Tao and Empire III: The Consummate Consul

By Max Crisp

This is the third volume of the Tao and Empire series. The series aims to recount the rise and fall of Imperial morals using as a basis an ancient philosophical text. In so doing, it strives to use fundamental truths as a constant, allowing the distortion of so-called dominant values for progressive means to be measured and viewed objectively.

Whilst this is not a course on any particular imperial history, it does try to identify the misunderstandings that are made. From one volume to the next we see not only the chronology of the rise and fall of Empire, but also in a certain way the chronology of the individual as he/she begins to perceive the world differently moving from childhood, through adolescence and on into the wild world of adulthood, the point at which agency enables a questioning of the status quo.

Moving away from naiveté, the Consummate Consul describes the idealistic passage from emergence to stagnation. Follow the collective mind on its next step in this journey towards purgatory, decadence and derision. The Consummate Consul is the last chance to taste the balanced flavours of social stability.

Tao and Empire is a series of new interpretations of the Dao De Jing, the ancient Chinese philosophical text, bringing revised and refreshed perspective to one of humankind's most highly regarded cannons of wisdom. As with the Emerald Tablet, every generation of scholars must choose whether to adapt its meaning to disseminate its value or conversely to encrypt it for the purposes of retaining a monopoly on that value.

In a series of five volumes, Tao and Empire plays carefully with this balance. After all, the meaning of these texts is highly subjective and often somewhat opaque. The over-arching aim is to offer a series of interpretations that show how dominant societies inevitably embrace the way of the empire. At the same time, it not only embodies the rise and fall of civilisations, but also of the individual.

Most centrally, however, are the ideas of equality and cooperation. Understanding the tribe from the eyes of an ape, or the Empire through the eyes of a citizen, forms a right of passage for any member of the civilisation, regardless of their status. There are no tangential paths that may be taken, and we must accept the cycle of change as the only constant.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Villemel
• Release date: Feb 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9791094007174

Max Crisp

Max Crisp is a translator and interpreter based in Geneva, Switzerland. Having studied both there and in the UK, he now works principally for organisations specialising in international public law (UN agencies, NGOs, etc).He has lectured at the Universities of Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle) and Rennes (School of Public Health) but currently dedicates his time to mentoring, private study and writing.He holds two masters degrees in his specialist fields, both awarded by the Faculty of Translating and Interpreting (the ETI) of the University of Geneva, and an executive masters in International Negotiation and Policy-making, awarded by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID).

Book preview

Tao and Empire III

The Consummate Consul

by

Max Crisp

Published by MNK Life, an imprint of E. M. Crisp, 2023

Copyright E. M. Crisp © 2023

Smashwords Edition

Cover: Detail from Thomas Cole’s The Consummation of Empire (Course of Empire Series)

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any digital or physical form other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher.

First published in Switzerland in 2023 by MNK Life

villemel.com

ISBN: 9791094007174

This book is a work of transadaptation based on the ancient text of multiple authors but most often ascribed to 老子 or Laozi, 道德經 known as both the Tao Te Ching and the Dao De Jing. The ideas exist only in its pages and in the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to other works also inspired by the original texts is purely coincidental.

If virtue were a common value, none would need to think before acting.

Book I

1.

Citizens help each other find their identity.

Identity is never merely revealed.

No citizen is born knowing it,

Hence all look first to their mothers.

Finding it means battling desire.

Desire develops first.

Desire dreams of identity.

Dreams about identity seem real,

But valid signs come only from other citizens,

None may fully reveal their nature,

Without yielding to desire and restlessness.

2.

Citizens know beauty defines ugly.

Virtue however they must learn.

If not, they are unneeded.

Taking small steps, they complete difficult,

Temper extremes, measure moods,

Share wealth, and develop virtue.

They are the Empire, its identity and its history.

Citizens don’t show children their identities,

As it hinders their access to the Empire.

They befriend and teach them passively.

They guide them passively onto their own ways,

They create citizens, and hence are citizens.

They guide