Free The Tao of Emerson by Richard Grossman Page B

of the senses,
   to enter into the quasi-omniscience of higher thought—
Up and down, all around go,
All limits disappear,
No horizon shuts down.
He sees things in their causes,
   all facts in their connection.

73
    He whose boldness appears in his daring

   to do wrong, in defiance of the laws
,
   is put to death;

He whose boldness in his not daring to do so
,
   lives on
.
Of these two cases the one appears to be

   advantageous, and the other to be injurious
.
    But

   
When Heaven’s anger smites a man
,
   
Who the cause shall truly scan?

On this account the sage feels a difficulty

   as to what to do in the former case
.
    It is the way of Heaven not to strive
,
   and yet it skillfully overcomes;

Not to speak, and yet it is skillful

   in obtaining a reply;

Not to call, and yet men come to it of themselves
.
Its demonstrations are quiet
,
And yet its flans are skillful and effective
.
The meshes of the net of Heaven are large;

Far apart, but letting nothing escape
.
    Crime and punishment grow out of one stem.
Punishment is a fruit that unsuspected ripens
   within the flower of the pleasure which concealed it.
Every act rewards itself, integrates itself
   in a two-fold manner;
First in the thing, or in real nature,
And secondly in the circumstance,
   or apparent nature.
The causal retribution is in the thing,
   and is seen by the soul.
The retribution of the circumstance
   is seen by the understanding.
    What we call retribution is the universal necessity
   by which the whole appears whenever a part appears.

74
    The people do not fear death;

To what purpose is it to try to frighten them with death?

If the people were always in awe of death
,
And I could always seize those who do wrong
,
   and put them to death
,
Who would dare to do wrong?
    There is always One who presides over

   the infliction of death
.
He who would inflict death in the room of him

   who so presides over it

May be described as hewing wood

   instead of a great carpenter
.
Seldom is it that he who undertakes the hewing
,
   instead of the great carpenter
,
Does not cut his own hands!
    Why are the masses, from the dawn of
   history down,
Food for knives and powder?
The idea dignified a few leaders,
   who made war and death sacred,
But what for the wretches
   whom they hire and kill?
The cheapness of man is every day’s tragedy.
    It is a doctrine alike of the oldest,
   and of the newest philosophy,
That man is one, and that you cannot
   injure any member
Without a sympathetic injury
   to all the members.

75
    The people suffer from famine because

   of the multitude of taxes consumed by their superiors
.
    It is through this that they suffer famine
.
The people are difficult to govern because

   
of the excessive agency of their superiors
.
    It is through this that they are difficult to govern
.
The people make light of dying because

   
of the greatness of their labors

   
in seeking for the means of living.
It is this which makes them think light of dying. Thus it is that to leave the subject of living

   
altogether out of view
Is better than to set a high value on it
.
    The whole institution of property on its present tenures
   is injurious, and its influence on persons
   deteriorating and degrading;
Truly, the only interest for the consideration of the state
   is persons;
Property will always follow persons.
The highest end of government is the culture of men.
If men could be educated, the institutions will
   share their improvement,
And the moral sentiment will write the law of the land.

76
    Man at his birth is supple and weak;

   at his death, firm and strong
.
So it is with all things
.
Trees and plants, in their early growth
,
   are soft and brittle;

At their death, dry and withered
.
    Thus it is that firmness and strength are

   the concomitants of death;

Softness and weakness,