Having discovered a fairly decent manchada in town, the teapotmonk began a quest to find the Sage in Spain - a wise and ancient Taoist - rumoured to live in the Caves of the Sierra Nevada, but occasionally found in a breakfast bar in Lanjaron. I-Pod in tow, the Monk tracked down the Sage in order to discover a simple lesson in Digital Taoism in an Iberian Setting.
Teapot: Greetings Sage. I come from the world below, a world of haste and waste where we carry artifacts and anxieties in our words and thoughts. I come in search of edification, consultation and a cheap breakfast. What advice have you for those that find themselves gravitating - often unaware - ever further from the path of simplicity that is the Tao?
Sage: Welcome Monk of the Manchada, come sit with me, and we will indeed share thoughts, companionship and your tostada. Your question about the Tao is important. To remain at one with the Tao is Simple Monk, allow all to happen naturally. Remember that below in your archaic world of immobilarias, that a storm does not last a whole morning, a downpour does not last the whole day.
Teapot: Perhaps you the master has never travelled to Manchester?
Sage:
In these times it is not necessary oh Milky Monk for without going outside you may know the whole world.
Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven. Remember the words of Lao Tsu:
The farther you go, the less you know. Though this was of course before the dominance of the Ryan Air dynasty.
However, the Sage knows without travelling.
Teapot: On that very issue Ancient Wireless One I bring an important question that is on the lips of many followers in these troubled days. I have a friend of a friend, who's battery on his I-Pod Mini is faltering - not enduring in your wise terms - and needs replacing. Should I, ah hem, I mean... should he upgrade to a stable 5th generation I-Pod now or await the inevitable full touch-screen update later in the year?
Sage: Wear out and have again says the Tao Te Ching. Keep your screensaver running said the great Harry Secombe. Everything changes - align yourself to this simple truth and you will know what to do.
Teapot: And what about choice of colour Señor Sage? Apple used to be the company of white on white. Now a black notebook,
Sage: Black is the colour of Yin, of humility, and of invisibility.
Teapot: I wasn´t thinking of becoming a Ninja…
Sage: Do not choose in haste as it is also the colour that blends itself into the oneness that is the void. It is the colour of Tai Chi and the colour of
Teapot: Your words will be of great comfort to many on forums and blogs around the world Master. But for those still pondering the mother of all questions, what advice from the Tao can you give those unfortunates - the dwellers in the void of indecsion - the waverers between a Mac and a PC?
Sage: The writings of the ancients are very clear on this point: Move towards integration and simplicity and the untangling of knots.
Teapot: Knots?
Sage: Particularly in the cable of your ear-phones. The Tao recommends working with whatever helps you abandon the complicated, to facilitate your facilities if you will.
Teapot: How do you know if you are at one with your work?
Sage: If your imagination is liberated, boundaries are removed, space is made available. Always maintain your space Grasshopper.
Teapot: Is this why ones pod should remain half empty?
Teapot: On the subject of beverages, I believe that I have found the home of the perfect manchada. The village is small, found by, I think, the pattern of the yarrow sticks. How do I know if my thoughts are correct?
Sage: Someone, far more more celluloid than I said: ¨Don't think too much about it. FEEL. It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.¨
And small is insightful. Lao Tsu said that the ideal state is made up of few inhabitants, where people do not need to commute away to find work, where transport is less and less needed, where security is given rather than enforced. Food is simple and tasty, clothes unpretentious and homes modest but comfortable. Dog´s bark, cocks crow and churros can be found in many parts.
Teapot: And what of the politics of the place. This country in which we reside is much divided by left and right.
Sage: Ruling a country, says the Tao Te Ching, is like cooking a small fish.
Teapot: What sort of fish?
Sage: A small one.
Teapot: Very small ones are illegal oh Culinary One. Besides, I thought you were a vegetarian sort of Sage?
Sage: Only Relativity is not relative. What is a manchada to you, may be sombra to another. All depends on the tapa that is served. Anyway, a wise person who understands the principles of the universe and who follows them, follows the left (Yin, non-aggression, non-violence,compassion etc). He who does not have this understanding follows the right - the way of violence, strength and Yang. These people are fundamentally market analysts who take away from those that do not have enough and give to those that have too much.
Teapot: Is this not the way of the world though oh all Seeing Sprinkle of Sage?
Sage: Nature´s way my friend is to diminish excess and replenish deficiency to ensure a balance. Society must abide by natures course if any form of harmony is to be attained.
Teapot: One final question my I-Sage before I leave you and my taoist toast in peace. Many pronounce Tao as Dow and not as Towel. Please clarify for those that are restless in their uncertainty.
Sage: The Tao is not a sound Mr. Teapot. Though I´m told that if you listen carefully you can make out the true sound of yin and yang, the sound of the Vibration of the Opposites.
Teapot: I´m not sure I know of this band. Could you burn me a CD of them? Or should I search the sacred emule upon which Lao
Sage: As Lao Tsu warned: Beware the mule that stands on tip-toe as it loses all stability, likewise a mule that seeks fame will complicate its life and compromise its simplicity.
Teapot: And how difficult is simplicity?
Sage: To spell? Not too hard.
Teapot: To find.
Sage: Try looking under the letter S in a dictionary.
Teapot: The essence….?
Sage: …the essence is to be found in stillness, in being grounded…
Teapot: Like a good coffee?
Sage: Like a Perfect Manchada, my Macintosh Monk. Like a Perfect Manchada.