The great way is easy,
Yet people prefer the side paths.
Be aware when things are out of balance.
Stay centred within the Tao.

When rich speculators prosper
While farmers lose their land;
When government officials spend money
On weapons instead of cures;
When the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible
While the poor have nowhere to turn –
All this is robbery and chaos.
It is not in keeping with the Tao.

Tao te Ching, verse 53

President Bush picks another fight while upping the funding to the Pentagon while cutting costs in health, welfare and education; corporate farms and Monsanto take over the land, leaving honest farmers everywhere bankrupt and landless; Paris Hilton, Prince Harry, James Brown, Bobby Brown, Robert Downey Junior, gangsta rappers. The world is an interesting place right now, and though it may not be in keeping with the Tao, the Tao is in keeping with it. Always.

The Tao is about balance, and everything remains in balance: pick fights and people fight back; mess with the environment and the environment messes with us; try to change the world and watch it change you. It is all the same. It is all a case of getting what we ask for: getting what we give.

There was a time when I thought I was special, a time when I thought I could change the world. And then one day I found the only thing I could change was myself. And you know what? Since that day I had a bigger impact on the world than ever seemed possible before. No earth shattering breakthroughs, just a series of gentle awakenings along a steady path through the eternal. Only when I’ve been unattached to outcomes have any been effective. Life is beautiful that way.