Good Weapons are Instruments of Fear
Good weapons are instruments of fear;
all creatures hate them.
Therefore followers of Tao never use them.
The wise man prefers the left.
The man of war prefers the right.

Weapons are instruments of fear;
they are not a wise man's tools.
He uses them only when he has no choice.
Peace and quiet are dear to his heart,
And victory no cause for rejoicing.
If you rejoice in victory, then you delight in killing;
If you delight in killing, you cannot fulfill yourself.

On happy occasions precedence is given to the left,
On sad occasions to the right.
In the army the general stands on the left,
The commander-in-chief on the right.
This means that war is conducted like a funeral.
When many people are being killed,
They should be mourned in heartfelt sorrow.
That is why a victory must be observed like a
funeral.

Lao Tzu
Tao Te Ching C.31
- posted by Tweck @ 5:32 AM 0 comments

 
Flirting With Glass
As I was waiting for the coffee to boil today, I got to thinking about how flirting with someone is always about skirting around, getting ever so close to coming out and saying something (relationally) meaningful or committed.

Whilst thinking this, I was looking out toward the backyard, and on the sliding glass door there were a couple of safety marks. My finger had been unconsciously drifting closer and closer to the mark, but ever so careful not to touch it. How close could I get?

Now intent, I stared at it and literally willed my finger to move slower and slower, waiting, bracing for the feeling of textured safety glass. (No! we�re not supposed to actually reach the mark!). The contact was a shock of cold, smooth glass however.

All this while the safety mark had been printed on the external side - it was never in danger of being touched by my finger.
Have I gone too far?
- posted by Tweck @ 10:12 PM 0 comments