I
2012
is
good
for
YOU
falling apart! like melting ice
unshaped! like an uncarved block of wood
open! like an empty cave
confused! like murky water
who can let murkiness, through quieting,
gradually come to clarity?
who can let stillness, through stirring,
gradually come to life?
when you let go of what you are
you become what you might be
if you realize that all things change
there is nothing you will try to hold on to
keeping to this path
you guard against being overfull
truly not full of yourself
you can lose yourself
and be newly made
if you are not afraid of dying,
there is nothing you cannot achieve
Lao Tse (570 - 490BC)
peace
11 comments:
Food for thought.NICE!
Happy new year mate.
Dazza
Change is coming - we better get used to it and make the best of it. Your words often help. Thank you.
wasa wasa
'2012 is good for you.' Is it? According to the government things are going to get worse.
Oh dear I think you missed it.
It says "I hope 2012 is good for you" or am I STUPID ?
I am sorry if my 2012 message seemed a bit ambiguous. That the government has said things will get worse is an understatement, as usual. Things will be very bad for folk at the bottom of the economic pile, as usual. The poorest and most vulnerable will continue to be victimised by the ConDem cuts.
So then, what did I mean by - I hope 2012 is good for you?
I hope 2012 is good for the senior social work practioner at the end of her tether, with a couple of hundred needy clients that cannot be serviced because there are not enough staff or other resources. I hope she will not burn out on the mission to make a difference.
I hope that the young lass training to be a mental health nurse can keep the faith that drives her on when others are turning away from such a prospect and those qualified cannot get a job any where in the UK. I hope she will continue to be able to say – it is worth it.
I hope a little group of activists, while suffering from their own mental health issues, will find the strength to continue to campaign for the good of others. I hope their year will be good for them and their fight.
I hope that the young homeless man I spoke with over the holiday will find shelter and will not take his own life. I hope he will not fall right through the gaping holes in a welfare system that used to be the envy of the world.
I hope a veteran teacher I know will find an antidote to the constant bullying from his head teacher and will find a way to continue to teach the kids he loves with out sacrificing his health.
I hope the remaining stalwart little group of local youth workers crewing the ghost ship that is youth work will be valued at last and that their masters will realise they stand and hold the line that might prevent increasing social disaster on a scale that might not be easily averted otherwise.
I hope the lost soul who was once a friend of mine will see that the endless electric returns she makes around the behaviour of young people in trouble will not result in their recovery but will only fuel Big Brothers appetite for information that will ultimately be used against them. I hope some one will realise the irrelevance of the whole exercise and scrap it. I hope she finds the inner peace and sense of self worth she craves and that the people who have turned away from her will help her see what is real when she begins to seek it.
I hope that 2012 will be good for those fighting for their freedom in the Arab spring.
I hope their eventual victory will bring more light into their lives and the world, not less.
Here in the UK I hope that in 2012 the inactive will participate more in civic life and celebrate the rights that others, far away, are dying to attain.
I hope that the higher feelings, alive in all of us, will come good and we will move toward a better place, how ever little, how ever slowly. There is an alternative to the current reality of war with out end and life with out dignity.
There is an alternative to the manic fabrication and manufacturing of the things we don't need and that threaten our very survival. There is an alternative to old and pointless economic and political rituals and practices that no longer fill us up with good energy and strength to build good things. Instead they have created a huge divide between rich and poor, educated and un-educated and lines of people queing for food.
I hope we might explore this further in 2012 with renewed vigour. I suspect we might have to.
The old monk Lao Tse wrote his words a long time ago and though they are some times difficult to clearly understand they contain some simple truths that are invaluable as a starting place when you are consumed by the pain of your lot and confused by the real causes. I have always taken what I can from where ever I find it and first became interested in the old guy when I was fourteen. I am still searching for answers and live in hope. I hope 2012 is good for you.
peace
No I didn't 'miss' it; it definately says, '2012 is good for you.' I hope 2012 is good for you would have made it a totally different matter - hope is always good. 2012 is good for you sounds like an advert for the year ahead without telling us what it contains that is 'good' for us, for you, for me etc. Nuts are good for some people but can kill others with the most extreme allergy cases but there is no getting away from the fact nuts contain a lot of good stuff just not for everybody. 2012 may indeed be good for me or anyone of us but without knowing more about it I am not gonna get excited before the facts - bit like L'Oreal face cream.
I hope 2012 is good for everyone.
WRONG it definitely does not say 2012 is good for you.There is an "I" and a blue pic with the words "HOPE"" followed by the words "2012 IS GOOD FOR YOU".
The last commentator is correct. Perhaps your computer is not displaying GIF photos i.e. the Hope pic. You should be able to see the letter I though,at the top of the page, if you can see the words 2012 is good for you.
Dazza
yep! I got that blue pic and all. have a look at it on a good computer. wonder what else you are not getting ....
James
My apologies I can see the I now.
I have read other things by Lao Tse in the past and it is all good and as fresh and vital today as it would have been then. Never easy words to swallow but thought provoking as a lot of forgotten ancient wisdom is.
Sally
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