Chapter 23 good and evil

An old man in the city said, Please tell us about good and evil. He replied: I can speak of the good in you, but not of the evil. For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst? Indeed, when the good is hungry, it will even seek food in dark caves; when it is thirsty, it will even drink from dead water. You are good when you are one with yourself. But you are not evil when you are not identical with yourself. Because a divided house is not a den of thieves, it is just a divided house. Even if there is no rudder, the ship will only drift on the dangerous shore, and will not sink to the bottom of the sea.

You are good when you strive to give yourselves. But you are not evil when you seek your own gain. For when you seek to benefit yourselves, you are but roots clinging to the earth and sucking her milk. Apparently, the fruit does not say to the newspaper: "Follow me, ripe and full, always give your abundance." For giving is as necessary to the fruit as receiving is to the root. You are good when you are sane in your speech. But you are not evil when your tongues wag blindly in your sleep. For even babble and stuttering will strengthen a weak tongue. You are good when you stride firmly toward your goal.

But you are not evil when you stagger. For he who falters does not go backwards. But whoever is strong and quick, do not walk in front of the disabled, thinking that it is a good deed. Your goodness is manifested in all aspects, and when you are not good, you are not evil, You are just idle or lazy. Unfortunately, Benlu couldn't teach the turtle to be agile. Your goodness resides in your longing for your "higher self"; each of you has this longing. But the longing of some of you is the torrent roaring to the sea, carrying the secrets of the mountains and the songs of the forest.

For others, the longing is a gentle stream that relaxes in its meanders or turns before reaching the shore. But let not he who desires abundance say to the ascetic, "Why are you so slow and hesitating?" Because a real good man will not ask a naked person, "What about your clothes?" nor ask a homeless person, "What about your house?"