Quietly Listening

 "Teach us to care and not to care.

Teach us to sit still."
- T.S. Eliot

"You are sitting on the earth and you realize that this earth deserves you and you deserve this earth.  You are there - fully, personally, genuinely."
-  Chogyam Trungpa

"Remain sitting at your table and listen. 
Do not even listen, simply wait, 
be quiet still and solitary. 
The world will freely offer itself 
to you to be unmasked, 
it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy 
at your feet."
-  Franz Kafka


"Sit quietly
focus and forget
rest with the great achievement.
The ancient child asks
"what is the great achievement?"
It is beyond description in any language
it can only be felt intuitively
it can only be expressed intuitively.
Engage a loose, alert, and aware
body, mind, and sound
then look into the formless
and perceive no thing.
See yourself as a sphere
small at first
growing to encompass
the vastness of infinite space.
Sit quietly
focus and forget then
in a state of ease and rest
secure the truth of the great achievement.
Employing the truth will not exhaust its power
when it seems exhausted it is really abundant
and while human art will die at the hands of utility
the great achievement is beyond being useful.
Great straightness is curved and crooked
great intelligence is raw and silly
great words are simple and naturally awkward.
Engaged movement drives out the frozen cold
mindful stillness subdues the frenzied heart.
Sit quietly
focusing
forgetting
summon order from the void
that guides the ordering of the universe."
-  Tao Te Ching, Chapter 45, Translated by John Bright-Fey, 2006


"There are many matters and many circumstances in which consciousness is undesirable and silence is golden, so that secrecy can be used as a marker to tell us that we are approaching the holy."-  Gregory Bateson, Angels Fear



Sitting in the Garden

Zuowang Meditation

Spirituality and Nature

Heart Problems

 People in their late 70's are often dealing with some kind of heart or vascular problems.  I myself, at 77, have a pacemaker that does not let my heartbeat fall below 60 beats per minute to overcome Bradycardia.  I had the pacemaker inserted in 2017.  I have a stint in my LAD, inserted in 2018. At the start of 2023, I have disconcerting symptoms of Atrial Fibulation; weakness, shortness of breath, lightheadedness.  I have scheduled a cryo-ablation in 2023 to try correct AFib.  

I consult with a variety of good physicians in Vancouver, at Peace Health Hospital Cardiology-Electrophysiology. I have confidence in their diagnosis and treatment recommendations.  I research the subject by reading AFib books and quality Afib articles online.  I take Eliquis to reduce stroke chances.  

I try to follow all recommendations for good self-care.  Taking prescribed medicines, sleeping well, mild exercise, social relations, projects, careful eating, stress reduction, and not using recreational drugs.   

I will try my best to stay positive, stay busy, keep a cheerful demeanor, and reassure others.  I have so much to be grateful for in my life!

Back to blogging and webpage projects - stay busy!

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Chapter 11

Dao De Jing, Laozi
Chapter 11

"Thirty spokes unite in a nave, but the nothingness in the hub

Gives to the wheel its usefulness, for thereupon it goes round;

The potter kneads the clay as he works, with many a twist and rub,

But in the nothingness within, the vessel's use is found;

Doors and windows cut in the walls thereby a room will make,

But in its nothingness is found the room' s utility;

So the profit of existences is only for the sake

Of non-existences, where all the use is found to be."
-  Translated by Isaac Winter Heysinger, 1903, Chapter 11 

"Thirty spokes share one hub.
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose in hand, and you will have the use of the cart.
Knead clay in order to make a vessel.
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose in hand, and you will have the use of the vessel.
Cut out doors and windows in order to make a room.
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose in hand, and you will have the use of the room.
Thus what we gain is Something, yet it is by virtue of Nothing that this can be put to use."
-  Translated by D. C. Lau, 1963, Chapter 11  

"Although the wheel has thirty spokes its utility lies in the emptiness of the hub.
The jar is made by kneading clay, but its usefulness consists in its capacity.
A room is made by cutting out windows and doors through the walls, but the space the walls contain measures the room's value.
In the same way matter is necessary to form, but the value of reality lies in its immateriality.
Or thus: a material body is necessary to existence, but the value of a life is measured by its immaterial soul."
-  Translated by Dwight Goddard and Henri Borel, 1919, Chapter 11

"Thirty spokes will converge
In the hub of a wheel;
But the use of the cart
Will depend on the part
Of the hub that is void.
With a wall all around
A clay bowl is molded;
But the use of the bowl
Will depend on the part
Of the bowl that is void.
Cut out windows and doors
In the house as you build;
But the use of the house
Will depend on the space
In the walls that is void.
So advantage is had
From whatever is there;
But usefulness rises
From whatever is not."
-  Translated by Raymond Blackney, 1955, Chapter 11   

"Though thirty spokes may be joined in one hub, the utility of the carriage lies in what is not there.
Though clay may be moulded into a vase, the utility of the vase lies in what is not there
Though doors and windows may be cut to make a house, the utility of the house lies in what is not there.
Therefore, taking advantage of what is, we recognize the utility of what is not."
-  Translated by Jan J. L. Duyvendak, 1954, Chapter 11 



Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu: Introduction, Bibliography, Commentary, Chapter Index

Chapter 11 of the Dao De Jing by Laozi: Text and Commentaries
 

Index of English Language Translators of the Tao Te Ching

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices
 
Chapter and Thematic Index to the Tao Te Ching