No Definitions

I define nothing. Not beauty, not patriotism. I take each thing as it is, without prior rules about what it should be.  – Bob Dylan

Rules that tell us what to think, how to feel, what we should do, should all be discarded or at least questioned at the very least. If rules are never broken, can they be good rules in the first place? Step outside of the mainstream and the pre-conceived. Do not just look, see. Do not just touch, feel. Do not just think, know. By not subscribing to the old, we can be open to the new, the fresh.

Tricks

Love can sometimes be magic. But magic can sometimes... just be an illusion.  – Javan

Charlatans have always been around performing tricks. People can be fooled. The eyes can see a hundred yards away but cannot peer into the heart of one who stands before you. It has been said that man’s favorite hobby is being deceived. Yet it is this deception that can be painful in a variety of ways. Trust everyone but make sure you cut the cards.

The Artist

An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one. – Charles Horton Cooley

Just who are these critics who criticize art anyway? Pick up your paintbrush and give life to a blank canvas. Pick up your instrument and make music even if no one else is listening or if you are out of step with the others. Hold your pen and write the words that come straight from the heart. The only failed artist is the one that fears the slings and arrows of those who do not understand or do not want to and never takes a chance. Even the Dao has critics, but it goes on doing what it does. Everything is art.

The Long Slow Fade

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out. – Anton Chekhov

When called upon, the average man can often rise up to the occasion when necessary. However, it is the seemingly mundane course of life that can beat one down and cause one to go into a long, slow fade. Is it not the wise man however who understands that every moment of this ‘mundane’ life can be realized for what it is, an opportunity. By being mindful, we can be full of wonder and appreciation. By realizing what is, we can act and destiny can be altered.

Shipwreck

Old age is a shipwreck.- Charles de Gaulle

As we age, we stop celebrating landmarks and start avoiding landmines. The man who never wanted to be seventy years old did not change his mind until he was sixty-nine. But what to do? The Dao teaches us that that all things are created, destroyed, and created yet again. The journey does not end, it only takes a new path.

Haunting Dreams

Dreaming men are haunted men. – Stephen Vincent Benet

Do you still dream the dreams you did as a child or youth even though you have entered the fall or winter of your days? When I say dream, I mean daydream, not those tangled, nonsensical things one may have while sleeping. If one still possesses those childhood daydreams, one is haunted by them. To be haunted by such unrealized thoughts is to be empty and stagnant. As you age, you do not have to give up dreams, only make adjustments to them. It is the dreams that can keep us going on those cold, long nights when the fire is down to its last lonely flame.