As the harmony between Nature and Culture, between Law and Con-
vention, collapses into contradiction, there will be a parallel loss of the
sensitivity of perception required to see the corruption. The result is a
devil’s loop of mutually reinforcing devolution and degeneration. This
is dangerous because, once the downward spiral begins, it becomes
increasingly difficult just to see it, let alone stop it. Witness in the pres-
ent era the loss of excellence in matters of musical culture. Here we
see clearly that the inability to sing or play in tune goes hand in hand
with the preference for louder and louder, and less and less subtle,
sounds. Perhaps it could be said that the penultimate phase of degen-
eration is when we sing out of tune and no longer hear it. The last, is
when we no longer care.
That which cannot be touched by force—Love, Intelligence,
Compassion—forms together the basic triangle at the center
of all learning. Because they cannot be achieved by force,
they are best approached negatively, by taking away the
blocks that are in the way.
The task is clear: perfectly tuned octaves, fourths and fifths
you leave alone; what you go after are the broken strings.
In an adverse cultural climate, with its perennial waste,
and war, and utterly mindless violence against the Earth,
mimic the alpine plants:—grow close to the ground, keep
a tight cushion of friends clustered around you, wear a coat
of densely woolly white hairs, and especially, send roots
through every crack and crevice down to deep, reliable
water.
Where the climax of complexity comes we
can never know for sure, but natural movement
always begins and ends with simplicity.
Draw a circle which is not
surrounded by emptiness;
Speak a word which does not
emerge from and return
to nothing at all.