"...Be Not Dismayed..." "Do Not Despair"
All these thoughts,
words arranged on paper,
come from the Tao
and return to the Tao.
Yet rhey do not touch It.
49
Will the sage close to the Tao
become extinct
in a world where the ego is the norm?
Will despair drive the sage from the Tao
as his compassion turns to bitterness?
Isn't it inevitable
in a world ruled by ignorance
that the new-born mind becomes a stranger to itself
even before it can take its first tentative steps?
Isn't innocence being destroyed by greed
even before the innocent have a chance
to make a choice?
Isn't our harmony with the Tao irretrievably lost?
Do not despair.
The Tao is in us,
and we are in the Tao.
There is no separation
from the Tao.
Like a flash of lightning
illuminating the night sky,
one instant of enlightenment
once in a thousand years
will drive ignorance away.
The Tao has no power
yet it is unconquerable.
The Tao is like flowing water,
which is soft and
seems to be subdued
by hardness
Yet washes mountains
into the oceans.
--Jos Stabbert
This will also be posted at daily_tao