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not lose."[21] After the initial shock, I felt much freer after tossing the bulk of my possessions because, "he who knows that enough is enough will always have enough"[22] and I really do feel much lighter without so many things to drag me down. Less possessions means less things to worry about, as it turns out.

Perhaps it is all a matter of vulnerability, just like in sex. True growth and love can only be found by making ourselves vulnerable, open, and needy. "Yield and overcome; bend and be straight; empty and be full; wear out and be new; have little and gain; have much and be confused."[23] I admit to my state of less than perfection and offer up my raw wounds for inspection and display. We can't be helped, or touched, when we have everything we need. To be filled, there must be a hole. "But I alone am drifting, not knowing where I am. Others have more than they need, but I alone have nothing. Oh, I drift like the waves of the sea, without direction, like the restless wind."[24] To throw oneself upon the mercy of the universe requires either an act of supreme faith or supreme desperation. But the universe provides, and always has. That's the lesson at the end of this. There is no end. There is no wrong way. There is no money. There is only the path. And I walk it with grace and faith because I know, somehow, that this is the way I'm supposed to go, and so I do.

Quotes

[1] Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, 2
[2] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 29
[3] Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, 8
[4] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 12
[5] John D. Barbour, Tragedy and Ethical Reflection, The Journal of Religion (1983), 3
[6] Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, 18
[7] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 20
[8] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 48
[9] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 43
[10] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 20
[11] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 22
[12] Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, 8
[13] Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, 22
[14] Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, 2
[15] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 63
[16] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 64
[17] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 27
[18] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 27
[19] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 33
[20] Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, 24
[21] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 64
[22] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 46
[23] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 22
[24] Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, 20

Sources

Barbour, John D., Tragedy and Ethical Reflection. The Journal of Religion 1983. The University of Chicago Press http://mantis.csuchico.edu:205 3/journals/ucpress.html

Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English. Vintage books edition, March 1997.

Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Birth of Tragedy. First publication, 1872: The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music. Second Edition, 1878: few textual changes. Third edition, 1886: "Attempt at a Self-Criticism," and new title, The Birth of Tragedy Or: Hellenism and Pessimism. Compiled from translations by Francis Golffing and Walter Kaufmann. Text amended in part by The Nietzsche Channel. http://www.geocities.com/theni etzschechannel/bt.htm

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