Tao Te Ching

Then and Now

In ancient times, all entities
Had their own integrity and function
The sky was clear and endless.
The earth was calm and firm.
The gods were charged
With spiritual powers.
The wells were clean and full.
The 10,000 creatures
Were healthy and fecund.
Leaders were elected to plan the work
And defense of the community.
How wondrously concordant!

If the sky were not endless,
It could have fallen.
If the earth were not firm,
It could have burst.

If gods did not exercise
Their spiritual powers,
They would have been abandoned.
If wells were not full,
They would have dried up.
If the 10,000 creatures
Were not productive,
They could have become extinct.
If leaders did not plan the work
And defense of the community,
They would have been replaced,
In this way, each entity
Had its won essentiality,
Each part complementing each other.

Nowadays, when the privileges among us
Identify themselves with the orphan,
The widower and the hungry one,
It may be an opportunistic appeal
For the support of the lowly,
Or a realization that loudly trumpeting
Self-glory negates itself,
Or a premonition that shining like jade,
And resounding like the stone chimes
Attracts the desperate adventurers
Among those deprived of hope,
Inviting disaster among those
Who create these deprivations.

Verse 39
Photo; Helix Nebula