So, after I posted an entry tonight, I returned to a book of poetry on my desk, A Book of Luminous Things, edited by Czeslaw Milosz (Harcourt Brace, 1998). I had pulled it out earlier today in the hopes of finding either questions or answers. Perhaps this is both.
A MAN IS BORN IN TAO
Fishes are born in water
Man is born in Tao.
If fishes, born in water,
Seek the deep shadow
Of pond and pool,
All their needs are satisfied.
If man, born in Tao,
Sinks into the deep shadow
of non-action
To forget aggression and concern,
He lacks nothing
His life is secure.
Moral: "All the fish needs
Is to get lost in water.
All man needs is to get lost
in Tao."
Chuang Tzu, translated by Thomas Merton.
Well, non-action is not good advice for me. But getting with the Tao is another, well, kettle of fish.
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