To honor the Blue Jays, the Trump tantrum, etc., I offer a once-in-a-generation musical moment.
Martin Scorcese’s The Last Waltz (1978) is a documentary about the last performance of The Band, accompanied by many musical friends, at Winterland in San Francisco. The movie begins with the words “This film should be played loud!” and it should be.
The Band, all but one of them Canadians, were joined by two other legendary Canadians, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.
Here are Neil Young, The Band and Joni Mitchell performing Young’s Helpless.
The I Ching, the venerable Book of Changes, is estimated to have first been composed around 1000 BCE. About 3,000 years ago.
The point is that China and its constituent states have been managing very complex and difficult governmental and social situations for millennia. Those who are leading contemporary China may face a lot of current challenges, as their ancestors have faced so many other challenges. They know their way around difficulties and difficult people. They have managed, starting in 1949, to build the world’s second largest economy. They have done it, by the way, paying close attention the I Ching. The Trump administration would do well to do the same.
Asking the I Ching about Trump tariffs on China it says:
52 Gen • Keeping Still
Mountain above Mountain below
NAME AND STRUCTURE
The attribute of Mountain is stillness. When Mountain is doubled, it is extremely still.
From the very beginning of Chinese culture, ancient sages emphasized keeping still. Keeping still is not keeping merely the body still but the mind and spirit as well, and is called “sitting in stillness” or “nourishing the spirit.” While sitting still in a lotus posture, one is shaped like a mountain. Sitting in stillness, or in meditation as Westerners call it, is a self-disciplinary training. While doing this, one is able to control the mind and the breath, to be introspective about one’s shortcomings and to cultivate inner strength and virtue. Mencius says, “I am skillful in nourishing my imperishable noble spirit.” When one is in a state of stillness, one is oblivious to one’s surroundings. This is the highest stage of nonattachment. In such a state there is no fault in one’s being. It is believed that when Heaven is about to confer a great mission on a person, it first exercises his or her mind and spirit with discipline. Keeping still is meant to prepare one’s mind and spirit to progress when the time comes.
Commentary on the Decision
Mountain. It is keeping still.
Keep still when it is time to keep still. Remain active when it is time to remain active. When action and resting do not miss their time, Their way becomes promising and brilliant.
SIGNIFICANCE
Keeping Still expounds the truth of knowing when and where to stop before one’s action goes too far. The key to success is to advance when it is time to advance and to stop when it is time to stop. Every action should accord with the time and situation. Never act subjectively and blindly. Keeping still means to be tranquil and stable. It is a phase of advancement. Advance and stillness complement each other. Keeping still is preparing oneself for a new advance. All the lines of this gua take images of different parts of the body to indicate particular times and situations.
When King Wen abolished slavery and reestablished the Jing land system, people were shocked, as if a thunderstorm had struck. Those who were liberated were happy, but not the slave owners—especially those who were close to the tyrant. Dangerous counterattacks were anticipated. King Wen retreated, sitting in stillness to contemplate the situation and foresee the future. The Duke of Zhou describes King Wen’s different stages and moods of stillness. Eventually his honesty and sincerity brought good fortune.
‘Nowhere on Earth is safe’: Trump imposes tariffs on uninhabited islands near Antarctica Australian prime minister surprised after external territories – including tiny Norfolk Island and remote islands home to penguins – targeted by US president
A group of barren, uninhabited volcanic islands near Antarctica, covered in glaciers and home to penguins, have been swept up in Donald Trump’s trade war, as the US president hit them with a 10% tariff on goods.
Heard Island and McDonald Islands, which form an external territory of Australia, are among the remotest places on Earth, accessible only via a two-week boat voyage from Perth on Australia’s west coast. They are completely uninhabited, with the last visit from people believed to be nearly 10 years ago.
Nevertheless, Heard and McDonald islands featured in a list released by the White House of “countries” that would have new trade tariffs imposed.
We don’t think the penguins have heard about the tariffs. It will not affect them anyway, since they have nothing but fish, and they don’t trade that. They might be able to bribe Trump though, since it is reported that he is a fan of McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich. Like the penguins, he loves to eat.
While researching this, I came across the Penguin Foundation in Australia, which focuses on the Little Penguins on similar islands.
An oil spill led the Penguin Foundation to promote knitting sweaters (jumpers) for the Little Penguins of Phillip Island, to keep them from preening their feathers coated in toxic oil. (The knitting pattern is available on their site.)
Knitters have knitted enough sweaters for the current penguins and those that may be harmed in the future. Now the Penguin Foundation is asking knitters to knit sweaters for plush penguin toys to wear, which toys are being sold to raise money for the foundation.
Two reasons to mention all this here. One is that placing tariffs on “countries” inhabited by penguins is idiotic. Two is that thinking about penguins and particularly thinking about penguins wearing hand-knitted sweaters, even if meant to protect them from toxic oil spills, makes us smile. You do want a reason to smile right now—any reason—don’t you?
Bob Schwartz 