October Read

Title: The Sage's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for the Second Half of Life
Author: Martin, William
Call Number: 299.51482 M383S 2010
Book Description from amazon.com:
Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, one of the world’s most widely read books of wisdom, reminds its readers that the sage has been venerated in China for thousands of years. In this free-verse interpretation of theTao, William Martin subtly and powerfully captures the complex emotions connected with growing older. He encourages today’s sages to recognize their inestimable worth in a youth-centric world that often goes astray: “Will I be able to harvest my life in compassion and love for the world? Will I find in my own heart the wisdom for which I long? This question trumps all others for me. I suspect it is the same for you.”
My Read: 
Page 52-Chapter 33: Gifts of  Beauty
               We have embraced those things which others shun. Embracing death, we find life.
               Embracing uncertainty, we find awe.
               Embracing limitations, we find the path of effective actions.
               Life is sweetest only when we know that we will die.
               Breathtaking wonder comes only in the presence of indescribable mystery.
               Correct actions emerge only when we understand what we can and cannot do.
               The thing you have feared the most will be your greatest friends.
               When they knock on your door, welcome them with graciousness.
               They seem unattractive but they bear gifts of greatest beauty.
Page 75-Chapter 48: What Will Be Left Is Life Itself
               Each day that passes, the sage discards another useless weight.
               Finally all the accumulated burden of a life spent seeking something is gone.
               In its place is a lightness of being and a clarity of seeing that makes a heaven of each moment
               Make it your daily discipline to lay aside one little thing; a tiny fear, a simple preconception, a 
               useless book, a piece of household clutter, a habit of avoidance, a bit of shame or guilt, a 
               desire that distracts, even a good intention.
               What will be left is Life itself.
Page 87-Chapter 56: The Power in Our Later Life
              How refreshing not to have to strut about like a Bantam rooster in a coop.
              We have nothing to prove anymore
              Disgrace and honor mean the same to us-nothing
              Our power in our later life will give birth to many wonders.
I like the following saying in this book:
Page 102-Chapter 66: It Is Time to Really Live
              The sage, with arms open wide, lets life flow through, like a river on its way to the sea.