I enjoy comparing similar ideas that emerge from different parts of the world, aiming to express the same meaning, often without the authors realizing it. This is why I particularly appreciate Joseph Campbell’s work in The Power of Myth, and how it highlights our tendency to assume that the way we arrived at certain conclusions is the only correct and flawless path.
We live in a kind of universal jet stream of thought, where it’s not wind but our words and actions that are meant to lift us higher. We’re connected to an energy flow that’s ours to interpret, turning it into our own expressions when we truly pay attention. The real question isn’t whether we’re listening, but at what level of consciousness and ourselves we choose to interact with what we hear. This idea ties back to our earlier discussion about whether we are truly advancing in virtue. It’s not just about supporting ideas or people we agree with, but about taking a global perspective. 
Throughout history, every culture has emphasized that the way we treat our neighbors reflects how we should be treated in return.
This idea of virtue transcends Eastern thought, especially when looking to both Confucius and Taoism. Long ago we learned that human values based on self-interest leaves virtue at one’s doorstep. Why seeing beyond oneself becomes essential to our growth and maturity. It comes back to this idea when “Inward Training and self-cultivation” takes on what may be called a Confucian context.
It’s the reason his teachings have stayed relevant for nearly three thousand years. So why am I writing this in September 2025, when he lived so long ago? What does this have to do with us now, or if you are reading this with me specifically? The simple test is asking “are my thoughts and actions harmful to myself and/or others? If so, then stop and look to another direction.” Confucius teachings were not only centered on virtue, but benevolence towards others as well.
Some people seem to have never embraced the idea of universal love and virtue, realizing it applies to everything and everyone in nature, including themselves and those who differ from us. Their fears and ideas have become so rigid over time that they’ve lost sight of the reason we’re here.
Finally, I know I write a lot about Taoism, Confucius, and Buddhism, but I remain grounded by what I learned by going to the Church of Christ in Lamar when I was 8,9, 10 years old with my grandma and Sunday school almost seventy years ago. We learned that “red, yellow, brown, black, or white – they are all precious in His sight. Jesus loves all the little children of the World”. I ask what happened to the age of innocence when we all grew up?
My travels with Lieh Tzu / Interpolations along the Way
Chapter Five – The Questions of T’ang
86. Hanging a flee from a yak’s tail
A friend of Lieh Tzu’s was known as a great archer. Kan Ying was so well known among the animals and birds that when they saw him coming, they would lay down on the ground until he passed by in fear that he would shoot them. An apprentice of Kan Ying named Fei Wei learned archery from him quickly surpassing the master, then taught Chi Chang the art of the bow. Fei Wei told Chi Chang that he must learn not to blink before he could start talking about archery.
Chi Chang went home and lay down on his back under his wife’s loom with his eye next to the pedal. After two years he did not blink even when the sharp point dropped to the corner of his eye. He told Fei Wei, who replied: “You are not ready yet. I shall not be satisfied until you learn how to look. Come back and tell me when you can see the small as if it were big, the faint as if it were distinct.”
Chi Chang hung a flea at his window by a hair from a yak’s tail and watched from a distance with the sun behind it. 
Within ten days it was growing larger; at the end of three years, it was as big as a cartwheel. When he observed other things in the same way, they were all hills and mountains. He then shot at the flea with a bow and arrow piercing the flea’s heart without snapping the thread. He reported this to Fei Wei who exclaimed: “You’ve got it!” After Chi Chang learned all that Fei Wei could teach him, he knew that Fei Wei was his only match, so he determined to kill him.
The two men met in the valley and began shooting at each other. Their aim was so true that their arrows met halfway between them and fell to the ground. Later when Fei Wei was not looking, Chi Chang secretly took an arrow and shot it at Fei Wei. Fei caught the arrow in his teeth and shot it at Chi. Chi ran around a tree with the arrow following close behind. So overwhelmed was each one by the other man’s talents that they both set their bows aside, bowed to each other and became father and son. They vowed to never reveal their art to anyone. 4/30/95
Number eighty-six of one hundred fifty-eight entries
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