Find Repose in a Muddy World

The calligraphy in this one translates, "Who is able to find repose in a muddy world, quiet as it clears? Who can remain calm for a long time, coming to life with action?" My illustration is of a man standing in mud, his hands chained together. There is a bit of action/confusion going on around him.

Weapons Are Unkind Tools

`Weapons are unkind tools, not the tools of decent men. When the must be used, use them with restraint'. This passage from section 31 of the Dao De Jing is pretty straight forward. I think of bombs falling from the sky on targeted populations. If that's not terrorism, I don't know what is.

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.

Recognize Beauty and Create Ugliness

`The world recognizes beauty as beauty. Ugliness is created from this.' That's my translation of the second line of the second section of the Laozi's Dao De Jing. There are literally dozens of English translations of the Dao De Jing. Like many sections of the Dao De Jing this quote challenges the dualistic view of the world that is pervasive in the West. In the Dao De Jing all things are relative and thus somewhat futile to try and define absolutely. If you grew up on an island where everyone was ugly, let's say warts on their face, overweight, with a blotchy purple rash covering their bodies, and had never seen a person that didn't look like that, would you consider them ugly? I don't think so. In fact, the islander with a few less warts might look absolutely beautiful to you. I remember summering in Cape Breton Island as a teen. My brothers and I shared the initial impression at the beginning of the summer that the girls were quite homely. By the end of the summer they looked a lot better.