Alo and De Live Middle #41
(PD) Alo and De Lake on Land.
Copyright ©2018 October 16, 2018
Morning Dove: Three years... they passed quickly. The answer was actually simple, and though it required working hard for a time, still, look... our community is now flourishing more...
Alo: Yours, and the elders' choices, are still alive... and now, maybe more sure of life...
Morning Dove: And the peaceful people outside of our community, they appear to be reasonably happy, content, pleased to be where they are.
Yan: De was right... good omen within the community... people care...
Morning Dove: Agreed... and still my heart feels happiness when I look outside of our lands... I did not know, nor believe, that there could be so many decent people. Yes, we lured them here, with land to use for free, lifetime lease, only pay expenses, of taxes, plus filing fees... the people agreeing to live as the leases state, of no trash, of no hunting, no barking dogs, of little or no noise... rapidly the leased lands filled... the people enjoy being polite to each other... the people have fun growing gardens, planting trees, making the lands beautiful... their homes, almost all manufactured, some people call their homes 'tiny homes'... to me, it is very pleasing to see...
Jun: And we still have lake... still have homes... still have gardens...
Alo: Yes, and it is good... in some ways, harmony has increased... not just for us, but for everyone near to us...
Morning Dove: Alo, you used to speak much of the ancient people's way... I have begun to ask myself if what we are doing might be similar to the ancient way...
Alo: Yes, in many ways, similar... 'Way it not behavior also, I know it. Understanding person live it, ignorant person not reach also. Way, it not understood also. I know it. Quality man live it, not imitate person not reach also. People, none not drink, eat, also fresh can know flavor also' ... 'Why the way is not man's behavior, I know the answer. People of understanding live the way, ignorant people do not reach the way. Why the way is not understood, I know the answer. Quality man live the way, people who do not imitate the way do not reach the way also. People, none not drink and eat also. Fresh can inform the flavor also'. Here, before our eyes, is an example of the ancient ways... our people, chidao... neighbors, live way... outsiders, not imitate way. Everyone eats and drinks, but the flavor of life... look at the neighbors... there are the many answers...
Morning Dove: Yes, this, then, is close to the old way... then, as you had spoken of, the wise ancients created the way, as we see it now, to be, in part, a way of calming violence...
Alo: Yes... apparently the ancients' era was of many wars between neighboring nations... the polite way, as we now see within the new neighborhood, is as a cushion... the aggressiveness of outsiders' is softened... the aggressiveness is dissipated before it reaches beyond the borders of the neighborhood. Yan's idea, of living hidden within the outsiders' mountain, it was a good idea... we simply did it a different way... we moved the mountain to us.
Morning Dove: Interesting concepts... and as our walls continue to grow, to me, it is creating within me a sense that we are becoming as the protected people, and no longer being the people who must defend themselves.
De: Royalty... noble princes...
Alo: Ha! Well... well... not really, but, sort of, in some ways... maybe yes... but no, not our hearts.
Jun: Ha! Noble princesses also?
Yan: I vote noble princesses only... we men, not noble...
Morning Dove: Ha! I vote all be noble, except me... but, the idea here... land owners, but different... we do not profit materially... oh, but, then... chidao? I am now musing similarities of creativity...
Alo: Yes, a physical, outward form of chidao... not the inner... but still, what is inward, must be expressed outward...
Morning Dove: The wise ancients, maybe they knew? Maybe they were aware of the differences? Of neighborhoods, of nations, of inner and outer benevolence?
Alo: I suspect so... the ancients' words did appear to me to hint of the knowing...
Morning Dove: Suddenly I am very much aware of differences of where 'center' exists... here, on our land, we are as if like self, centeredness, observing all that surrounds us... not a middle way, but a center way... the new neighborhood, it is the middle way... ah, but again my mind is busy with thoughts of the ancients' middle way... and, I could not have understood this way without having lived it firsthand.
Alo: Middle way is for neighborhood, center way for self... an ancient book, titled 'Inner Benevolence', some people have interpreted to imply 'Beautiful Nation'... here, we might play with the book's title, and point at a 'Beautiful Neighborhood'.
Morning Dove: Ah, yes, but... however... still, the interpretation of the title would itself reflect from where an individual stands, and from where the individual observes?
Alo: Yes, precisely... people striving for self-betterment, they hear the words 'inner benevolence'... people striving for national strength, they hear the words 'beautiful nation'... people striving for nearby friends, they hear the words 'beautiful neighborhood'... the possible interpretations are many... where a man stands, by what choices a man has chosen, so will he hear the words that reflect his own heart.