October 21
How calmly he lives who flees the clamour of the world and quietly walks the hidden path that few of the wise have walked.
The Tranquil Life (freely rendered)
Listening mode
How calmly he lives who flees the clamour of the world and quietly walks the hidden path that few of the wise have walked.
Some events seem to be on everyone's lips for a week. In conversation, in the news, over lunch, and you think you're expected to have an opinion on them, preferably a firm one. You quickly put one together so that you can join in.
At some point someone asks you directly, and you say: "I don't know enough about it." For a moment there is a pause. Perhaps you come across as uninterested or evasive. At the same time something falls away from you that you hadn't even known you were carrying: the obligation to keep a position ready on everything.
You stay at the same table and listen. Only you don't have to make every question that happens to be loud right now your own. What remains are the few you actually think about for longer, often without anyone asking.
The conversation goes on, and after a while the others are talking about something else. Something or other that passes you by.
