December 27-B, 2022

By 600-or-so BCE, the Old Taoists
had it figured out.

When Yoga and Buddhism came to China,
between 200 BCE and 250 CE,
Taoism folded in the best of both,
and settled into "practice, practice, practice,"
while the rest of the world
stumbled around in the Waste Land 
of 10,000 mutually wasteful opinions--
with things being pretty much today
where they were then,
in terms of having things figured out
and put in place,
with the Waste Land
and wasteful opinions
being everywhere,
and those who know not saying
(Because what is known 
cannot be said),
and those who don't know
talking non-stop all of the time.

The Taoist way is to wait it out,
knowing, as it does,
that nothing can happen before its time,
and that those who know
are jolly well capable of knowing each other,
and winking across the room
with a smile,
as a way of mutual encouragement
and recognition of the Way
that remains the Way
through all of the ages and epochs 
and states of being
there may be.

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