Dao and the Constellation of the Heart (just being alive can really hurt)

I just took on an online tutoring assignment on an online homework-help site. It's on odd site--they're trying very hard to stay away from having tutors writing people's homework or papers for them, but a lot of students come there expecting it, and you so wonder if some tutors do it--when the students offer to pay enough. If it's a new student, then they just don't know. But returning students? Hum. (Cute posting from a new student: They posted their assignment and wrote: "Need this in 2 days, no plagiarism." ... ... People unclear on the concept.) I mostly stick to the assignments that ask for help with essays--correcting them, or not understanding how to go about writing one.

But I just had a fun one. The student's assignment was to find a picture that represents the way of Dao, and describe in a few sentences why. The student said they didn't understand how to do this, just needed ideas. I warned the person to count on their own knowledge of Dao from class, but that I would pull some phrases from wiki and find pictures to match them, to show ideas of how to go about it.

I pulled out 8 phrases and found 8 pictures. It was, you can imagine, fun. This was my favorite picture, to illustrate the idea that the way to understand the universe is by understanding yourself:

Kate Gibb (wired.com)

Which in turn reminds me of one of my favorite Kate Bush songs called "Constellation of the Heart." It's about turning the telescope away from the sky and towards your own heart. It ends with a confrontation between a ship's crew and its captain, who's frightened because they're sailing right into the secrets of her own heart. [Video might be blocked in the US.]



Well we think you’d better wake up capt’n
There’s something happen’n up ahead
We’ve never seen anything like it
We’ve never seen anything like it before

I want a full report
That’s it
What do you mean, that’s it?
That’s all you get
You’d better do something ’bout it
What am I supposed to do about it?
We don’t know, but you can’t run away from it
Maybe you’d better face it
I can’t do that
C’mon face it!
I can’t do that
C’mon, c’mon face it
What am I gonna do?
It is gonna hurt, it is gonna hurt me bad?

Ooh here’s the constellation of the heart

Who said anything about it hurting?
It’s gonna be beautiful
It’s gonna be wonderful
It’s gonna be paradise
 
Just being alive, it can really hurt...