Read Online The Tao of Emerson by Richard Grossman - Free Book Online Page B

it

      the most valuable thing
.
    With a geometry of sunbeams, the soul
   lays the foundation of nature.
Of this pure nature, every man is at some time sensible.
    Language cannot paint it with its colors.
It is too subtle, it is indefinable,
   unmeasurable,
But we know that it pervades and contains us.
    The truth and grandeur of this thought
   is proved by its scope and applicability,
For it commands the entire schedule
   and inventory of things for its illustration.

63
    It is the way of the Tao to act

   
without thinking of acting;
To conduct affairs without feeling

   
the trouble of them;
To taste without discerning any flavor;
To consider what is small as great
,
   
and a few as many;
And to recompense injury with kindness
.
    The master of it anticipates things that are difficult

   while they are easy

And does things that would become great

   while they are small
.
All difficult things in the world are sure to arise

   from a previous state in which they were easy
,
And all great things from one in which they were small
    He who lightly promises is sure to keep

   but little faith;

He who is continually thinking things easy

   is sure to find them difficult
.
Therefore the sage sees difficulty

   even in what seems easy
,
And so never has any difficulties
.
    Clinging to nature, or that province of nature
   which he knows,
He makes no mistake, but works after her laws,
   and at her own pace.
That man will go far—
For you see in his manners
   that recognition of him by others is
   not necessary to him.
So that his doing, which is perfectly natural,
   appears miraculous.
    A sensible man does not brag,
Omits himself as habitually
   as another man obtrudes himself in the discourse.

64
    That which is at rest is easily kept hold of

Before a thing has given indications of its presence
,
   it is easy to take measures against it;

That which is brittle is easily broken;

That which is very small is easily dispersed
.
Action should be taken before a thing

   has made its appearance;

Order should be secured before disorder has begun
.
    The tree which fills the arms grew

   from the tiniest sprout;

The tower of nine stories rose from a small heap of earth;

The journey of a thousand li

   commenced with a single step
.
    He who acts with an ulterior purpose does harm;

He who takes hold of a thing in the same way

   loses his hold
.
The sage does not act so
,
   and therefore does no harm;

He does not lay hold so
,
   and therefore does not lose his hold
.
    The sage desires what other men do not desire
,
   and does not prize things difficult to get;

He learns what other men do not learn, and turns back

   to what the multitude of men have passed by
.
Thus he helps the natural development of all things
,
And does not dare to act with an ulterior purpose of his own
.
    Every ultimate fact is only the first
   of a new series.
There is no outside, no inclosing wall,
   no circumference to us.
That which builds is better than
   that which is built.
Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit
   cannot be severed;
For the effect already blooms in the cause,
The end preexists in the means,
The fruit is in the seed.
    Our strength grows our weakness;
Whilst a man sits on the cushion of advantages,
   he goes to sleep.
    The man who renounces himself,
   comes to himself.
Every step so downward, is a step upward.
Words and actions are not the attributes of
   a brute nature;
They cannot cover the dimensions of
   what is in truth.
The wise man, in doing one thing, does all;
Or, in the one thing he does rightly,
He sees the likeness of all which is done rightly.

65
    The ancients who showed their skill in practicing the Tao

   did so not to enlighten the people
,
But rather to make them simple and ignorant
.
    The difficulty in governing the people arises

   from their having much