A Storm of Ancient Taoist Tweets (#2)
With proportionally brief commentary.
Here’s few more selected excerpts recently tweeted from The Tao of Politics - if you find them of interest I invite you to follow me at http://twitter.com/taijireality
“What enables a nation to survive is benevolence and justice; what enables people to live is practical virtue. A nation without justice will perish even if it is large; people without goodwill will be wounded even if they are brave.”
The secondary obstacle is coming to agreement on what justice means. The primary obstacle is that a nation without justice refuses to be held to account.
“The confusion of ignorant rulers by treacherous ministers and the suspicions of petty people towards the cultivated can be seen while still subtle and clearly recognized only by sages.”
We often mistakenly think of degredation and corruption as indicators of lapsed character rather than indicators of the underlying real situation.
If you are willing to allow these ancient statements to penetrate deeply into your understanding: it will almost certainly be a revelation to realize they could easily have been written about our present world.
“In human nature, nothing is more valuable than benevolence; nothing is more urgent than wisdom. Benevolence is the sustenance; wisdom is the means to put it into practice. [1/6]
With these two qualities as the basis, all that is beneficial is consummated with the addition of courage, strength, intelligence, quickness, diligence, cleverness, acuity, brilliance, and perspicacity. [2/6]
But if one is personally undeveloped and has technical skills without benevolence and wisdom to guide them, to add all sorts of embellishments actually increases harm. [3/6]
Therefore, if one has courage and daring without benevolence, one is like a madman wielding a sharp sword; if one is smart and swift without wisdom, one is as though riding on a fast mount but not knowing which way to go. [4/6]