For learning you gain daily;
for the Way you lose daily.
Losing and losing,
thus you reach noncontrivance;
be uncontrived, and nothing is not done.
Taking the world is always done
by not making anything out of it.
For when something is made of it,
that is not enough to take the world.

– Thomas Cleary

 

Those who seek learning gain every day
those who seek the Way lose every day
they lose and they lose
until they find nothing to do
nothing to do means nothing not done
those who rule the world aren’t busy
those who are busy
can’t rule the world

– Red Pine

 

To pursue learning, learn more day by day;
To pursue the Way, unlearn it day by day:
Unlearn and then unlearn again
Until there is nothing to pursue:
No end pursued, no end ungained.

Whoever means to win this world below
Never undertakes that task;
Whoever does make that his task
Is not fit to win this world below.

– Moss Roberts


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#211: Who Was William Cullen Bryant? Human Voices Wake Us

An episode from 1/5/2026: Tonight, I read a handful of passages from Gilbert Muller’s William Cullen Bryant: Author of America. During his lifetime, Bryant (1794-1878) was the most popular poet in America as well as one of the country’s most trusted and influential editors and journalists. Through Bryant’s own words and those of his contemporaries, I trace the story of that double-prominence, and the unease many felt over the fate of Bryant’s poetry against the pressures of politics. I also address how, since his death, Bryant has become almost entirely unknown and unread.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, due out next year, is now available for preorder. Other books include 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.Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
  1. #211: Who Was William Cullen Bryant?
  2. #210: Memories & Legends of William Shakespeare
  3. #209 – Being a Jew in 1900, Being a Jew Now
  4. #208: Bach & God
  5. #207 – Death, the Gods, and Endless Life in Ancient Egypt
  6. #206 – The Discovery of Indo-European Languages – 1876
  7. #205: Learning to Read, c. 2000 BCE
  8. #204: Walt Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," 1856
  9. #203: Bruce Springsteen Talks About "Nebraska" – 1984
  10. #202 – A Death at Sea, 1834

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