True perfection seems imperfect.

[judecorp]

45.

True perfection seems imperfect,
yet it is perfectly itself.
True fullness seems empty,
yet it is fully present.

True straightness seems crooked.
True wisdom seems foolish.
True art seems artless.

The Master allows things to happen.
She shapes events as they come.
She steps out of the way
and lets the Tao speak for itself.
(Mitchell translation)

I think I'd forgotten about wu wei for a while. The chaos I felt was of my own making. Too much manipulation manipulates me. I thought I should have been sleeping, but I was right to read instead. It had been too long.

I think a trip to church is in order for Sunday. I can't even remember the last time I went ~ probably the time that the beam fell from the ceiling.

I've been doing far too much doing and not enough being. Tomorrow is also full of doing, but perhaps I can make time. Funny, that I should have to make time to stop. Americans. We're foolish in our actions, in our refusal to let even something as beautiful as time go. We cry about our loss of governmental freedoms, but it is we who take away our intrinsic freedoms with every scheduled moment, every flippant obligation. Sometimes she needs to remember that the best action is non-action. Sometimes she needs to break apart to keep whole. Sometimes she needs to stay awake to rest.

Goodnight.

Comments

You stop

[clockwerkdragon.livejournal.com]

You die!
Only through activity can you prove you exist, only through action can you prove you are alive. There is no need to stop, no need to pause....To quote Conan, there is time enough of that in the grave. Oblivion awaits us all with big sharp pointy teeth. You must build, dream, grow! Evolve or be left behind, the only true immortality comes from without....outlive everything around you and you are immortal.

Re: You stop

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I don't believe that's true, necessarily. I think a certain amount of action is required for living, yes... but I think the Western ideal of always having to be on top, always having to have more, always having to do more, see more, buy more, get more... I think that's terribly destructive, especially for me.

outlive everything around you and you are immortal.
(More! More! More!) Outlive everything around you and you are alone.

Re: You stop

[clockwerkdragon.livejournal.com]

To be immortal is to be alone.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Then I'm glad I'm not immortal. :)

[oneedge.livejournal.com]

You didn't happen to see the Tao Te Ching sitting in the pile on my kithen table, did you? ;) Thanks for reminding me to look at it myself . . .

All too often I allow the business of life to consume me, without actually living.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

No, actually, I didn't see it in your house, but IMing you all day yesterday reminded me that it's been a long time. Remind me to show you the paper I wrote on taoist social work practice on the micro, meso, and macro levels sometime. :)

We should chat spiritual things when we get a chance. No rush, of course, but it's rare that I meet someone with pagan leanings that I can tolerate. O:)

[oneedge.livejournal.com]

I would be honored to sit and wax philosophical with you sometime.

Oh - and I slept right through my alarm this morning - which is something that I haven't done in over 6 years . . .

:)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Meep! I am a bad influence!

Philosophy = good. :)

[doulamel.livejournal.com]

It's rare that I meet someone with pagan leanings that doesn't scare the crap out of me. ;)
I mostly don't adhere to anything, but if I had to label myself, I'm a non-practicing Wiccan.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I'm not so much as afraid of pagans, just gun-shy of the pagan community as a whole. I've tried to incorporate with pagan communities in New York, Massachusetts, and Maine, and have left disillusioned every time. I know that there are pagan-minded people who are not like the communities I left. I know this because I know some great pagans! Just never as a group, heh.

I don't consider myself Wiccan. I did for a time in college but passed through that on my path. I would call myself a pagan-leaning unitarian universalist with a strong foundation in taoism, wicca, and roman catholicism. How's that for a mouthful? :)

[laughingsal.livejournal.com]

Except for the Wicca part, that sounds like me.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Maybe we're the same person!

Are you going to Schiller tonight?

[laughingsal.livejournal.com]

Possible, but not likely. I'll run it by Andy, see if he's in the mood. I'm not sure if I feel like it or not. Generally I have a hard time sitting still for long periods of time.

When is camping?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I don't know. We had talked about doing it this weekend, but I think that's a bust because Melissa has to clean out her old apartment.

Poo.

[laughingsal.livejournal.com]

As do I. *sigh*

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Poo. Soon, though.

[psychostalker.livejournal.com]

I'll be too busy going through your trash.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I just threw out a whole bunch of cat poop. Have fun!

[psychostalker.livejournal.com]

Your gonna die bitch!

[laughingsal.livejournal.com]

I love the Tao. That poem sticks out for me, strange that you quoted it. I even say it to Andy some times, jokingly, when I make a mistake..."True perfection is imperfect." I wonder if that's the same translation I have.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

The Mitchell translation is fairly common in little illustrated hardcover copies. It's not as "dumbed down" as some of them, yet isn't as brusque either. What I like about it is that Stephen Mitchell alternates between male and female pronouns for Master.

I'll have to check other translations to see if "True perfection is imperfect" is stated in the same words.