Words of the Red Queen - 赤后言

This all started with the sentence, "Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer" - 朋友要近, 敵人更緊密.

01.人之本, Of all that maketh a man,

02.緒在首. His state of mind comes first.

03.孝即忠, Filial piety is loyalty,

04.可信也. And thus he  can be trusted.

05.知音者,Whoever knows your mind,

06.比心清. Is clearer than your own heart.

07.友雖遠,Though friends may be far away,

08.敵必近.Enemies must be kept close.

09.治國策, Ruling strategies:

10.先自强. First self-sustaining strength be.

11.文獲善, Civility begets good,

12.武得護.And Might protects.

13.太仁道, Too benevolent in the ways of virtue,

14.天下亂. The world will descend into chaos.

15.氣義氣喪,When righteousness dies,

16.事難成. Nothing's accomplished.

17.陰陽衡, Balance in Ying and Yang,

18.乾坤和. Then the universe be in harmony.

19.水東流, Just like rivers flow east,

20.日西沉. And the sun sets west.

21.宇宙轉,The universe will change,

22.品性移. Character be transfigured.

23.銀河情, Love at the Milky Way,

24.一朝完. Will one day be gone.

37.理豈易, How can logic not be absolute?

38.光速定. Just as the speed of light is a constant.

39.貴賤永,Hierarchy forever be,

40.生死恆.Where there's life, death shall be.

41.若仗勝, To have the war won,

42.通進退. Be well versed in advance and retreat,

43.以柔弱, Use even one's softness and weakness,

44.克剛硬. To subdue the strong.

45.貪色昏,Lustfulness becomes befuddlement.

46.萬不保.Nothing can be defended.

47.舉止正, Nobility in conduct,

48.判斷公,Fairness in judgment

49.當局明, Clear in the situation,

50.何禁忌. Nothing's dreaded.

51.聖會誤, Even the saints will get misled,

52.神亦錯, So too will the Gods be wrong!

53.莫固執. Obstinacy shall never be.

54.休容顏 Forget about face saving!

55.有過改,Faults be changed,

56.學無盡, No end to learning.

57.赤后言,What the Red Queen says,

58.非偽語.False words never be.

59.世上間. In this world,

60. 能幾多?How many would there be?

Saturday, 06 April, 2019

1: To be human.

2: When one is in a good mood, a fart smells nice.  In a foul mood, even a compliment seems like ass kissing.

3-4: If a person cannot be filial to one's parents, how trust from others can be established?

5-6: Lies will always escape. 知音, "knowing the sound" refers to a vibrating string caused by the resonance of another string with the same frequency.  The heart can feign and cajole even to oneself!

10: Without health, nothing can be done, without strength nothing can be started.

11-12: Just look at Athens and Sparta.

13-14: Too much of anything is seldom

good.  以仁治天下, "let benevolence rule all under heaven" never works in practice.  Just look at the histories of the Sung or Ch'ing dynasties.

15-16: There's honor among thieves.

17-20: Doctrine of the Mean. When there is balance, equilibrium will be achieved. Everyone is happy - thus no rocking of the boat. Rivers in China flow eastwards. Unless some cosmic cataclysm, the sun will continue to set in the west.

21:40: Absolute and relative truths.  When the aeons finally run its course, things won't be hanging around

any longer.  However there are things like 1 + 1 = 2 or the constant speed of light remain true. Others remain constant along as their context or environment sremains unchanged.  Ranking will exist as long as are humans are involved. The love here refers to the love story of the eternal love of the Divine Cowherd and The Fairy Spinning Maid.  What happens when Altair and Vega are gone?

41-44: Make use of whatever you have, whether they are strengths or weakness.

45-56: Whether success or failure be, depends on one's moral character and

ruthlessness used at the right place and right time. Chinese history is replete with examples when one gives in to desires.