Lots of excerpts.

These are bits and pieces I read over the weekend that I liked.  They are from a variety of readings.

The uses of not

Thirty spokes

meet in the hub.

Where the wheel isn’t

is where it’s useful.

Hollowed out,

clay makes a pot.

Where the pot’s not

is where it’s useful.

Cut doors and windows

to make a room.

Where the room isn’t,

there’s room for you.

So the profit in what is

is in the use of what isn’t.

Excerpt From: Ursula K. Le Guin. “Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching.” Shambhala Publications. iBooks. 

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I think why I like the Lao Tzu is probably pretty evident.  It has been a long time since I have read the Tao Te Ching, and this is a translation with commentary that I have not read before, so it is nice, and very much like poetry.

On to the next one.  I liked this bit from Rumi too:

Lo, I am with you always means when you look for God,

God is in the look of your eyes,

in the thought of looking, nearer to you than your self,

or things that have happened to you

There’s no need to go outside.

Excerpt From: Barks, Coleman. “The Essential Rumi - reissue.” HarperCollinsPublishers. iBooks. 

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Moving towards more modern philosophers, I do like Camus, and this snippet is from his essay "State Terrorism and Irrational Terror": 

“Fascism is an act of contempt, in fact. Inversely, every form of contempt, if it intervenes in politics, prepares the way for, or establishes, Fascism.”

Excerpt From: Camus, Albert. “Albert Camus Collection.” iBooks. 

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I think the Camus is highly relevant currently because while Trump obviously has contempt for everyone not him, his opponents need to remember not to hold him in contempt.  Those who ran against him in the elections seem to have held him in contempt, and see where it landed us.

This last bit describes just about anyone who reads.  In the text, it was mystery novels, but for certain readers it really could be anything.

“Whereas his taste in other books was rigorous, demanding to the point of narrow-mindedness, with these works he showed almost no discrimination whatsoever. When he was in the right mood, he had little trouble reading ten or twelve of them in a row. It was a kind of hunger that took hold of him, a craving for a special food, and he would not stop until he had eaten his fill.”

Excerpt From: Auster, Paul. “The New York Trilogy.” Penguin, 2017-04-14T17:03:10Z. iBooks. 

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Toilets & Terror

At the outset, I should apologize for the blurry picture, but these are the toilet seat pants I saw while I was in Paris. The guy was moving, and I was as well, so this is the best photo I could manage. I still don't understand the fashion statement involved with toilet seats painted on the backside of a pair of jeans. If only I could come up with such things and actually have them sell.

There is a real nice quote from Camus, "terror does not create a climate conducive of thinking." (p. 259) This is from some of his last work for Combat (featured in the book "Camus at Combat"). Here I think enough people have lashed out and flogged this horse often enough that if it isn't dead, it must surely be close, though with a constant python-esque refrain of "I'm not dead yet." To write of the absurd is to write of our times, and so much has been parodied, that there is little left to do. It does make me wonder though, is it really possible to attack the current times from a new direction, so commentary is fresh and perhaps a bit less referential than the mundane. What shoehorns people into their actions? Every so often something seizes on the vast malaise of men, and everyone runs about seizing the day (by drinking way too much and skipping work) to escape their quiet desperation. The change people are after is a change in outlook, because politics will remain the same with only a slightly different seasoning. We have had too many years of the parties at each other's throats and this incivility is what needs to change, as it carries over elsewhere too. It is impossible to put forward the proverbial good family front when the neighbors hear the fighting. [This needs some major editing, but I don't think I am up for it tonight.]