

A reader on a previous post commented/asked what lessons Confucius might have for current world governments. Don't ask me, I only live here. Do remember, though, that he lived during the era of warring states, so his conclusions might resonate with Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, et al.

On the work front: while it's nice to be in demand and busy, it's absolutely no fun for it to be to the point of exhaustion, kind of where it is now. It's only for the summer months, so that's some consolation, though no less tiring.

On the political front, I'm sure I have a few rants in me rattling around there somewhere, just have to marshall up enough energy to get them down in electrical form. Plus a couple on emotional/relationship/self issues, which is where I feel much more confident in writing about; whenever I comment on the political situation, I always seem to be on the edge of a big change, and nearly always choose the dying edge, right before the switch over. So probably not much from me forthcoming on Scotus picks, CIA operatives, etc. Just not my forte.

Will write again when I have a bit more breathing space, hopefully in the next couple of days.

Governance

Chapter XVI.

Good government seen from its effects.

1. The duke of Sheh asked about government.

2. The Master said, "Good government obtains, when those who are near are made happy, and those who are far off are attracted."

Link.

Non-Doing

2

When people see things as beautiful,
ugliness is created.
When people see things as good,
evil is created.

Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low oppose each other.
Fore and aft follow each other.

Therefore the Master
can act without doing anything
and teach without saying a word.
Things come her way and she does not stop them;
things leave and she lets them go.
She has without possessing,
and acts without any expectations.
When her work is done, she take no credit.
That is why it will last forever.

Link.

Virtue

Chapter V.

The devotion of the Chün-tsze to virtue.

1. The Master said, "Riches and honors are what men desire. If it cannot be obtained in the proper way, they should not be held. Poverty and meanness are what men dislike. If it cannot be avoided in the proper way, they should not be avoided.

2. "If a superior man abandon virtue, how can he fulfill the requirements of that name?

3. "The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it."

Link.

Dao De Qing

76

The living are soft and yielding;
the dead are rigid and stiff.
Living plants are flexible and tender;
the dead are brittle and dry.

Those who are stiff and rigid
are the disciple of death.
Those who are soft and yielding
are the disciples of life.

The rigid and stiff will be broken.
The soft and yielding will overcome.

Link.

Beclouded

Chapter VIII.

Knowledge, acquired by learning, is necessary to the completion of virtue, by preserving the mind from being beclouded.

1. The Master said, "Yû, have you heard the six words to which are attached six becloudings?" Yû replied, "I have not."

2. "Sit down, and I will tell them to you.

3. "There is the love of being benevolent without the love of learning;-- the beclouding here leads to a foolish simplicity. There is the love of knowing without the love of learning;-- the beclouding here leads to dissipation of mind. There is the love of being sincere without the love of learning;-- the beclouding here leads to an injurious disregard of consequences. There is the love of straightforwardness without the love of learning;-- the beclouding here leads to rudeness. There is the love of boldness without the love of learning;-- the beclouding here leads to insubordination. There is the love of firmness without the love of learning;-- the beclouding here leads to extravagant conduct."

Link.

All Falls Away

Interesting to note that when one accepts a truly odious class assignment (great distance, huge number of students, long hours) that the classes you wanted to move are re-arranged in a jiffy. 'No problem. It will be done in an instant'. Prior to taking said class, it was: 'No can do. Uhn-uhn. Just not possible'. Of course that's little consolation once one has agreed to take the offending class.

Insightful Comment

By a Londoner, traveling by bus, the day after the bombings: "You stand a better chance of being killed in London traffic than you do at the hands of terrorists".