Malibu morning picture of the day - Friday, February 5, 2016

Dear Family, Friends, and Gentle Readers,

It's Friday, and once again, the coast is clear.

Pretty much the same as yesterday, and this is pretty much the same angle as yesterday. Since I had the start of the jet trail to differentiate it from yesterday (upper left) I picked this one to post. There's not really any variation no matter where you point the camera this morning, so no second look.

A friend sent me an e-mail "chain letter," but it wasn't one threatening bad luck if I didn't send money to the guy earlier in the list. It was a letter that asked you to pass on an encouraging quote.

I did decide to participate just because of the person who sent it to me. But what I did appreciate about the process is that it made go find a quote that I find encouraging. I sent along the usual verse from 1 Corinthians that people reach for when they're thinking that they're Job--you know the one, about God not testing you beyond your limits to endure.

But in the non-Christian wisdom literature, I kinda like this story from Chuang Tzu (Wade-Giles) which seems like it belongs in Ecclesiastics. Sometimes I think the writer of Ecclesiatics would have made a good Taoist.


METAMORPHOSIS

Four men got in a discussion. Each one said:

“Who knows how to have the Void for his head, to have Life as his backbone, and Death for his tail? He shall be my friend!”

At this they all looked at one another and saw they agreed, burst out laughing, and became friends.

Then one of them fell ill and another went to see him. “Great is the Maker,” said the sick one, "who has made me as I am!”

“I am so doubled up, my guts are over my head; upon my navel I rest my cheek; my shoulders stand out beyond my neck; my crown is an ulcer surveying the sky; my body is chaos, but my mind is in order.”

He dragged himself to the well, saw a reflection, and declared “What a mess He has made of me.”

His friend asked, “Are you discouraged?”

“Not at all! Why should I be? If He takes me apart and makes a rooster of my left shoulder, I shall announce the dawn. If He makes a crossbow of my right shoulder, I shall procure roast duck. If my buttocks turn into wheels and if my spirit is a horse, I shall hitch myself up and ride around in my own wagon.”

“There is a time for putting together and another time for taking apart. He who understands this course of events takes each new state in its proper time with neither sorrow nor joy. The Ancients said: ‘The hanged man cannot cut himself down.’ But in time Nature is stronger than all his ropes and bonds. It was always so. Where is there a reason to be discouraged?”

- from the Thomas Merton translation

Master Zhuang, 莊子

In the picture here you will see the butterfly above the sleeping sage. If you know anything about Master Zhuang, his most famous story is where he wonders if in having a dream about being a butterfly whether it's the other way around; is he a butterfly dreaming about being human?

It's time to pay the rent kids, so I leave you with that to wander into your Super Bowl/Lunar New Year weekend. Hey, combine them! Have dumplings at your Super Bowl party. Whatever you do, have a good one.

Love,

Pops