"How can a man ...."

How can a man find a sensible way to live?  One way and one only – philosophy.  And my philosophy means keeping that vital spark within you free from damage and degradation, using it to transcend pain and pleasure, doing everything with a purpose, avoiding lies and hypocrisy, not relying on another person’s actions or failings.  To accept everything that comes, and everything that is given, as coming from that same spiritual source.

Marcus Aurelius

Rain

Rain that clears

and cleanses,

return, pure intent.

"... There is the great mass of nature ...."

“… There is the great mass of nature.  I find support for my body in it; I’ve spent my life toiling in it; in my old age I seek ease on it; in death I will rest in it.  Whatever made my life good will also make my death good…

            Once we understand that heaven and earth are like a great melting pot, and the Maker a great founder, where can we go that isn’t right for us?  We are born as from a quiet sleep, and we die to a calm awaking.”

from Zhuangzi

"Dost thou love life ...."

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.

Benjamin Franklin

"Since youth ...."

Since youth, the crowd’s pace did not suit me;

my first instinct was always to love the hills and mountains.

Mistakenly, I fell into the dusty net,

and was trapped for thirty years.

A caged bird misses the old forest,

a fish in a pond misses the old waters.

I’ll till the wasteland on the edge of the southern wilderness,

stay rustic, and return to my garden farm.

There are some ten acres around my house,

eight or nine other thatched rooms.

Elms and willows shade my back eaves,

peach and plum trees line the front.

I hardly see anyone; they’re so far away

I only know faint village smoke.

Dogs bark in deep lanes,

Roosters crow from the tops of mulberry trees.

No dust swirls into my door or house;

the empty rooms promise quiet leisure.

For too long, I was shut in a cage.

I only hope that my wishes won’t be thwarted.

Tao Yuanming