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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#217: Voices from 1900-1914 Human Voices Wake Us

An episode from 1/2/23: Tonight, I read a handful of voices from those living in Europe and the United States between 1900 and 1914. Rephrased only slightly, nearly all of their concerns (over technology, gender, nationalism, war, eugenics) feel like they could appear in the news or on the street today. Then and now, what is actually going on alongside all the dread? What can we learn from these voices that sound so much like our own, and what will people look back on 2023 learn for themselves?Each of these quotations can be found in Philipp Blom’s wonderful book, The Vertigo Years.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. 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. #217: Voices from 1900-1914
  2. #216: Poets, Prophets, Seeresses & Goddesses from Time & the River
  3. #215: 8 Favorite Poems from "Time and the River"
  4. #214: Two of the Best Poems You've Never Heard of (by William Cullen Bryant)
  5. #213: Van Gogh's Early Years
  6. #212: The Most Popular Story in Ancient India
  7. #211: Who Was William Cullen Bryant?
  8. #210: Memories & Legends of William Shakespeare
  9. #209 – Being a Jew in 1900, Being a Jew Now
  10. #208: Bach & God

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