The Heavens Are Cruel Wise Men Are Cruel

The full quote for this passage is, "The heavens are not kind and treat all creatures like straw dogs. Wise men are not kind and treat people like straw dogs." I like these passages from the Dao De Jing that challenge the part of me that would like to find peace and harmony in my inspirational texts. The Dao De Jing, as much as anything, tries to describe and honor the true nature of nature. There are predators and prey in the natural world and humans are part of that. The idea that wise men are not kind is amusing but should be taken together with all the other descriptions in Laozi's text about how wise men behave. This illustration is an unnatural, whimsical narrative of the cruel nature of creatures. The cat has my eyes.

Victory is Like a Funeral

The Dao De Jing has many passages which you could call anti-war. It admonishes leaders who rely on brute force and, like in this passage, it reminds us of the simple truth that war and killing brings suffering. This passage says, "The killing of many should be mourned with sorrow. A victory should be celebrated like a funeral." The Iraq war, and Bush' pre-mature crowing about victory are stark reminders of how not to behave according to the Dao De Jing.

The painting has some figures, possibly sodiers with expressions of grief in the foreground and a car on fire in the background. It didn't seem appropriate to do something witty or overly clever for this passage.