(Here’s a picture of gift-wrapping paper.)
To whom it may concern,
At long last, I found a translation of the TAO TE CHING that I actually enjoy – it was done by a fantasy writer whom I love and respect: Ursula K. Le Guin. (This is one of those bits of news that I feel I must have already told you.) TAO: “the WAY” – just think about how many of these spiritual teachers referred to their philosophy with that same idea. Buddha was about the middle WAY; Jesus taught his WAY (as you know, his followers were originally just known as “people of the WAY” – they were only labeled “Christians” or “little Christ-folk” later, derisively) . . . and when you investigate the ancient Hebrew prophets, you find that many (all?) spoke of some sort of WAY.
One of the sutras or chapters in the TAO that haunts me is number 57 from Book 2 – I’ll copy the middle stanza below. I’m frightened by this, because it captures our modern moment, despite being written so many thousands of years ago. It makes me fear that no progress can be made; that humankind is doomed to repeat the same awful loop; because, no matter how much we strive to move from discord to harmony, we find ourselves right back in this bad spot:
The more restrictions and prohibitions in the world,
the poorer people get.
The more experts the country has
the more of a mess it’s in.
The more ingenious the skillful are,
the more monstrous their inventions.
The louder the call for law and order,
the more the thieves and con men multiply.
Thankfully, in the final stanza, the poet gives the antidote to all this: “I practice inaction.” (I also love the piece’s title: “Being simple.”)
(2)
Yesterday, my sweetheart was small-talking with an old colleague of hers, Ms. X, who asked about our daily reading. My sweetheart listed a few titles and authors, and, since one of them was the biblical Psalms (I should mention that Ms. X is a staunch Christian), Ms. X lit up and said: “O, that’s great! I myself have been working on memorizing the Heidelberg Catechism; right now I’m starting on the first question.” – This made me curious, so I did a quick Internet-search to refresh my memory about what exactly the Heidelberg Catechism is (I’m only vaguely aware of it) . . . I’ll just copy a couple sentences from the results:
The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) is a Reformed catechism taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine.
By the way, a catechism is defined as “a summary or exposition of doctrine which serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in Christian religious teaching of children and adult converts.” And “Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, a schism in the Western Church.”
Can you believe that people care enough to commit to heart these types of church instructions? – I’ll move on from this, because “to each his own”; but, before letting it go, allow me just to copy the thing’s first “Q&A” (it’s composed in the form of a long list of questions and answers), since this is what Ms. X said she’s intending to memorize:
What is thine only comfort in life and in death? That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, and that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him.
Whew! Now let me share just two more things, and then I’ll end this. . . .
(3)
First, here’s a quotation of a Persian scholar from the 12th century, whose name is Najmoddin Kobra – it’s from a book that I’ve been wanting to get my hands on, a copy of which I finally purchased and read, titled THE MAN OF LIGHT IN IRANIAN SUFISM by Henry Corbin. Corbin calls Kobra “the first of the Sufi masters to focus his attention on the phenomena of colors, the colored photisms that the mystic can perceive in the course of his spiritual states,” and he explains that he “took great pains to describe these colored lights and to interpret them as signs revealing the mystic’s state and degree of spiritual progress. . . .” Now here are the words of Kobra himself – the passage isn’t overtly about color; I just want to share it because I like it:
Do not believe that the Heaven you contemplate in the suprasensory is the visible outer Sky. No, in the suprasensory (i.e., in the spiritual world) there are other Skies, more subtle, bluer, purer, brighter, innumerable and limitless. The purer you become within, the purer and more beautiful is the Sky that appears to you, until finally you are walking in divine purity. But divine purity is also limitless. So never believe that beyond what you have reached there is nothing more, nothing higher still.
I think that this is a beautiful idea, which even the One True God (if such an entity were to exist) might find uplifting. For, upon obtaining the top position among creatures in the world, would it not be sad to find a ceiling to one’s ascent? I believe God would welcome the news that heaven has a heaven, and so does that heaven, and so on . . .
(4)
Now, lastly, here’s a quotation from a movie by Federico Fellini. We just finished screening his filmography, and even tho I was very familiar with his work (he’s always been among my absolute favorites), I was more impressed and more frequently surprised by the poetic exuberance of his films than I have been by the work of any other director. But what I want to share is not from his best picture; it’s not even a film that most people like very much (tho I myself love it); it’s a fake documentary about clowns, called simply THE CLOWNS (1970). The ending is so good, I have to steal it – the movie concludes with a big funeral, and this is the solemn speech that is delivered:
Ladies and gentlemen, sad news fills the air today. Mister Augusto, A.K.A. “The Clown,” passed on, has departed, has deceased – is dead. His few friends and his many creditors bewail his untimely passing at the age of 200. We couldn’t say he was handsome or intelligent; we couldn’t say anything about him; because, to the smallest remark, he’d only answer by squirting water in our face. On this sad occasion, to deliver a eulogy, so that there would be some kind words praising the memory of the deceased, is a desperate challenge, my dear friends: How can I say good things about him? It’s just impossible to find a single episode in his wrecked existence that would make you say: “He was a nice guy, after all.” He’s always been untalented, a lazy-ass, a drunk, a trouble-maker, a good-for-nothing. He cheated at games, he was unfaithful to his friends, a pain in the neck for his landlord and for the electric company. We all weep at the sad news that he died now instead of when the nurse said “It’s a boy.” In his long, dishonest life, he was dedicated to throwing buckets of water in people’s faces, breaking eggs on heads, spreading soap in mouths. He played the trombone with his feet and danced the tango on his ears. He made kids laugh, and his own children cry. As the “White Clown” and as his brotherly enemy, I tried as well as I could to teach him some manners by hitting him on the head, stepping on his feet, and slapping his face. The clown Augusto, resistant to all guidance, never deviated from his grotesque, drunken career. He continued to cavort under a shower of rotten fruit and dirty water, until he was suffocated by an ostrich egg! It entered his nose and blocked his major arteries. His lungs failed, and his soul flew out of his right ear. He lives no longer. Luckily, I still do! Weep, my brothers, if you wish. As for me, I’ve cried more than enough when I had to put up with him on stage at the circus. Amen.
I love this speech so much that I undertook to transcribe it by constantly pausing and re-pausing the film. So, please, bring it with you, and use it, wherever you go, to evangelize the multitudes.
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