musicology #198

teachings of billionaire YenTzu #8

(Otis Redding - I've Been Loving You Too Long To Stop Now)

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Fighting The Rat, (harnessing conscience power)

‘Yao Kou, you promised last week that you would be here on time.’ Tan Lee said to his partner. ‘Yet, you let me down again.’

‘How so?’ the astonished partner replied. ‘Me, late? Well, I may not always be punctual, but I am never late! Anyway, it is not my fault. I had every intention of getting up earlier this morning but, upon awaking, I noticed it was raining so I decided to wait awhile before leaving, as the market road would probably be awash. As it turned out it wasn’t, so I am able to be here now as I said I would be, though I can’t remember promising.’

‘It is said that if you find it difficult to be sincere with yourself,’ Tan Lee returned, ‘it is not possible to be sincere with others.’

‘Your trouble is that you always speak in riddles,’ replied Yao Kou. ‘What has sincerity got to do with it? It is simply that sometimes I find that the ‘I’ that declares that it will rise early in the morning is different from the ‘I’ that exists in the morning, who refuses to co-operate. Having so many different parts of him must be why a man, for instance, finds it so hard to keep something secret. First one ‘I’ makes a promise, believing that he wants to keep the secret. Then, tomorrow another ‘I’ in him prompts him to tell his friend over a bottle of rice wine. With a different ‘I’ in command, a clever person may question a man in such a way that he himself is unaware of what he is saying.’

‘You’re not trying to say that you have revealed what we discussed together last week are you?’ enquired Tan Lee. ‘We agreed that would remain between ourselves only for the moment.’

‘I met with the trader Fu’li, we drank and I couldnt help it. But I can’t say I’m sorry because it has been worth it. Fu’li raised doubts which I believe we should seriously consider. Anyway, it’s hardly my fault. You should have made it clearer or at least given me all the facts.’

‘I could not have made it clearer,’ said Tan Lee. ‘Yet, listening to you reminds me of the teachings of that great sage who visited us from the west:

“If one of thine ‘I’s’ offends thee, pluck it out.” For without unity in your thinking you will continue to justify your own actions through blaming other people or things. It is clear that my “I” met with your wrong “I” last week, so, all of me tells me I must depart…Goodbye’