Tao Te Ching #31: “Weapons are the tools of violence; all decent men detest them”

#238 – Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico – Human Voices Wake Us

An episode from 8/17/26: Tonight, we look at the years of intense simplicity that the American artist Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) spent in New Mexico. Attached to the area from her first visit to Taos in 1929, over the next fifteen years she continued to travel and paint there. In 1949 she moved to New Mexico permanently and achieved the kind of bare-bones life, seclusion from the wider world, and level of intimacy with the natural world she had long sought. The books I read from are Laurie Lisle's biography, Portrait of an Artist, and Georgia O'Keeffe, a large book of reproductions and commentary by O'Keeffe herself.The paintings of hers that O'Keeffe mentions in the episode are: The Grey Hills (1942) (the painting called Grey Hills 2, which she describes as looking like miles of elephants, is not online); Black Place III (1944), Patio with Black Door (1955), Road Past the View I (1964), and Black Rock with Blue III (1970).The best way to support the podcast is by leaving a review on Apple or Spotify, sharing it with others, or sending me a note on what you think. You can also order any of my books: Time and the River: From Columbine to the Invention of Fire, Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone. I've also edited a handful of books in the S4N Pocket Poems series. I also have a YouTube channel where I share poems and excerpts from these books, mostly as YouTube shorts.Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.

1. #238 – Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico 30:30
2. #237 – Al Pacino remembers his childhood, and Eleanor Roosevelt finds herself 30:02
3. #236 – At home with Bach 36:21
4. #235 – London in 2011, London in the 1660s 34:07
5. #234: The Intensity of Private Moments 33:31

Fine weapons are implements of ill omen:
people may despise them,
so those with the Way do not dwell with them.
Therefore the place of honor for the cultured is on the left,
while the honored place for the martialist is on the right.
Weapons, being instruments of ill omen,
are not the tools of the cultured,
who use them only when unavoidable.
They consider it best to be aloof;
they win without beautifying it.
Those who beautify it
enjoy killing people.
Those who enjoy killing
cannot get their will of the world.
The left is favored for auspicious things,
the right for things of ill omen:
so the subordinate general is on the left,
the top general on the right.
That means when you are in ascendency of power
you handle it as you would a mourning.
When you have killed many people,
you weep for them in sorrow.
When you win a war,
you celebrate by mourning.

– Thomas Cleary

Weapons are not auspicious tools
some things are simply bad
thus the Taoist shuns them
in peace the ruler honors the left
in war he honors the right
weapons are not auspicious tools
he wields them when he had no choice
dispassion is the best
thus he doesn’t praise them
those who praise their use
enjoy killing others
those who enjoy killing others
achieve no worldly rule
thus we honor the left for happiness
we honor the right for sorrow
the left is where the adjutant stands
the commander on the right
which means as at a funeral
when you will another
honor him with your tears
when the battle is won
treat it as a wake

– Red Pine

Weapons of war are omens of doom,
To be loathed by every living thing
And shunned by those who keep the Way.
Presiding at court the leader honors the left.
Resorting to war he honors the right.
But weapons are never the leader’s choice.
Weapons of war are omens of doom,
Not to be used unless compelled.
Above all, with mind and heart unstirred,
To arms give no glory:
For to glory in arms
Is to sing and rejoice in the slaughter of men.
And singers in praise of the slaughter of men
Shall not in this world gain their ends.
Thus the left is for deeds that are blessed,
The right is for deeds that bring death.
To the left the minor commander,
To the right the chief general:
Placed for the rites to honour the dead.
When the slaughter is great,
Let the leader come forth to keen for the slain;
The victory won,
To perform solemn rites in mourning the day.

– Moss Roberts

Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn’t wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.

– Stephen Mitchell