Tao

The Tao Te Ching

"LXXX

May mankind live in freedom, equality and brotherhood again,
So that there will be no need for leaders and superiors
Then people won’t fear death any longer
And won't try to escape death
May it be that people don’t feel the need anymore,
To move themselves about in vehicles
And that they will have nothing to defend anymore
May humankind abandon their instruments and machines,
And enjoy the seeds of the fruit-bearing plants
Those were meant as our food
May they feel shamelessly proud of their natural beauty again
May they stop locking themselves away in cities and houses,
And start enjoying creation
And if some fools still lock themselves away in nations,
Civilizations, cities and houses
May the wise men keep themselves far from this,
And live happily ever after

LXXXI

True words are not pretty
Pretty words are not true
Wise men do not talk about the Unspeakable
One who talks about the Unspeakable is not wise
Wise men are not learned
And learned ones aren’t wise
A wise man doesn’t gather possessions
He gives what he has
And therefore he is worthy of living
He shares his wisdom with others
His wisdom is never-ending
Living according to nature never harms
The life of a wise man is unselfish and peaceful"

"This is perhaps the earliest known written work on radical dissent, but certainly not the first attempt to understand what had been lost in the process of civilization. This sentiment is repeated in his-tory through the early Greeks to the modern philosophers, such as Neitzche and Heidegger, postmodernists, academics such as Fredy Perlman, and present-day anti-civilization anarchists and primitivists. "