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of all things most yielding

from Of all things most yielding by Arthur Durkee

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lyrics

What is of all things most yielding
can overcome that which is most hard;
being substanceless, it can enter in

even where there is no crevice.
That is how I know the value
of action which is actionless.
But that there can be teaching without words,
value in action which is actionless,
few indeed can understand.

—Lao Tzu, Tao de Ching, 43 (trans. unknown)

•

The gentlest thing in the world
overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance
enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.

Teaching without words,
performing without actions:
that is the Master's way.

—trans. Stephen Mitchell

•

What’s softest in the world
rushes and runs
over what’s hardest in the world.

The immaterial
enters
the impenetrable.

So I know the good in not doing
not many people understand it.

—trans. Ursula K. Le Guin

credits

from Of all things most yielding, released May 11, 2018

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Arthur Durkee Ann Arbor, Michigan

Arthur Durkee is a composer & songwriter who records & performs on Chapman Stick, bass, analog modular synths, bamboo & wood flutes, keys, frame drums, and voice. He has won awards for composed, notated music as well as for his recordings, & is a published poet, & designer & illustrator. ... more

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