Reason
Reason
as solid
as a rock.
Clinging to it
in the middle
of the ocean.
When I look to friends, colleagues and mentors who have taught and influenced me, I see in many of them a happy and helpful balance of reason and spirit. I thank them, and recommend having such people in your life.
This may be what I might want others to say of me, that I neither abandoned reason nor clung to it too tightly.
A message to candidates and voters from the Tao Te Ching. It is the first line of chapter 60, in various translations. Please read and feel free to interpret as you like. Comments are welcome.
If I were moderating a presidential debate, I would simply recite this line and ask Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump what this means to them. What illuminating fun that would be.
Govern a nation as you would fry a small fish.
Directing the flow of affairs of a large country
Is like cooking a small fresh fish.
Govern great nations
like frying small fish.
Ruling a large country is like cooking a small fish.
Hip-hop may be the most influential cultural movement of the past few decades. It is certainly the basis for the most popular and prevalent global music of the century so far.
Listen to it, like it, love it or loathe it, it is complex art. Among its elements is a brutal honesty, not only about conditions in life and the world, but about personal behavior and attitudes. And some of those behaviors and attitudes can reflect self-centeredness, narcissism, and an embrace of materialism and success, all of it verging on a very aggressive artistic id set free. Others will analyze the source of this, but there it is.
Here’s the irony, or maybe not ironic at all.
The above describes Donald Trump perfectly. Word for word, behavior for attitude, id for id.
Which suggests that Donald Trump, unknown to all of us, is one of the great hip-hop artists of the age. Even his talks are more like raps than speeches. That is not meant to reflect badly on hip-hop. Just an observation, contributing to answering the question of how this is happening.
So if Bill Clinton was the first black President (wrong; sorry Toni Morrison), maybe Donald Trump will be the first hip-hop President. Just don’t tell his supporters.
These words from Verse 80 of the Tao Te Ching could come from the Wizard of Oz:
let there be another state so near
people hear its dogs and chickens
but live out their lives
without making a visit
In other words, there is no place like home.
The force of exploration, discovery and progress is strong with us. This post, for example, is drafted on an amazing digital device, edited on another amazing digital device, and published on an amazing global network. Moving house and traveling are easier and more convenient than ever. So many modern tools. So big a world.
Verse 80 proposes a different view. Labor-saving tools not used. Boats and carts not ridden. Knots used to communicate (a pre-writing system). Pleased and content with clothing and goods. You may think that this is regress, the opposite of progress. But is it? In your heart, is that what you believe?
Imagine a small state with a small population
let there be labor-saving tools
that aren’t used
let people consider death
and not move far
let there be boats and carts
but no reason to ride them
let there be armor and weapons
but no reason to employ them
let people return to the use of knots
and be satisfied with their food
and pleased with their clothing
and content with their homes
and happy with their customs
let there be another state so near
people hear its dogs and chickens
but live out their lives
without making a visit
Lao-tzu’s Taoteching, translated by Red Pine
Magic
Magic
must be
real.
It’s #LaborDay. My Grandpa Harry was a member of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU). He made beautiful coats. I still keep one of his union dues cards among my treasures.
All this talk about “Made in America” is incomplete. If we want things made in America, instead of all the other countries most of us buy most of our stuff from, we will pay a price. Unless we are planning to pay American workers the substandard wages of many of our import nations, we have to be willing to pay more for our goods. Are we willing? Are you willing?
Meanwhile, here’s the once famous song of the ILGWU. Maybe it can be famous again.
Look for the Union Label
Look for the union label
when you are buying that coat, dress or blouse.
Remember somewhere our union’s sewing,
our wages going to feed the kids, and run the house.
We work hard, but who’s complaining?
Thanks to the I.L.G. we’re paying our way!
So always look for the union label,
it says we’re able to make it in the U.S.A.!
And view this ILGWU singing ad from 1978.
Happy Labor Day.
1
Prayer Rope
Prayer rope
Strung with knots
To count
But not
To untie.
2
Knots
Cut off
The knots
You can’t untie
But keep them.
Latinos for Trump founder Marco Gutierrez said yesterday “My culture is a very dominant culture. And it’s imposing, and it’s causing problems. If you don’t do something about it, you’re going to have taco trucks on every corner.”
This was meant as a comment on immigration, not food. Without going into the complexities of immigration or the bizarre backwardness/cluelessness/meanness of the Trump campaign, it does make you think about the connection.
If we had done something about the Italians (and we tried) maybe we wouldn’t have pizza shops on every block. Same for the Chinese and Chinese restaurants. Same for Eastern European Jews and bagel shops. And so on.
We do have pizza shops and/or Chinese restaurants and/or bagel shops on many blocks, even in the smallest towns. Taco and burrito shops too. We are better for it. This probably doesn’t tell us how to deal with the very difficult issue of immigration. But it does tell us something about America and American values and American culture. Just as the remark by Gutierrez tells us something hard to digest about Trump and some of his followers.
While You Are Sleeping
Messages arrive
While you are sleeping.
Ignore them.
Would you rather
Wake up to a postman
Intruding at the door
Or to the dawn, sun
Silence and thoughts
From eons ago?
You’ve got mail.
Depending on where you are, September may or may not be the last gasp of summer.
But it is the name of the greatest piece of September music ever recorded.
Play September by Earth Wind & Fire.
The bell was ringing
Our souls were singing
Do you remember
Never a cloudy day
If you’re not moving, check your pulse, or have someone else check it for you (that can be fun).
Me? I’m out front, dancing among the flower and vegetable beds, in front of God and everybody. Who cares how it looks? It’s September.
Bob Schwartz 