Reading Log: Left Hand of Darkness

Right out of the gate, Le Guin throws down the gauntlet:
Page 1: "Truth is a matter of the imagination. The soundest fact may fail or prevail in the style of its telling: like that singular organic jewel of our seas, which grows brighter as one woman wears it and, worn by another, dolls and goes to dust. Facts are no more solid, coherent, round, and real then pearls are. But both are sensitive."

Reading Log: Short Stories

Reading log entry:

“The Girl on the Plane” by Mary Gaitskill
"White Horse," Eliese Colette Goldbach
"The White Donkey," Ursula K. Le Guin
"Horse Camp," Ursula K. Le Guin

Happy Monday

Monday came as it always does, and the dawn was a bit difficult, ensconced as I was in the warmth and comfort of it all.

And yet, the tao and the day continue to show me the Way of it all.

The path is not in error just because it curves.

14

Celebrating mystery

Look at it: nothing to see.

Call it colorless.

Listen to it: nothing to hear.

Call it soundless.

Reach for it: nothing to hold.

Call it intangible.

Triply undifferentiated,

it merges into oneness,

not bright above,

not dark below.

Never, oh! never

can it be named.

It reverts, it returns

to unbeing.

Call it the form of the unformed,

the image of no image.

Call it unthinkable thought.

Face it: not face.

Follow it: no end.

Holding fast to the old Way,

we can live in the present.

Mindful of the ancient beginnings,

we hold the thread of the Tao.

61- Lying Low

61-Lying Low

The polity of greatness
runs downhill like a river to the sea,
joining with everything,
woman to everything.
By stillness the woman
may always dominate the man,
lying quiet underneath him.
So a great country
submitting to small ones, dominates them;
so small countries,
submitting to a great one, dominate it.
Lie low to be on top,
be on top by lying low.

--translation by Ursula K. Le Guin