“Welcome disgrace as a pleasant surprise. Prize calamities as your own body.” Wow! That’s a hard pill to swallow when you’re really ill. Imagine being handed that prescription at your next doctor’s visit. I know. I’ve had to swallow that pill more times than I care to remember while experiencing some type of adversity, some great misfortune that I found myself in. That’s what I found so refreshing about that quote and the readings of the philosophy, Tao. Lao Tzu offers eighty-one of these pills, not for physical illness, but for thought-provoking insight and wisdom, in his book, “TAO TEH CHING.”

                I’ve heard the saying before, “You must rest to sharpen the saw.” This was to imply that one must rest for our bodies from working before it become “dull” or no use to anyone.  In chapter 9, Tzu shares the same wisdom and reinforces the idea with me by writing, “Keep on beating and sharpening a sword, And the edge cannot be preserved for long.”  I’m beginning to wonder if this wisdom wasn’t borrowed in some way from Tzu. Or, maybe it just common sense that a person shares with the world that has ever tried to saw something without stopping to sharpen the blade. In any case, I’m sure that I’ll develop some new insight into looking at the world as I continue to read TAO THE CHING.

 Ben Paterson, Guy King, Isaiah Spencer, and Patrick William

Blues Guitarist Guy King

Guy King at Nick’s Beer Garden

Bluesman Guy King

Guy King and Patrick William