Sleep On (Rumi)

This is my version of a poem by the 13th century poet Rumi, based on the literal translation by Arberry. I originally did this last summer, but I didn't understand it then. I only understood it now, when typing and re-writing it to post here. The "you" and "we" are not necessarily corresponding to separate entities. They may be part of the same, but they are the relative versus the absolute, the body/soul versus the mystical spirit.

 

 

Sleep On

 

You who are not possessed by Love, bid goodnight and be gone.
Since Love and Love’s sorrow are not your lot, you may sleep on.
We, whose passion for the Loved One has set alight our heart,
Are burning now with Love’s sorrow that we should be apart.
And so in quest for union, we hurry like a river,
While you who have never had your heart pierced by Love’s quiver,
Nor suffered ceaseless anguish for the source from whence Love shone,
Since your passion is for suppers and desserts, so sleep on.
Love’s path is not among the seventy-two ways, so sleep on,
For your love and way is pure hypocrisy and a con.
The sunrise is our dawn cup, the twilight dusk our supper,
In quest for the grail of truth, we melt ourselves like copper.
You, whose philosopher’s stone is the bedfellow, sleep on.
Like a drunk, you fall and rise till night's passed, yet still sleep on.
Now it’s prayer time, but fate bars me from slumber, so be gone.
Your sleep passed you by, now you’re fresh for slumber, so sleep on.
We have fallen prey into Love’s hand – now what will Love do?
You in your own hands, sleep on, choosing the right hand that’s true.
I’m the one who drinks blood, you my soul the one who eats on,
Since fine foods for a certainty demand slumber, sleep on.
I have abandoned hope for my brain – my head is undone.
If you aspire for a fresh and juicy brain, then sleep on.
I have rent the garment of speech, and let the words be gone.
For you who are not naked and possess a robe, sleep on.

The Adjustment Bureau (US, 2011)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Romance

I only saw this because my bus was late, then broke down, so I missed a meeting, and not wanting to waste the journey thought I’d go see a movie instead. Perhaps it was God’s will! Isn’t it a noble thought: to align oneself with God’s plan. But how would you feel about aligning yourself to the plan of “The Adjustments Bureau”, a plan designed by its chairman and executed by its agents for the best interests of humanity? Could you sacrifice your love for the sake of your loved one? Or would you try to rebel against the all-powerful and change their plan? And how could you, insignificant in the grand scheme, possibly succeed? Unless that too were allowed by the plan… So begins and ends this Matrix-style romantic thriller set in the streets, offices and mysterious other-world of New York as the two protagonists, a career politician and a contemporary dancer, embrace in the bitter madness of love against all the odds. When you walk out the door and see a man with a hat, you will ask yourself… “Is he one of them?” But in the arms of your love you will know… all else is invisible.

Bad Tidings

Up against the wall,

I can hold my breath

My tongue no longer

Can you read my lips?

Fire cannot put out their flame,

So give me water.

~*~

Without warning,

You give me goosebumps.

An almighty shiver

To the core of my being.

Just yesterday, spring was blooming,

Dewy fragrance graced the dawn

And children waved farewell,

Some for the last time.

O mighty Earth, O cruel sea!

By the light of the great sun,

We shall always hold you close

In love, in pain, in healing.

–okei

Ideas towards a Structure of the Tao Te Ching

A Subdivision of Lao-Tzu's

Tao Te Ching into 27 Parts

The Unnameable Dao (1-3)
Emptiness (4-7)
Suppleness (8-10)
Openness (11-13)
Formlessness (14-16)
Genuineness (17-19)
Inner Stillness (20-21, 24)
Wholeness (22-23, 25)
Rootedness (26-28)
Peacefulness (29-31)
Innateness (31-34)
Mildness (35-37)
Simpleness (38-39, 41)
Reversion (40)

Wordlessness (42-44)
Stillness (45-47)
Harmlessness (48-50)
Straightness (51-53)
Virtuousness (54-56)
Sparingness (57-59)
Forgiveness (60-62)
Mindfulness (63-65)
Humility (66, 80-81)
Reserve (67-69)
Wisdom (70-72)
Softness (73-76)
Gentleness (77-79)


This then is a playlist of the complete reading of a compressed-haiku version of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejin) by Lao-Tzu (Laozi). The order follows that of the over two-thousand year old Ma-wang-tui version of the text which was discovered in 1973.

The spirit of Dao of these verses is illustrated by the paintings of Jia Lu and accompanied by the gayageum-playing of Choi Jin.  

And it is read by me. Enjoy!




Acknowledgments to books by Henricks and Lin Yutang especially, inspiration from Lee to begin with, an insight of Tamara, and Fangyu and Jue for a comment or two along the Way.

Spirit of Dao in the Art of Jia Lu

Ingredients:

Hello All! I've been rather absent lately. I hope you are all well!

Apart from work, I've also been enjoying putting together this...a video comprising:

(1) the verses of the Tao Te Ching (pronounced Daodejin) by Lao-Tzu (Laozi), rendered in haiku form,

(2) a selection of paintings of female beauty by Jia Lu ("Departures" pictured).

(3) the traditional Chinese instrumental piece "Return of the Fishing Boat".

Enjoy!

Directions:

Kant on Education

Ingredients:

Published posthumously in 1803, Kant’s lectures on pedagogy were not written for publication, but compiled from notes of lectures he gave. Following the pattern of his philosophy generally, Kant begins with the negative before turning to the positive, from limitation (pure reason) followed by expansion (practical reason).

Directions:

Man unlike animals seems to rely on intelligence instead of natural instinct, and thus uniquely among creatures requires education: care, discipline, instruction and formation until the child is able to rely on its own intelligence. A good analogy of this process is of the educator as a gardener. The ground is fertile for all kinds of seeds, both good and bad, so the gardener in his wisdom must root out the bad seeds and provide good nutrients to the ground so that the true seed of original nature may flourish. It is a negative approach to begin with (care that protects from harm and discipline to obey and speak the truth), which in turn allows for the positive approach of effective instruction and guidance, the former educating for school and the latter educating for life, cultivating ways of thinking that enable understanding to arise from within. Without instruction, man would be uncultured and raw, but without discipline, Kant contends that man would be less than human – savage, with a propensity to freedom that Rousseau considered noble, but Kant strongly disagrees. Nobility for Kant requires guidance that we may best make use of our freedom, educating to think for oneself and not be merely trained, that inner worth replace the opinions of others, that inner knowing and understanding arise from and replace feeling and experience and that good humour and natural piety replace blind and gloomy devotion. Thus, although Kant starts with constraint, the child must be afforded freedom. A good example is how generosity can only arise with the corresponding power to be generous. Kant's four keys to a good education are obedience, truthfulness, sociability and a cheerful heart. This follows closely the three keys in Arthurian legend of not too much indulgence, good company and good spirits!

If this project of education were successively improved, at each stage the educated having greater wisdom to be better educators, to what heights could man aspire? To what perfection of his true potential would he be capable? This and the project for a just society, the project of government, Kant considers to be the two most important and most difficult projects of the practical philosopher. The conduct of the project is an art, but he believes in the existence of absolute underlying principles which must be uniformly applied. There is perhaps a paradox here in that the perfection to man’s natural state seems to require very unnatural means. But these means are guided by reason which is in turn natural “in God”, so the perfection of man in God is a natural and thus universal endeavour, precisely because reason does not discriminate between individuals. And indeed Kant stresses not to “value human beings according to their religious observances, for in spite of the diversity of religions there is nevertheless unity of religion everywhere”.

This project of education, as with all culture, “begins with private individuals and extends outwards from there” to society and the world. This is because it is individuals who, unlike rulers, can take into account the good of the world above their own or their state’s interests. The image he uses to criticize the self-interested and spoilt prince is of the tree that stands apart in a sunlit field, its branches extending outwards in all directions. However, it is ironic that it is precisely this romantic image that is found in ancient Egypt for the happy man, providing ample shelter and plentiful fruit.

The existence of absolute principles, even without the insistence on absolute content, is still a questionable proposition. Does Kant really respect the dignity of difference, that “chaqu’un a son goût”? He sees a unity in religion and does not find the corresponding diversity problematic, so it is perhaps in the same light of universality that we should view his project of education. And then, at the age of sixteen, Kant sees the educated as attaining the potential paternal role of educators themselves. But we would rather consider education as an on-going life-long process, allowing for the continuing malleability of character and knowledge beyond mere childhood. Or is the cake baked by sixteen and we may enjoy the taste of our education and live happily after?… in God, through the wisdom of pure and practical reason… thanks to Kant!

Power of the Dao (Lao-Tzu)

Ingredients:

Verses 26-41 of Lao-Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) in haiku form. This completes the section on the Tao (Dao) and includes the first four verses on the Te (Virtue).

The image is "Streaming Wind" by Jia Lu.

Directions:

26.
Centred at the root,
Heavy and still in one’s self,
The world becomes light.

27.
The skilled leave no mark.
So the wise king neglects none
And values the raw.

28.
He knows right and wrong,
Yet returns to origins
And does not cut up.

29.
Some strive to control.
I see they will not succeed.
The world is sacred.

30.
Putting aside arms,
He achieves without cruelty.
In victory, he stops.

31.
Weapons bring bad luck.
Gentlemen do not relish war.
In victory, they mourn.

32.
Nameless, seeming small,
Like the streams that fill the seas,
Dao cannot be grasped.

33.
Know others to last.
Know self to die to yourself.
And last in the Dao.

34.
Unrestrained, innate,
Clothed in the ten thousand things,
Though meek, Dao is great.

35.
Sanctity of peace,
Plain to taste, unseen, unheard,
Its reserves endless.

36.
To lay low, raise high.
Mildness overcomes proud strength,
So powers should hide deep.

37.
Dao takes no action.
When maintained, and desires calmed,
Things transform themselves.

38.
Unconscious, unplanned,
Virtue’s the fruit of the Way,
Ethics its brief flower.

39.
Remembering the One,
Rather than tinkling like jade,
Rumble like the rocks.

41.
When they hear the Dao,
Some poor souls burst out laughing.
Else it wouldn’t be Dao!

40.
Soft means are its ends.
Dao teaches by example.
Through non-being, it is.