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Richard Wilhelm, in the preface to his translation of the ancient Taoist
text, The Secret of the Golden Flower, points out the common
failure of individuals and nations “to manage the vices of their virtues.
Mastery of the inner world, with a relative contempt for the outer, must
inevitably lead to great catastrophes. Mastery of the outer world, to the
exclusion of the inner, delivers us over to the demonic forces of the
latter and keeps us barbaric despite all outward forms of culture.”
Chin Hua, Golden Flower, when
written in Chinese fashion, one character over the other, creates in the
middle, the character for light. The secret of the Golden Flower is
essentially a Logos meditation on the circulation of our natural
illuminating wisdom through our inner and outer lives. |
