Alo and De Calm #69
(PD) Alo and De Lake on Land.
Copyright ©2018 November 16, 2018
Yan: It is a thing that I have always seen, and, experienced for myself... good people, of what is commonly named to be of virtue and benevolence, the people are calm... their behaviors are mild, warm, gentle, mindful and caring of all that is around the people... always, unless there is a reason to not be calm. Our wives, always calm, except, of course, when we make them laugh...
Alo: Agreed... stable emotions, express themselves, as stable... similarly expressed from one moment to the next... predictable... calm... of harmony with the other emotions... not as a calm ice that does not move, but rather as a soothing rhythm of gentle warm waters, like our lake... no fast changes... no sudden outbursts... remains predictable. The lake, its waters are calm, but have an occasional little change... fish sometimes rise to the surface... the fish cause a little ripple, but not big, not cause whole lake to change and explode with different expression. It is good, useful, and creative also, to not be distracting to self, nor be distracting to other people, if one's self is calm. But yes, laughter, it is also important... life would be, not as full, if there were no connection to what exists outside of ourselves... no life of pleasant fish ripples... similar for grief... to not grieve for a lost loved one, it would prove that there had never been a harmony... also prove that there had never existed inner goodness, never existed compassion, nor benevolence... person would be callous...
Yan: Agreed... Nature also expresses itself with little ripples... Nature does not have drastic changes of expression... not explode whole universe and then return to calm. An ancient sentence... I have not yet decided which synonym to use... 'Benevolence person calm, benevolence know, person sharp benevolence'. The general concept is easy enough... benevolent people are calm, benevolent people know what benevolence is, and a benevolent person has a... something... benevolence. The unknown ancient word can imply several different synonyms that are not similar to the other... sharp, advantage, profit, benefit, fast, favorable, and several others. To me, it feels awkward to say 'benevolent person benefit benevolence', or 'profit benevolence', or 'sharp benevolence'... within modern slang, yes, the synonyms can merely imply a different thing that does not really mean what the words say, but still, I have not yet found a comfortable modern word to use...
Alo: My own approach, is to observe one's self, and to then choose which words might be close to what is real... 'benevolent person calm'... yes, expressing benevolence, is an outward flow from inside... must be benevolent inside first, then be benevolent outside... feel warmth of heart, feel purpose, feel direction, feel aim... there, benevolence is known... cannot know what benevolence is, without being benevolent, and, observing one's own heart... but now, benevolent person 'what?' benevolence.
Yan: 'Sharpness' does not fit... benevolence is wide, deep, soft, warm... flows gentle, but also strong in a way, because of so much quantity... so much, that the gentleness displaces most all that is not gentle... again like the lake, the gentle water itself does not have to be strong, the water simply displaces other things... so, no sharpness of benevolence... that word cannot harmonize. 'Profit' implies a material gain... inner benevolence is first, and last... no gain... no change... benevolence is what we are, how we express ourselves, not what we do with a desire for profit. 'Advantage' and most other synonyms have similar weaknesses as 'profit'... 'favorable' almost sounds acceptable, but, 'favorable' would be a term used from the outside, a person seeing and describing a benevolent person, not a word that closely relates to what is real to the benevolent person themselves.
Alo: 'Benevolence person calm', relates to inside felt, and then seen outside... 'benevolence know', relates to inside firsthand understanding, cannot be known nor understood from the outside, although outside behavior might be named by people to be 'benevolence'... 'person something benevolence'... likely still relates to something inside... if it is not possible to use words to give people an understanding of another person's inner things, then the ancient word also cannot communicate what the author felt inside. Therefore, choose a word that feels comfortable to you, and also feels comfortable when placed beside the sentence's previous concepts...
Yan: Then... I feel calm inside... heart is warm... caring for other people... direct the calm warmth of caring to other people... people call it benevolence... I know what benevolence is, because I feel it inside, know why benevolence exists, and what benevolence is composed of... now, when I have expressed inner warmth outwardly, what have I done, and what exists? There was no profit to me, no sharpness, no advantage, no fastness, and though the outward act might be interpreted by observers as being useful to people other than myself, still, for me, for my own self, I find no hint of anything like what the synonyms imply... I do not desire profit, cannot care about other people if wanting profit of self... no advantage for me, because, the act of benevolence does not change, does not heighten or lessen when given... all that I am seeing, is that harmony was created... harmony between myself and another person... now sharing warmths, now sharing gentleness, now sharing caring...
Alo: Modern language, it has the root of selfishness... modern words, always point to selfishness, of personal profit... if a new thing were created, then, what? Would the modern language not then say profit? Advantage? Gain? Benefit?
Yan: Aha, yes indeed... then, the harmony, between myself and another person, the harmony would be creative... and, so, maybe, something like 'benevolent person creative benevolence'... still not quite right... still not comfortable...
Alo: The ancient language often uses words that are metaphors of real events... words like expensive and cheap... 'expensive' sometimes implying a lot of effort and mindfulness regardless of money cost... 'cheap' implying little effort and little mindfulness... like wearing clothes that cost ten-thousand dollars, but worn sloppy, the person would then be said to dress cheap... to visit a grave, and leave a store-bought item that required no effort nor mindfulness of caring, the act would be cheap regardless of the money value... perhaps, similar, with the 'profit' word...
Yan: The act of calm benevolence, it would indeed create a degree of harmony... harmony is valuable, because it enables creativity... calm benevolence is expensive, mindful, bright... then, perhaps, the word 'favorable'... it might be closer than the other synonyms... 'benevolent person favorable benevolence'... no, still uncomfortable... and now my thoughts are circling back to the idea of 'profit'... an act of benevolence, is advantageous to the person receiving the benevolence, the act 'profits' the receiver... the receiver gains... no, different, harmony cannot be of material profit... then, that might be like 'benevolent person calm, benevolence know person, advantage benevolence'... from that angle, then, benevolent person calm, benevolent person knows what benevolence is, and, the knowing and the calmness are as advantages of being benevolent... no profit for self, no thoughts of material gain, no selfishness if the 'advantage' is shifted to be a pointing of inner things from an outside point of view... that, to me, feels more comfortable... not perfect, but maybe closer to what is real...
Alo: Agreed... and yes, still relates to inside, still relates to the sentence's first words... we will never know for sure what the ancient writer intended, but we can know what is real in our own lives, and we can then interpret ancient words to be close to what is real. When the ancient words match what is real, then we might say that calm benevolence has the advantage of enabling us to understand what unknown words may have implied...
Yan: Outsiders, they say that benevolence is merely an act of kindness... give a poor man a cup of coffee, while, yet, the person giving has no warmth of heart for the poor man...
Alo: Yes... a translation of ancient words... a mirror of one's own heart...