Tag Archives: wu wei

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Nature Valley’s Spirit

In “The Wisdom of Laotse,” Lin Yutang translates Laotse’s 6th poetic aphorism, probably rooted in ancient shamanic teachings about the nature of natural systems, with the title “The Spirit of the Valley.” This is curious to me (with no pretension of second-guessing Lin Yutang’s superb translation skills) because it seems like it is about “The Nature of Valleys.”

The Spirit of the Valley never dies.

It is called the Mystic Female.

    The Door of the Mystic Female

    Is the root of Heaven and Earth.

 

    Continuously, continuously,

    It seems to remain.

    Draw upon it

    And it serves you with ease.

(p. 64, Modern Library, 1948)

 

The Door/root toward Yin is reverseYang coincidental balance,

closure of a Tao event, word, nomial, meme, paradigm, icon, liturgy.

The nature of our rooted Valley is Balanced and Beloved

Tao Community.

 

This balance, harmony, or, in Buckminster Fuller’s metric vocabulary,

synergetic nature of Valley

regenerates the greatest quality of power

with the least amount of loss, dissonance, labor.

To draw upon natural Yang/Yin systemic balance

is to serve ourselves, each other, and Earth with ease,

with confluence

active peace with justice.

 

Taoism’s wu wei translates into laissez-faire

as proactive synergetic ecotherapeutic practice

of balancing full-throated and comprehended octaves

in energy and being and becoming full-color race and pace,

through longing toward belonging cooperatively together

interdependently economic communicators,

transactors,

within a going-global Climax Community.

 

Within this ecotherapeutic balance

of natural systemic permacultural design,

we generate free will to abstain from grasping willfulness and ego-aversion to dissonance

and loss.

This mutually shared free eco-will sometimes becomes culturally confused

with freedom to choose to do or become anything

to anyone

with anyone

above and beyond anyone

that we monoculturally and monopolistically decide is best

for Ego-Self,

for Others,

for of by SuperEco-logic Earth Design and Development.

 

Yet, does anyone doubt,

when all is finally said and done about freedom’s pilgrimage toward active peace,

we are mutually nothing but integrity of coincidental potential?

This Nature of Balancing Valley

is nothing but mutually synergetic potential.

If synergy in natural systemic regenesis

evolves synonymous with love in human nature’s systemic redemption,

then we have total freedom only to choose full-living

active peace on Earth’s Beloved Community,

diastolic justice-rooted rooting Valley.

 

The EarthTribe that roots together

flowers and flies and swims synchronously,

harmoniously,

confluently,

without inordinately confusing fear and dissonance and loss,

growing nature-spirit systemic balance of Yang+Yin,

out and in coincident,

free to purge our egos of grasping monoculturalism

grows freedom from aversion to absorption into

Zero-centric polyculturalism.

 

Ecological coincidence evaporates

as Id and SuperEco comprehend global coincidence of Common-Being;

as economic quid-pro-quo becomes wu wei normative

when all transactions aspire to grow

equitable and inclusive quid-pro-quo cooperation.

 

Law of Prime Systemic Relationship:

Spirit is to Nature

as (-)(-)coincidently implied shy Yin

snuggles pregnantly inside +natured Yang.

 

When going for Win-Win Yes,

let go with co-passionate double-negative-binding Lose-Lose No.

 

I Am

that Eco-Is Not-Not,

We Are

what evolves Not-Eco-Not,

I Am

That Not-Not….

.

 

 

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Going Native

Yang’s guerrilla tactics

camouflage Yin’s indigenous strategic order.

Messianic Yang fascinations

uncover Yin”s mutual mentoring subsidiarity,

savific yeast transducing light’s form

into heated wriggling function,

fertilizing her benign messianic host.

 

Positive forceful Yang form

double bound and diastolic flow

held within reflecting Yin’s not(not) fold,

wu wei unformed pregnant function

waiting form’s wombing space

to greet time’s implicating moment,

an open summer rose

closing evening’s shade,

bud born again,

explicitly waiting next dawn’s radiant light,

a new guerrilla wave of tribal buzziness.

 

Indigenous system-deviant tactics

morph as guerrilla strategies,

sly camouflage,

dissonating those who prefer remaining normal

in face of wilder nature’s naked purpose,

seducing mutual nativity,

regenerate solidarity,

indigenous integrity of grace-filled meaning.

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Tao of Strategic Challenges

There is the maxim of military strategists;

I dare not be the first to invade, but rather be the invaded.

Dare not press forward an inch, but rather retreat a foot.

That is, to march without formations,

To roll not up the sleeves,…

There is no greater catastrophe than to underestimate the enemy

(Laotse, #69)

 The word military does not fit with Laotse’s overall intent to talk about dispute resolution. Clearly he sites territorial and proprietary issues, so maybe this is a “maxim of ownership strategists,” which would include defensive and offensive strategies to maintain and re-establish natural balance.

Not being the first to invade goes back to a wu wei principle of mutually cooperative subsidiarity as an ecological systemic norm. Think and act like an eco-cell within a healthy organism; not a cancerous ego-center. To invade is to challenge existing ego/eco value balance. To be the invaded might more fully translate as “become empathetically focused on the challenger’s perspective, values, positions—try to find them within yourself until they have resonance.” Maybe try some reverse role play, like preparing for a debate team.

 “Dare not press forward an inch” means do not even appear to react with ego-resistance. Ask for nothing that might lead to ecological imbalance, “but rather retreat” might look like inviting your challenger to agree with you to an equitable Win-Win resolution, defined as no one allows the other to walk away while feeling they have just lost a positive opportunity to incarnate wisdom.

 “March without formations” may have some reference to Laotse’s primary attraction to natural flow functions. Solid forms lack the flexible flow functionality for evolutionary economic change that one might find in a river, or even a tornado, if you have something more revolutionary in mind.

The title of this poem, Camouflage, is what a Buddhist might think of as Basic Attendance, which has a mutual gratitude understory, or gestalt, understanding each moment as having positive opportunity potential. Basic Attendance, in oppositional and other forms of dissonant, wild, crazy environments, begins with exposing our vulnerability, our fluidity, our confluent intention, a disciplined humility of balanced ego/ecological consciousness.

 “To roll not up the sleeves” reminds us to never show our fist even to our own internal need for self-passion. Laotse mentors non-violent multisystemic communication praxis; most certainly not aggression. He explores the paradoxical orthopraxis of breathing in comprehensive natural-systemic information and breathing out toward our mutually cooperative future.

“Enemy” is just wrong here. Enemies are created through lack of wise response. The word here should be challenger. In Permaculture Design we confront many challenges to optimizing Continuous Quality Improvement, ecologically balanced polycultures that show promise for sustaining regenerative life cycles. The only strong candidate for enemy status might be time, but the seasons and scales of development and design approach permacultural standards with humane ecocentric humility and reverence for the progenitive sacredness of time’s nutritionally absorbent dimensions.

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Cooperative Party Platform for Diving into Clean Warm (but not too warm) Water

The Tao Te Ching guides rulers, whether we are rulers of only our own selves, or caregivers for children and elderly family members, or a Governor, or CEO of the Ford Foundation or Ford Motor Corporation, the Prime TrimTab Principle of wu wei optimizes confluence, or contentment, by minimizing dissonant interference. A great deal has been said already about wu wei’s incarnating as a laissez-faire self- and other-governing practice. But, “laissez-faire” is to non-violence as mutually subsidizing subsidiarity is to well-integrated pacifism.

We have active non-violence (Yang) and passive non-violence (Yin). Active non-violence is to be practiced only as Positively Deviant from our eco-dislogical systemic norms. Active non-violence responds only to unnatural ego-eruptions into our cultural DNA environment and economy. When and where ego-normics conflict with balanced eco-logic, then active non-violence is an appropriate wu wei response.

Ecological, or permacultural, candidates for Cooperative Party endorsement want balanced DNA enculturation for regenerative governing intent and practice. Strong candidates will stand out as Positive Deviants within an overly competitive ego-normic culture, economic systems, and political processes. Positive Deviant Cooperative Party nominees will demonstrate well-balanced DNA permacultural practice for themselves, and intent for those they care for.

Some questions that we might all ask ourselves before considering public office, or even private regenerative capacity:

Am I more concerned about building a better regulatory and investment environment for self-composting toilets and humanure, or for corporate profiteering banks?

Am I more concerned about keeping my non-blue trash can as empty as possible or about keeping my checking account as full as possible?

If I don’t compost, how do I feel and think about that? Same thing for gardening.

Do I live in a place that would be more comfortable in an exclusive gated community, or in a diversely polycultured forest? Why?

What are my personal nutrition and self-care practices and concerns, issues for myself and for my family and community?

What is my transportation procedure, policy, practice and intent? How does this intersect with my (0) carbon balanced aspirations?

What and where are my financial investments? How much of my portfolio, and/or time, is invested in cooperative ecological enterprises and vocations and service networks and training and schools? Is any of it invested locally, or within my own bioregion? If not, why not? What are my barriers to smart ecological investment of resources?

What have I done to participate in and support cooperative ecological employment and residential and learning economies?

You will undoubtedly come up with your own better questions, but these were enough to reassure me that our Cooperative Party will not be nominating me for any embarrassing public exposure. I am just not Positive Deviant enough.

 

The Cooperative Party drew up a character profile of their ideal candidates for elected office.

Cooperative Party candidates run their campaigns the way they hope to generate public policy and inclusive procedural justice. We are looking for excellent ecological economists and regenerative system analysts, mentors, and facilitators.  If you cannot demonstrate at least moderate levels of accomplishment as regenerative ecologists within your personal, familial, and community life, then please do not come to our Cooperative Party, we will all be miserable in your depressing company.

 Important regenerative ecological indicators, for your self-assessment:

Personal Health Care

You exercise and feed your mind and body with nutritious choices, promoting well-being of taste, feelings, balanced eco/ego intentions, sounds, sights, and smells, and relationships, too, as possible while retaining positive environmental goals for including diversity of cultural and economic values within your daily and weekly formation.

Familial/Kinship Care

Your approach to primary relationships demonstrates profoundly inclusive peaceful-loving intention and compassionate mindfulness. Disagreements about values and priorities are recognized as important teachers, mutual learning opportunities for growing in understanding and potential confluence. Flexibility in positively framing and managing internally competing values, ages, gender identities and preferences, access to resources, security ,integral integrity, recreation and rest, learning and mentoring praxis are all germane experience for sustainable outcomes within the Cooperative Party.

Community Vocational Experience

If you have no experience within a cooperative vocational culture, then you are not yet ready for legislative design projects. If you have never mentored a regenerative development system, demonstrating facility as a mutual feedback coordinator and summarizer and analyzer, then you have not yet legislated policy and procedure for installing a perennial garden, much less an ecosystem or nation. Ideal mature wisdom experience within shared vocational relationships would cover the full range of cooperative development from community research and inclusive project planning experience, through implementation, maintenance, evaluation, and strategic comprehensive review for further synergetic optimization, meeting Permaculture Design’s Continuous Quality Improvement Standard Principles, for regenerative systems evolution.

 Investing exorbitant currency and time in campaigning for an essentially cooperative vocation seems ineffective and counter-intuitive to this Cooperative Party. We tend to nominate those candidates who invest the least in their campaigns for office. On the other hand, we do support  candidates with resources needed for public discernment, responsive to issues cooperatively and inclusively named and framed for their Positive Deviance TrimTab potential.

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