Spring Thaw 2014

Spring Thaw

After the long drawn out winter where the endless snowy days at times tried our patience, who wouldn't welcome the hopeful signs of spring thaw?

Everything begins anew in spring after the thaw.

“Bowed down then preserved;

Bent then straight;

Hollow then full;

Worn then new;

A little then benefited;

A lot then perplexed.” 

“The way is empty, yet use will not drain it.

Deep, it is like the ancestor of the myriad creatures.

Blunt the sharpness;

Untangle the knots;

Soften the glare;

Let your wheels move only along old ruts.”

“As a thing the way is

Shadowy and indistinct.

Indistinct and shadowy,

Yet within it is an image;

Shadowy and indistinct,

Yet within it is a substance.

Dim and dark,

Yet within it is an essence.

This essence is quite genuine

And within it is something that can be tested.

From the present back to antiquity,

Its name never deserted it.”

“Highest good is like water. 

Because water excels in benefiting the myriad creatures without contending with them and 

settles where none would like to be, it comes close to the way.”

“Tentative, as if fording a river in winter,

Hesitant, as if in fear of his neighbors;

Formal like a guest;

Falling apart like the thawing ice;

Thick like the uncarved block;

Vacant like a valley;

Murky like muddy water.

Who can be muddy and yet, settling, slowly become limpid?

Who can be at rest and yet, stirring, slowly come to life?

He who holds fast to this way

Desires not to be full.

It is because he is not full

That he can be worn and yet newly made.”

Tao

With baited breath we await the arrival of warmth, sunshine and Fun.

The End.