“At the end of the day,” says Jonathan Star about his English translation of Tao te Ching from the original Chinese, “it’s not about attaining anything. The Tao keeps saying ‘it’s everywhere!’ It’s to notice another part of yourself that’s just overlooked. You know, we see what the mind shows us, but there’s another dimension to our being that’s constantly being overlooked.” For Star, his translation project for this slender, stunning volume, which took over a decade, was a spiritual practice. Includes further readings from Star’s translation.
Category Archives: Podcast PAGE
The Way of Tao, Pt 1
Jonathan Star took twelve years to master the nuances of ancient Chinese in his quest to produce a remarkably lucid and evocative English translation of Lao Tsu’s brilliant masterpiece of wisdom. Guidance in the subtle art of attaining mental and emotional balance pervades Star’s brilliant translation of Lao Tsu’s timeless poetic volume of Taoist philosophy on how to lead a centered life.
The Practice of Forgiveness, Pt 2
When we nurse grudges, the person clinging to a resentment often pays a high price in anxiety, hostility, perhaps depression. What follows from that for many people, says Robin Casarjian of the Lionheart Foundation, are health-related symptoms. “And it stops you,” she says, ‘from really being able to be fully present to yourself, and to other relationships. So forgiving frees you. Forgiveness frees the forgiver.” This insight informs her fascinating work with inmates in prison, at-risk youth and others.