The Laughing Wolf

Tao Te Ching

Before the crackers earned my ire and set forth a much stronger bit of food for thought today, I had been planning on dealing with a very interesting book: the Tao Te Ching. Pronounced (close enough) Dow De Jing, this book is a must read for anyone studying Taoism, Chinese/Asian philosophy, the martial arts, or even a good comparative religion course. The version I have is the pocket edition of the New English Version by Stephen Mitchell. I highly recommend it as he as done an outstanding job of translation and has tried to be faithful to what lies behind. This includes a gender neutral status, since there is no gender distinction in the original language.

Fate was working when I picked it up Thursday to select a passage. For what I opened the book to was:

“Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.”

Profound advice for pundits, politicians, and most everyone I think, but I found it particularly apt given what I do here. Think on it a bit, and see what you think it means.

LW