I am now more convinced than ever that the authors of the Tao Te Ching are wrong about traveling ("the farther you go, the less you know").  After a week in the Netherlands and France – a wonderful week I should say – I can say that moving about, even in a rather touristy manner, lends a certain randomness to life, an uncertainty about what might lie just around the corner, and a new view on the routines of daily existence.  All of these things help to remind us of the contingency of our being and the fluidity and multiplicity of Way.  Maybe that is why Chuang Tzu encouraged aimless wandering.

      I had never seen the sun set on the canals of Amsterdam,

      nor the sun light peak through the clouds and illuminate the stained glass walls of Saint Chapelle

       In each case, it is to see the sun in a new manner, to view a bit of Way that has long been there but beyond my sight.  Confucians would probably find this self-indulgent, something that turns my attention away from the daily cultivation of my social responsibilities.  But, what the hell, it is beautiful in its own right, and that is certainly worth something.

     I did not get a chance to stop through Brussels and visit Crazy Insect.  Maybe next time.  And I should give a shout out to the great fellows over at China Law Blog, for including The Useless Tree in a list of "thinking China" sites.   I appreciate the nod (and I’ll try to tag some others, in turn, in a day or two).

     I can’t do much more now because I am caught up in catching up with home life and work after a week gone (which seems to verify the essentially Taoist nature of travel: it has taken me out of myself…), and I have to prepare some comments for a talk my wife and I will give tomorrow at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield, MA.  It is a program sponsored by the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center, which I had not heard of before this invitation.  We will discuss "compassionate care" in hospital settings, drawing from our experiences with Aidan.  It will be another trip, one more familiar than our European jaunt, but one that will have a similar effect of shifting my perspective for a time and showing me yet another corner of Way.