Rising Out of Emptiness

"We set out like ingenious machines declaring "yes this" and "no that." Or we hold fast like oath-bound warriors defending victory.

We can say that to fade away day by day is to die like autumn into winter. But we're drowning, and nothing we do can bring any of it back. We can say this drain is backed up in old age, full and content, but a mind near death cannot recover that autumn blaze.

Joy and anger, sorrow and delight, hope and regret, doubt and ardor, diffidence and abandon, candor and reserve: it's all music rising out of emptiness, mushrooms appearing out of mist. Day and night come and go, but who knows where it all begins? It is! It just is! If you understand this day in and day out, you inhabit the very source of it all."
Chuang Tzu, Chapter 19