Tao Te Ching 33 Notes: Introduction and Afterward

Introduction

In Reading Tao Te Ching, Chapter 33, I referenced Derek Lin’s A Note on the Translation from his book and, also, his Approach and Guiding Principals which can be found on the internet. With Wayne Dyer, I cross-referenced his translation with the original translators listed in his Acknowledgements section. For the first time, I include Stephen Hodge’s translation and commentary of the selected reading. My comparison section includes the rather sticky first two lines which seem to interchange the English language words intelligent, knowledge, clever, enlightened, wisdom and insight. Also, I look at Derek Lin’s translation versus that of ancient Taoist scholar Wang Bi’s Commentary, which though not overtly mentioned (by Lin), was surely referenced as a basis for ancient Chinese grounding of the text.  

Derek Lin’s translation of 33 is structured in four sections[PS1] [i].  Section 1 consists of lines 1 through 4 and distinguishes intellect from enlightenment; and strength from power. Section 2 consists of lines 5 and 6. Line 5 equates contentment with wealth. Line 6 identifies vigor as an attribute of willpower. Section 3 is merely line 7 which tells us that in keeping our faith in the Tao, we may live long. Section 4, line 8, tells us that through leaving a legacy, we can live on after physical death in our works preserve and in memories deserved.

Lin’s book translation invokes the Greek maxim Know Thyself. He illustrates this, in part, by reminding us that you are your own worst enemy. Though unstated, practice makes perfect might best describe his summation of physical cultivation. A strong spiritual foundation sustains us in the tests of our will over time. Derek closes by telling us that we can live on in the hearts and minds of others by bringing meaning and joy to all others while we live. Helping them. Cherishing them. Sounding very Confucian.

Derek Lin’s internet commentary of TTC 33, to some extent, gives an opinionated interpretation of each line with a summary accompanying each section. The explanations resemble the types of opinionated translations which he rejects from other translators. This observation (of mine) kind of justifies the extended language used by western translators to balance (their) precision to the (laconic) concision of the original ancient Chinese text.

Wayne Dyer never disappoints. Each of his translations is a strict plagiarizing of the hard work of another scholar. Pick an “Acknowledged” author. Grab a few lines. Omit other lines. Voila! Translation a la Wayne Walter Dyer – Self Help Guru. With no attempt to alter even a particle of translation, it is no wonder our poor departed humorous self-help guru gets sued posthumously. I have to admit, I stumbled on Wayne’s verse-clipping fetish by accident when the incongruity of one of his pasted together confections stunned me then sent me into a laborious investigation. Nevertheless, Mr. Dyer’s works in general have helped vastly more souls than his plagiarism has hurt. Who among us can say as much as to our petty transgressions?

Wayne’s Verse 33 commentary inspired almost no curiosity or criticism in me. The mention of A Course in Miracles caught my eye. In short, his 1000+ word gloss, at length, sat uncharacteristically understated, error free and sorely minimally without quotations.

My inclusion of Stephen Hodge originated with his mention in Dyer’s Acknowledgements.  I acquired Hodge’s book used for $1.80. I didn’t know that it would turn out to be a deep dive into the Mawangdui slips and Guodian strips. With a terrific historical introduction of the subject and a rather awkward presentation of the Tao Te Ching, I fell in love, for a moment, you might say.


[i] THE STRUCTURE OF LAOZI 33

Laozi 33 has the formal signals associated with IPS[i]. The two pairs in texts 1 and 2 are parallel with a minor difference, you li 有(yǒu) 力(lì) being two characters but 智(zhì)  only one.

Texts 3 and 4 again are parallel with a similar minor difference. Texts 5 and 6 have the same number of characters and closely related terms at their ends, jiu 久(jiǔ) and shou 壽(shòu), but their grammar greatly differs, particularly in Wang Bi’s reading. The only clear indicator linking the first two texts with the second pair is the term powerful, 强(qiáng) in text 4, which links up with the same term in text 2.

However, neither text nor commentary give a clear indication linking text 1 with text 3. The term qiang is not commented upon in the commentary to text 2 and is defined through the quotation from Laozi 41 in the commentary to text 4 as meaning qin neng 勤(qín) 能(néng), “to the utmost of one’s capacities,” and provided with a supplement, “to practice the Way. There are two possible strategies here, either to read the definition in text 4 as fundamentally different from that suggested in text 2 and abandon the attempts at discovering more than a serial structure, or to transfer the content of qiang from text 4 to text 2.

I opt for the second strategy because of text 5. The commentary to this text directly takes up the terminology of texts 1 and 2 in a parallel manner, indicating that it is a general statement referring to previous chains begun by them. Text 6 also comes in as a general statement. Text 5 refers to the stability of position that a Sage Ruler enjoys, and text 6 to his personal survival.


 [PS1]Lines 1 & 2 are paired (P1) with minor differences, as lines 3 & 4, are also paired. Pair 1 (P1) links to Pair 2 (P1) via the word strong.

Lines 5 &6 are paired (P3) with the same number of characters and closely related terms (Long & ) at the ends, but differing grammar.

Phrases belonging to one chain (e.g., a) explicitly refer to each other by using the same vocabulary. In the closed form, no such explicit reference exists; the link is by implication. Given the possibility of the variant ab ba, this often leads to problems of attribution of individual phrases to one of the two chains.

Afterword

Why do I find it so important to investigate and analyze this and other chapters of the Tao Te Ching?

First, the Tao Te Ching guided me through the rough seas of life for decades past and I pay homage to the wisdom that cloaked me then. To stop and wait. To imagine an improved version of myself. To attempt to speak wisdom to another for whom I care. TTC is not just a book, it can be a sort of bible. It is not just poetry to soothe but just profound enough to make one stop and think. Thinking in times of peril may be good enough.

The excruciating detail (sometimes 😉 involved in each chapter analysis, for me, alludes back to the Bible. The Christian works, old and especially new, underwent revision and selection and insertion of ideas and assertions which Jesus surely never intended.  By examining the evidence (commentaries), literature (other Taoist books, e.g. I Ching, Chuang Tzu, etc.) and history (both Chinese and Shamanism), inaccuracies and even a type of “heresy” might be discovered and avoided.

An example of minor “heresy” might be Derek Lin’s conflicting goals of providing a true translation and resolving the gender issue. Laozi wrote Tao Te Ching, according to Wang Bi and others, for THE RULER. The ruler was always a man. Gender neutral pronouns are not true translations. Additionally, Derek Lin only partially resolved the issue of the translator inserting their parochial understanding directly into the piece. For, by writing a virtual line by line commentary alongside his translation, Derek has de facto committed the same “sin”.

The inclusion of the comparison of Derek Lin’s translation with that of Wang Bi via Rudolf Wagner evidences another emerging pursuit. Wagner’s A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing is only one of three tomes written on the subject. Each of his works include Chinese characters and over-my-head explanations of subject matter. I have to admit that one the things I have learned, so far, is how to copy and paste multiple languages from images of pages photographed in Mr. Wagner’s fine publication.

In summary, this granulating of the rock that is Tao Te Ching may result in a sandcastle that dissolves at high tide, much as our Tuesday together scatters us at eventide. But I hope to make my documents more substantive and still practical in future renditions. My process of comparing and resolving certain specifics in the TTC text yields satisfying knowledge within TTC (for me anyway) and an array of investigative and compositional skills without (for other and future research). A warning: my intensity on the subject will likely wax further before it wanes at all.

Falsifiable

So, I’m starting to read “A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing” by Rudolf G. Wagner, and I come across these passages:

A serious scholarly debate can only be based on translations that are in this sense falsifiable

Falsifiable translations? I have heard of this but I decided I must be able to understand “falsifiable” as a research tool, restate its definition in my own words and explain it to others. In this endeavor, my first stop, the WhatIs website by TechTarget, who say:

  • Falsifiability is the capacity for some proposition, statement, theory or hypothesis to be proven wrong.
  • That capacity is an essential component of the scientific method and hypothesis testing.
  • In a scientific context, falsifiability is sometimes considered synonymous with testability.

Huh, still not there yet!

Reading further… In hypothesis testing, the null hypothesis usually states the contrary of the experimental or alternative hypothesis The requirement of falsifiability means that conclusions cannot be drawn from simple observation of a particular phenomenon.

Ok, do I have enough to start to define, in my own words, falsifiability? I need three things:

  1. a hypothesis
  2. null hypothesis
  3. conclusion

Each of which must be filled in with details.

An example of falsifiable theories or hypothesis, can be a statement such as:

Tigers roar louder than Lions. That is a falsifiable statement as we can verify it empirically and determine which animal is louder than the other. The theory hypothesis might be wrong and therefore lions might roar louder than tigers.

On the other hand, a non-falsifiable theory defines a hypothesis that cannot be proven wrong.

For example, to state that God exists. This is non-falsifiable due to the fact that we cannot prove nor disprove that God actually exists. It is not possible to test it empirically[1]

This entry from Wikipedia helps:

Informally, a statement is falsifiable if some observation might show it to be false. For example,

 “All swans are white” is falsifiable because “Here is a black swan” shows it to be false.

The apparent contradictionseen in the case of a true but falsifiable statement disappears once we know the technical definition.

This from the METHODS website:

… falsifiability refers to the notion that a theory or statement can be found to be false; for instance, as the result of an empirical test.

So, without fully covering the subject of falsifiability, my simple understanding now is that:

Falsifiability means that a specified research project is falsifiable if through observation of the research material, any of the research conclusions can be proven false.

To be continued…


[1] Empirically: by means of observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.

Despondent? Do What Robinson Crusoe Did.

CHAPTER IV – FIRST WEEKS ON THE ISLAND

And, first, I found that all the ship’s provisions were dry and untouched by the water, and being very well disposed to eat, I went to the bread room and filled my pockets with biscuit, and ate it as I went about other things, for I had no time to lose… [PS1] 

There had been some barley and wheat together; but, to my great disappointment, I found afterwards that the rats had eaten or spoiled it all. [PS2] 

While I was doing this, I found the tide begin to flow, though very calm; and I had the mortification to see my coat, shirt, and waistcoat, which I had left on the shore, upon the sand, swim away… [PS3] 

And it was after long searching that I found out the carpenter’s chest, which was, indeed, a very useful prize to me, and much more valuable than a shipload of gold would have been at that time.  And thus, having found two or three broken oars belonging to the boat – and, besides the tools which were in the chest, I found two saws, an axe, and a hammer; with this cargo I put to sea. [PS4] 

I did my utmost, by setting my back against the chests…[PS5] 

All that I could do was to wait till the tide was at the highest… [PS6] 

I was in an island environed every way with the sea contented with this discovery, I came back to my raft, and fell to work to bring my cargo on shore… [PS7] 

I got on board the ship as before, and prepared a second raft…[PS8] 

I was under some apprehension, during my absence from the land, that at least my provisions might be devoured on shore: but when I came back I found no sign of any visitor; only there sat a creature like a wild cat upon one of the chests, which, when I came towards it, ran away a little distance, and then stood still. [PS9] 

…into this tent I brought everything that I knew would spoil either with rain or sun; [PS10] 

When I had done this, I blocked up the door of the tent with some boards within [PS11] 

In a word, I brought away all the sails, first and last; only that I was fain to cut them in pieces… [PS12] 

I found a great hogshead of bread, three large runlets of rum, or spirits, a box of sugar, and a barrel of fine flour…[PS13] 

But my good luck began now to leave me; for this raft was so unwieldy, and so overladen not being able to guide it so handily as I did the other, it overset, and threw me and all my cargo into the water… [PS14] 

…discovered a locker with drawers in it, in one of which I found two or three razors, and one pair of large scissors, with some ten or a dozen of good knives and forks [PS15] 

I smiled to myself at the sight of this money: ‘O drug!’ said I, aloud, ‘what art thou good for…[PS16] 

…in the morning, when I looked out, behold, no more ship was to be seen! [PS17] 

…what kind of dwelling to make – whether I should make me a cave in the earth, or a tent upon the earth;[PS18] 

1st,      health and fresh water, I just now mentioned;

2ndly, shelter from the heat of the sun;

3rdly,   security from ravenous creatures, whether man or beast;

4thly,   a view to the sea, that if God sent any ship in sight,[PS19] 

In this half-circle I pitched two rows of strong stakes, driving them into the ground till they stood very firm like piles, the biggest end being out of the ground above five feet and a half, and sharpened on the top. The two rows did not stand above six inches from one another.[PS20] 

…placing other stakes in the inside, leaning against them, about two feet and a half high, like a spur to a post; and this fence was so strong, that neither man nor beast could get into it or over it[PS21] 

I made a large tent, which to preserve me from the rains that in one part of the year are very violent there, I made double – one smaller tent within, and one larger tent above it; and covered the uppermost with a large tarpaulin, which I had saved among the sails. [PS22] 

Oh, my powder! My very heart sank within me when I thought that, at one blast, all my powder might be destroyed…[PS23] 

I think my powder, which in all was about two hundred- and forty-pounds weight, was divided in not less than a hundred parcels. [PS24] 

The first time I went out, I presently discovered that there were goats in the island [PS25] 

…by the position of their optics, their sight was so directed downward that they did not readily see objects that were above them;[PS26] 

Having now fixed my habitation, I found it absolutely necessary to provide a place to make a fire in, and fuel to burn: [PS27] 

I had great reason to consider it as a determination of Heaven, that in this desolate place, and in this desolate manner, I should end my life[PS28] 

All evils are to be considered with the good that is in them, and with what worse attends them.[PS29] 

…to live without my gun…[PS30] 

I set it up on the shore where I first landed – ‘I came on shore here on the 30th September 1659.’[PS31] 

…omitted setting down before; as, in particular, pens, ink, and paper, several parcels in the captain’s, mate’s, gunner’s and carpenter’s keeping; three or four compasses, some mathematical instruments  [PS32] 

I shall show that while my ink lasted, I kept things very exact, but after that was gone I could not, for I could not make any ink by any means that I could devise. [PS33] 

…my reason began now to master my despondency.  [PS34] 

I began to comfort myself as well as I could, and to set the good against the evil, that I might have something to distinguish my case from worse; [PS35] 

and I stated very impartially, like debtor and creditor, the comforts I enjoyed against the miseries I suffered, thus:- [PS36] 

Upon the whole, here was an undoubted testimony that there was scarce any condition in the world so miserable but there was something negative or something positive to be thankful for in it; [PS43] 

and let this stand as a direction from the experience of the most miserable of all conditions in this world: [PS44] 

that we may always find in it something to comfort ourselves from, and [PS45] 

to set, in the description of good and evil, on the credit side of the account. [PS46] 

But I must observe, too, that at first this was a confused heap of goods, [PS47] 

which, as they lay in no order, so they took up all my place; I had no room to turn myself: so I set myself to enlarge my cave [PS48] 

And here I must needs observe, that as reason is the substance and origin of the mathematics, [PS49] 

So, by stating and squaring everything by reason, and by making the most rational judgment of things, every man may be, in time, master of every mechanic art. [PS50] 

I had no remedy for but patience[PS51] 

And now it was that I began to keep a journal of every day’s employment[PS52] 

then fancy at a vast distance I spied a sail, please myself with the hopes of it, [PS53] 

and then after looking steadily, till I was almost blind, lose it quite, [PS54] 

and sit down and weep like a child, and thus increase my misery by my folly. [PS55] 


 [PS1]Hindsight is 20/20.

Now that Crusoe sees that they all would have been saved if they had stayed on board, he wishes that he had.

Opportunity fleeting – decision difficult

 [PS2]In every find, there is a truth.

In many truths, there is disappointment…

RATS!

 [PS3]In seeking to save oneself…sometimes some of that self must be lost.

 [PS4]From hence, ye beauties, undeceived,

Know, one false step is ne’er retrieved,

    And be with caution bold.

Not all that tempts your wandering eyes

And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;

    Nor all that glisters, gold.

 [PS5]Sometimes fight makes right.

Other times, discretion is the better part of valor.

Often, you have no choice.

 [PS6]Wu Wei…wait for the appropriate time.

 [PS7]When all you have is a surrounding infinite see and a confining deserted island, you fall to work to survive.

 [PS8]When good luck befalls you, don’t stair it in the mouth.

 [PS9]Fear of the unknown can the greatest fear of all.

The feared may not be so fearsome.

Going about one’s business may be a remedy for fear.

Looking the feared in eye may cause it to cower and run away.

 [PS10]Not everything will spoil

Not everything will last

The rain and sun will come for some

Seek shelter for that mass.

 [PS11]Though fears of one

They may subside

Not all the danger lurks

When one is looking or alert

So build a door with locks.

 [PS12]Things for purpose have more than that

So, keep them for that day

When purpose comes for odds and ends

Hoarding sometimes pays.

 [PS13]Outside one’s health there are delights

That’s why we suffer here

So take a swig then take a bite

Revel in slight cheer.

 [PS14]Good luck lasts not forever…

Bag luck takes its place…

But look back in deep water…

For those forlorn pieces of eight.

 [PS15]Steel defeated the savage

So, it was defeat I finds in the drawer

If you are centuries ahead of your henchman

Discover safety within the drawer.

 [PS16]We were poor, so we took food and water

They were rich, so took they jewels

At sea their thirst did urge them

To trade treasure to fellow fools

Fate took most they ‘fore us rich

Before Thai pirates took their best

We survivors roped together

Sinking now to final rest

 [PS17]One choice dear fate allows us

To act before she does

If apathy aboundeth thee

Then thy ship adrift to lee.

 [PS18]A shelter from the elements

Be quick or sound the choice

Sleep the night in comfort

Or fear for life the North

 [PS19]Stay thee healthy drink fresh water

Find shelter from the sun

Secure thyself from beast and man

Have a view when tomorrow come.

 [PS20]A bulwark to nature’s aggression

Must have shape and height and depth

To slow the charge that soon to come

And prevent their climb upon.

 [PS21]Brace for push and pressure

For that be initial take

Of enemies before us

Now hiding in the wait..

 [PS22]One layer might betray thee

Two better but not best

A third to cover over all

Put rains hard to the test.

 [PS23]Precious and yet volatile

Keep safe but separate be

A flash or spark might send all

In piece to shing sea

 [PS24]In full it be jeopardizing

In parcel it be safer

Take the time to put your stock

Away, weigh be it sack or wafer

 [PS25]Getting your goat may be the point

Of another who appears to distract

But finding your goat can be your wish

When roots and berries stack.

 [PS26]Again with the goats

This time hunting…

Intent on their pasture

Goats never look heaven

So be with us

Attacks from above

 [PS27]A house without a heat

Be careful in thy placement

The needs of flame provided

But protect from smoke and spark and spread

 [PS28]Desolation claims not just the land

But one’s soul it do so grasp

Till thy life not worth living

And death a welcome rest

 [PS29]See the foul as designated evil

But mine out the sister good

See what worse might yet offend thee

See what better be understood

 [PS30]One good is gun in hand

When hunting out the land

But those before had none

And yet still they hunt the stnad

 [PS31]Mark thy days in solitude

For rescue come not soon

Have something to count and see

The past on future noon

 [PS32]Tools of technique serve one well

Writing parts the more

Though might weather through the years

One writes then writes no more

 [PS33]A list exact in pen and ink

Is what I spoke of thence

When ink be gone how make thee more

Set about it now and hence

 [PS34]Might anything rule hopelessness?

Try reason first and last

For only you can work the tools

To wreck the wretched past

 [PS35]Comfort comes in segments small

When mind grapples with the matter

All that one can do at now

Is put out what might be worse

 [PS36]Line them up in front of reason

Call forth one by one

Place on each a name and sign

Then pair them with a prince

 [PS37]Being alive and wishing you were dead

Is much worse than being dead

Take heart in every sunset

In light with hope arise

 [PS38]When one decides that he’s unique

To misery so deep

Realize the others lost

Be calmed for one night’s sleep

 [PS39]Take thy sustenance as it is given

Eat alone, enjoy the taste

For time eternal takes the rest

Slow your sour pace

 [PS40]What you have is what you’ve got

Wear it well and long

A day will come when patches fall

And naked taken yon

 [PS41]A world awash with evil

Might crush me like a bug

But here and now I rule in small

I’m safe and soft and snug

 [PS42]Be there no one else for dialogue

Still I have all else about me

Chop and sing and curse the sky

Why mourn? I have what’s necessary.

 [PS43]Conditions miserable demand a mate

To offset thankless times

So negative or positive

Make sour now sublime

 [PS44]At the point of most miserable

Direct thyself away

To parts unknown but better

Above despair thy stay

 [PS45]Find comfort where there is none

Seek shelter in the deluge

Always there in hidden crevasse

Two side and top, a refuge

 [PS46]If life to you is only cost

Review your own accounting

Ledger’s without credit

See debt galore amounting

 [PS47]When wrecked anew you find yourself

Scattered without order

Confusion rules and things pile up

Till there’s no space within border

 [PS48]Order thing, expand if must

But solve the problem quickly

A hoarder’s home beneath the dust

Becomes a cave and sickly

 [PS49]Reason rules the fertile mind

Mathematics becomes the tool

So substance spawns from that no here

Believe not? Then you’re a fool

 [PS50]Bring me each great problem

Give me such great time

Though crude at first and then refined

Confusion seeks design

 [PS51]And there it is, a pause

When stymied he doth sit

Defeated by a quarry

Succeeded by his wit

 [PS52]Journal thy time

Remember the gaps

Though posterity cares not

Record with sap

 [PS53]A distant hope of fancy

In motion and then gone

She raised my hopes then lowered

In brief, quite like a song

 [PS54]Blinded by the light of hope

Fallen by arisen false

Exhausted lie I staring

Alone with suffered loss

 [PS55]Mourn the passing ship of hope

Be a child for just this

Let misery and folly bring you down

A Look at JFK’s JSC from BOP to DP

I decided to review JFK’s Joint Chiefs of Staff who operated during his presidency. I’ve been looking at this for a while but, after reading Joseph Horne’s “JFK’s War with the National Security Establishment”, I realized Kennedy had three distinct JSCs sitting for three distinct crises during his time in office:

  1. Bay of Pigs
  2. Cuban Missile Crisis
  3. Dealey Plaza

There are five seats on the JSC. The chairman and the four heads of branches of the military. Interestingly, the chairman in many cases was less influential than certain members. Following a crisis, some members were replaced. Before a crisis, some members were replaced. Replacement sometimes was a choice between two evils. One member had no impact on any of the crises and endured throughout. One member had impact but no written history. Another member was never mentioned in Horne’s essays about the National Security Establishment.

This study will look at each of the three crises and each of the sitting JSC members. Pertinent background, action and results to be included. JFK looked to these men, among others, to give him the best information for critical decision making in a time nuclear weapons being in Russian hands as well as American. The deck was stacked against objectivity in military circles, to some extent because recent war experience but also due hubris and contempt on the part of these trusted advisers. It is no wonder that our commander and chief had to reevaluate his trust in the advice these men proffered following the first two crises.

Bay of Pigs Crisis

Thomas White led the Air Force as Chief of Staff with the election of Kennedy. His JSC position began with Eisenhower in 1957. There is little information available outside of his war record. Less about his short stint in JFK’s JSC, which ended with his retirement on 6/30/1961. However, here is a quote from one of Horne’s essays:

“Predictably, (General Curtis) LeMay, whom Kennedy had promoted toAir Force chief of staff the year before, after cashiering the belligerent Thomas White after the Bay of Pigs disaster”.

I couldn’t find any corroboration for the “ belligerent Thomas White” assertion.

Wikipedia had this tidbit which gives General Thomas White, USAF, some further dimension:

White was a fisherman, aquarist and amateur ichthyologist and while in Brazil he collected Zoological specimens with his wife, Constance, including the type of the Rio pearlfish Nematolebias whitei which was named in his honor.[1]

Marine Corps Commandant General David Shoup served Kennedy from the time of the hand off from Eisenhower (1/1/1960) until the end of the year of following the assassination, 12/31/1963. Shoup at best remained passive during Bay of Pigs and at worst supported both sides of the argument on the Cuban Missile Crisis, depending on who was in the room. Still mentally in WWII, he seemed to know little of the current crisis plans and nothing of the subject, Cuba. The missile crisis found him accommodating the intimidating Air Force Chief of Staff, Curtis LeMay.

Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke served Eisenhower, 8/17/1955 and then Kennedy until after the Bay of Pigs, retiring on 8/1/1961. Kennedy lost faith in Burke after BOP. JFK concluded that the Admiral joined others, notably the JSC Chairman (Lemnitzer) and CIA, in trying to manipulate a young, naïve president into a fight. Kennedy wanted facts for decision making, not prejudiced advice. The President agreed with Secretary of Defense McNamara that new faces were needed in the Pentagon.

Burke took a swing at being JSC Chairman when Lyman Lemnitzer went off to South Vietnam on assignment. The acting Chairman announced in a White House meeting that “…if the U.S. did not fight in Southeast Asia it would lose the entire region; he further stated that if the U.S. did fight, it would be a long war and the U.S. would have to use nuclear weapons to win.” Suggesting the use of nuclear weapons was a bridge too far for Kennedy. And it was the last straw when Burke continued to press for it and eventually got him thrown out of the White House and, finally, retired on 8/1/1961.

From the failure of facts on 4/17/1961, to the fight for nuclear use on 4/27/1961, then retirement three months later, Admiral Burke went from CNO to no go. He had a ship named in his honor and an impressive WWII record. But served Kennedy not.

America – Red, Black and Green (Fear, Hate and Greed in America)

What emotions take queues from the brain’s primitive parts? Which colors attribute to these vibes? Without intellect, these feeling fall subject to who? When a population and its leaders fall victim to primitive feelings, who also falls?

A person counts fear as real until it can be examined. If the thing feared cannot be examined by the individual, trust becomes vested in the state to define and resolve. The state, therefore, holds the power to extinguish fear or inflame it. Genuine action and enlightenment solve actual and unfounded fears. Manipulation, deception and obfuscation exacerbate fear of an unknown.

The media often leads with stories which scream hyperbolic but exist rare in this world. Media confects scary medical facts from myth and conjecture. Predators portrayed as slick and devious, offenders in sophisticated, rehabilitative lockups, documented from questionable sources or phony experts. Generators of fear get what they want via mindless reaction.  National scares morph into trends. Millennial fever burns up the treetops of sane analysis. Profiteers love the slaughter. Minority politicians count majority votes. Fear wins over freedom most of the time these days in this place.

Gated communities, background checks, drug testing loom ore the land. Common social ills become crimes. Punishments plague the poor only and severely. Everyday life sees every citizen as a possible perpetrator of every possible crime. By exploiting vulnerabilities, government at all levels now intrudes on all of us most of the time. Freedom from fear comes not from an overweening government security state but from individuals working individually and together against the real and imminent perpetrators of crime.

Hatred nurtured by experience or upbringing becomes the DNA of a population segment. Something unjust, real or imagined sets hate in motion. It takes a village to keep hatred’s embers burning through generations. When hatred stokes the minds of children early with stories and rites, bystanders can do little to lower the temperature or slow momentum.

Upbringing alone does not present as the only breeder of haters. Media, mentioned above as a fear generator, employs hate to sell papers. Community, through mobility of place and employment, thins and has less impact than it did in the 1950’s. As community thins to the point of collapse, the pillars of hatred erect and thicken and overshadow good sense. As divisive cable news and websites erode common bonds, dignity and mutual interests disintegrate with those bonds. The victors be the haters and the haters be us.

Greed breeds greed. The way one makes money should be more important than making money itself. Money can be made the old-fashioned way by cheating, lying or robbing. But there is profit in fear and hate. Race bating keeps minorities in their ghetto and in their low wage jobs. The big bad wolf needs to be combatted, so security must be increased, and evil must be hunted down. Both the suppression of minorities and the enhancement of security cost money. Money is made on these overemphasized emotions.

The foundational myth that anyone with good idea and strong will can make it in America has been replaced by the reality that American capitalism evolved into a dog-eat-dog system. As far as social advancement, class here offers less mobility than in history’s societies of more rigid class structures. America must jettison the thinking that government is the problem, that corporate responsibility holds no allegiance but to shareholders and that making money adheres to no moral code. Republicans no longer nurture balanced budget and investment in public goods. Nurturing now a no-tax philosophy and letting things take their own course without government interference ends poorly. Supply-side assumptions yield stagnation – leading to workers giving up because hope holds meaning only to the fool. Productive economies treat all people equally and reward them accordingly. Sharing must exist alongside rewards. Profit sharing, antitrust enforcement and limiting special interest money can replenish the stock of social capital.

The colors of the aforementioned emotions are red, black and green. The American landscape has always had a red scare: from redcoats, to redskins, to communist and socialist. Black is the color of racism in the United States…now to include brown for emigrating populations. Our money is green, and we envy those who have it, no matter how they make it. Big money is in racism and fear of socialism. While the population barricades against fear and arms for invasion, the manipulators of such make money from it and lose no sleep.  

More Thoughts on Watership Down

This post was inspired by Ross Douthat Opinion Columnist Oct. 22, 2019.

Read Ross’s opinion piece.

The following are some of my notes on his piece…

What is Ross Douthat’s plot?

A NEW Political Founding is a home resulting from both vision and struggle.

What does liberal order mean? The political structure of a party with tenets in the liberal mindset.

OTHER:

By shedding emotions in order to achieve certain goals, one comes full circle and becomes extremely emotional when those goals are threatened, impaired or ignored.

Every dogged pursuit without human and emotional consideration leads to separation from humanity.

Every suppression of humanity leads to depression and skepticism.

When a society, however large or small, by denying agency to a group or individual plants the seed of decay or segregation in its midst.

When the fundamentals of humanity are sacrificed for order or safety or escape, that society initiates its own demise rather than rebirth.

Societal good results from distributed input of virtues and values rather than one credentialed souls generous or will.

The village of ideas, strong and wise and prescient, contribute more to a society than any one type of mindset.

The impossibility of uninterrupted comfort or impenetrable safety must be accepted as future elements in a establishing a diverse society.

Ignoring reality, a liberal society must choose between dark futures: one that leaves fate to others or cruel nature; the other which constricts society to total control and harsh sanctions while still ignoring the enemies at the gates.

However, when combining ignorance of threat with suppression of descent, a society evolves into the worst of all worlds: societal elites escaping from a lower class of citizen temporarily in a doomed high castle.

Acceptance and integration of the society within hold the only real solution to withstanding the terrible tides without.

Societal success depends on putting politics behind the humanity those politics represent.

Tao You Say

Hiding from your eye none of the many things which others withhold, I step straight toward you with my heart exposed.

Walking not just as a person with steps but as one who leads with mindful steps.

The ox at slaughter brings forth more than a sharp knife and drops of blood, with life and death and sustenance in one act, the thing within a thing.

Living’s actions and emotions too often cloud our mind, and we neglect to see the whole of it.

At best this vague life tugs at our being, wishing us to turn to the light of full knowing. If not the shining sun, then to perhaps her earth created spawn – the light of fire.

So encompassing thou art, providing the reality of sustenance, the potential for wisdom and the possibility of riches.

Acknowledging its mystery while recognizing its power leaves one at once breathless and agape.

Full consciousness of the Tao informs one of the responsibility for what She gives, and when one takes from her bounty, there in manifests a debt to be repaid. This gives substance to one’s life.

In the dark, the sightless small young simply follow the blind large elder.  Emergence. No longer so young. Not at all small. The light informs. Naked, one gathers strands of silk. Threatened, the awesome four seasons terror meets with power. Power of the mind.

Like new moon sprouts, one’s hue bears notice because life arrives, summoned from non-life, but one’s birthing color shall fade as the seasons, as leaves, as innocence.

With our two hands, we work and create real things, but our mind’s eye too often mistakes ourselves as real creators. We are but tools of the creator.

What power we have when we open our busy kisser, wag our ambivalent tongue and issue homily which inspires certitude, so leading to actualization.

I know my singular present sits impatiently upon my ample past. So, my unique person consists of that malformed past, this hesitant present, and then unfolding fate.

I am at once private and public. For once my domicile’s privacy fades – though carried in my mind’s sanctuary – I walk unsteady upon the nemesis earth.

Use many and create one. Cherish one and you spawn many. A balanced life neither takes nor destroys but creates. And creates!

Knowledge proceeds slow. From it, knowing shoots quick and true and indelibly so.

In the battle to know, many sharp questions must slice and stab and skewer wisdom’s thick skin.

Stop! Put down your tableware. Rather – savor the moment.

Ruby the Buff

Chapter 25 Ruby the Buff

 Condensations from Sylvia Meagher’s Accessories After the Fact          

Jack Ruby shot accused JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, a failure in security measures which should have disgraced the Dallas police force. Witnesses testified that Ruby enjoyed complete access to the police premises for two days, and on the third day he shot to death the most important prisoner in the country. Ruby’s known intimacy with the police force generated a miasma of the conspiratorial. Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade knew Ruby but denied it. In fact, you no longer could find a policeman in town who said that knew Ruby.

            However, in spite of the testimony of newsmen, law enforcement and the general public, the Warren Commission claimed there was no evidence that implicated the police or newsmen in Ruby’s actions on that fateful day. Police Chief Jesse Curry estimated Ruby acquaintance with less than 5% of his force but the actual tally would be north of 50%. The Commission found no evidence of any suspicious relationships between Ruby and any police officer, while the evidence found plenty.

            Looking at Ruby and his arrest record with Dallas PD, reveals some idea of his intimacy.  Out of eight documented arrests between 1949 and 1963, Jack essentially walked every time. Concealed weapons, liquor and night club violations, assault and traffic summonses…five dismissed, one not guilty and two fines totaling $60. Yes, they knew him and yes, they liked him.

            Of the 75 policemen who were present when Oswald was killed, at least 40 knew Ruby. Extrapolating this figure, Ruby must have known more than 500 of the policemen. One witness estimated Ruby knew at least 75% of the 1,175-man force. A mob attempt to bribe the Dallas sheriff involved Ruby but was covered up and the testimony of a key witness, Dallas Police Lt. George E. Butler, ignored by the WC.             Curiously, in the testimony of one Thayer Waldo of the FW Star-Telegram, Lt. Butler presents a rather suspicious entity. On the 22nd and 23rd, Waldo consistently used Butler as a source of information as to the disposition of Oswald. The reported described Butler, in those two days as “stolid poise, perhaps phlegmatic poise” which all but deserted him completely, “extremely nervous, lips trembling”, on the fateful morning the 24th.

Tao Te Ching 16 – PVS Comments

Derek Lin Tao Te Ching – Annotated and Explained

Derek Lin Translation

Attain the ultimate emptiness
Hold on to the truest tranquility
The myriad things are all active
I therefore watch their return[1]


Everything flourishes; each returns to its root
Returning to the root is called tranquility
Tranquility is called returning to one’s nature
Returning to one’s nature is called constancy
Knowing constancy is called clarity[2]


Not knowing constancy, one recklessly causes trouble
Knowing constancy is acceptance.[3]
Acceptance is impartiality.
Impartiality is sovereign.
Sovereign is heaven.[4]
Heaven is Tao.
Tao is eternal
The self is no more, without danger

Derek Lin Translation Commentary PVS Interpretation

  1. Cyclic pattern, Flourish then return, From active and flourishing to silent and empty.

From fallow fields to springing sprouts to bountiful fruit my life so resembles. Roused from sleep into planning and planting then tending the garden that is my life until my harvest, festival and burning of my season’s field. To still, to silence, to allow serenity. This until the melting of the frost and the rising of the spring sun.

  • Feel oneness, find tranquility, discover one’s innate nature, accept self as part of all, realize constant clarity, experience nature.

I am closest to my nature when I flow with the pattern, imitating nature’s patterns. Not distant and apart but close and whole. Being whole, I wander not more. I find my nature in nature. My self resides in each dried leaf and crust of earth. Innate mystery enclosed in all things enables my acceptance of the mysteries within. My mottled self? Flaws no longer matter. What is dissimilar in me makes akin to nature. Look for truth which explains itself not.

  • Cultivate reality, encounter pain but abandon wishful expectations, stubborn refusal wishes for suffering.

Cultivate nature’s evidence, not the thin wishes of cloudy belief. Expect clouds and cover, know brightness follows dark, healing follows injury. Standing up against the rain only suffers oneself, find shelter for now.

  • Rule only self, create only what can be ruled, destine only created reality, authorize only with regard to destination, learn to rule wisely.

I control nothing but the direction and examination of my nature. In between lie my creations which I must rule of run from. From examining my creations, I modulate my direction. This crooked path to destiny becomes solely my own. The path continues whether my authority or none. Learn. Rule. And wisely.


[1] Everything in nature exhibits a cyclic pattern: the changing seasons, the tides, the sun, the moon. All living things flourish and eventually return to their origin in the recurrent cycles of life. When we quiet the internal chatter and bear silent witness to the miraculous natural processes at work, we strengthen our connection with the empty, yet incredibly prolific, creativity of the Tao.

[2] This is a precise description of what happens when we feel our essential oneness with nature. In that oneness, we find the gift of tranquility. We discover that nature is not merely all around us but also inside of us. Human nature is but a microcosm of the greater nature. The realization of this constant, unchanging principle brings us spiritual clarity. This clarity cannot be described in words and must be experienced firsthand.

[3] Tao cultivators accept reality as it is, rather than as they wish it to be. The troubles we encounter in life and the pain associated with them are caused by the disparity between our expectations and the way things are. The more stubbornly we refuse to accept, the more we suffer.

[4] To be sovereign is to possess authentic power—not power over other people, but power over oneself. It is the profound realization that we are ultimately responsible for creating our own reality. We have the ultimate authority over our own destiny. Our sacred task in life is to learn how to exercise this sovereign power wisely.

W6H2

What evidence can a nurse have which the pathologist does not?

The remains of the day on November 22nd, 1963 were those of the President of the United States. When nurses Diana Hamilton Bowron and Margaret M. Henchliffe, who had assisted the team of doctors in the emergency room, saw a back wound (a bullet entry wound was found several inches below the collar line and lodged deep in his shoulder) while undressing and cleaning the deceased.

This contradicts the Warren Commission finding that the wound was near the base of the neck. Secret Service agent Roy Kellerman verified that the dead President had a hole in his shoulder when he was lifted up in the morgue. Also, Kellerman added the throat had hole (an entrance wound at the Adam’s apple). Secret Service agent Glen A. Bennett saw that shot hit the President about four inches down from his right shoulder.

Why would a inquest present an artist rendering of a deceased wounds when autopsy photos are available?

Dr. Humes presented schematic drawings prepared under his supervision by a medical artist which show the wound in the lower neck. But in his handwritten autopsy report, a diagram shows the wound below the neckline.

When should a pathologist burn his original autopsy notes?

Commander J.J. Humes performed the autopsy. He stated that he burned his preliminary draft autopsy report in the fireplace of his recreation room. In the same Warren commission exhibit he stated that he transmitted “all” other papers related to the autopsy to “higher authority”. Humes autopsy report bears no date and was not released until weeks after the report was completed.

Who has the authority to direct autopsy?

It wasn’t Humes.

Which hospital did a body first arrive to?

It wasn’t Bethesda. It was Walter Reed. There is a plaque commemorating the event.

Where is the brain that tells the direction of fire?

It wasn’t taken by Bobby Kennedy.  It disappeared from the archives.

How many bullets entered the victim’s body?

It wasn’t two. The neck the back and two in the head.

How much time does it take to fire a bolt action rifle?

It wasn’t six seconds.

Just Evolveu