The prostitutes are on the street,
Addicts are searching the corners with a feral glint.
An obese woman, winded from a few steps,
Passes an anxious man scavenging a garbage can --
Jester to winos in a fiefdom of pigeons.
The summer sky is obscured with leaden clouds.
Tao is all around us, but sometimes the weight of our poor habits, our bad circumstances, or our lack of exposure to philosophy hampers us. Although every person should be equally valued as a human being, not every person is equally sensitive to Tao.Ignorance is our predominant mode in life. We may pass through ghettos and consider ourselves more fortunate, but don't we all have dense layers of misfortune, confusion, and selfishness to dissolve?
Tao can be known by progressive purification and cultivation. The opposite is also true. Ignorance can be compounded, made denser, until the light of our spirits is smothered.
The light of the soul is bright, but dense clouds of human ignorance obscure it. Where are you in terms of your effort to make your life brighter?
Personal Interpretation
In order to live in the light of Tao, we must clear away the dense layers of ignorance that have accumulated. This is no easy task. We are quick to judge the actions of others but slow to look at our own unhealthy behaviors. Misfortune manifests itself in many ways. Sometimes it is hidden from sight, but this does not mean that it does not exist. We must work to purify ourselves at every turn. Enlightenment truly lightens the load by bathing our world in knowledge. To seek to understand is the prime directive of human beings. When we choose a life of ignorance, we turn our backs on a key component of our identities.
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