Tao Te Ching, Verse 3, Part I

“Stop looking for rare, moral persons (hsien) to put in power.
There will be jealousies among people, jealousies and strife.
If we cease to set store by products that are hard to get, there will be less outright thieves.
If the people never see such things as excite desire, their hearts can remain placid and undisturbed.
Therefore the wise one rules by emptying their hearts [like the clown].
He fills their bellies, weakens their brightness and toughens their bones,ever striving to make the people without knowledge.
He sees to it that if there are any who are bright and clever, they dare not interfere.
Through his non-do actions all [such subjection] runs well [for some time].”
(Tao Te Ching, Verse 3, Byrn Translation)

If you ever wonder if ancient texts (the 6th century BC) can be relevant today, look at the first stanza above – it’s our culture in a nutshell, which only goes to prove that “there is nothing new under the sun.” I think it’s time for a bit of spiritual history. I grew up in a relatively strict fundamentalist Christian household in the Midwest. To this day, most of my friends and family are hard-core rightwing conservatives. They are social conservatives, which means that they are always “looking for rare, moral persons to put in power.” They are Fox News devotees. Somehow a television channel has managed to supplant or least become equal to the Bible as their guide to belief and behavior. They are not alone in this and thus our country is awash in the foolishness of talking points – jealousies and strife. It’s my opinion that the only way for one to break free of this cycle is to get back to the texts. The Bible is my guide for belief and behavior. I believe that it’s absolutely (if not always literally) true. I view the Tao, on the other hand as philosophy. It helps me make sense of the world and in today’s world I need all the sense I can get.