Nature is non-benevolent. It regards all things as straw dogs.
The Holy Man is non-benevolent. He regards the masses as straw dogs.
The space between the Heaven and the earth is like a bellows; though unsupported, it does not warp; when in motion the more it expels.
Though words could exhaust this theme, they would not be so profitable as the preservation of its inner essence.
Nature cares as little for the divisions among men as the ancient Chinese worshippers for the straw dogs which had served their sacrificial functions. The Law of cause and effect, order and sequence (karma), is as exact, universal and scientific in the realm of mind and spirit as in the domain of physics and mathematics. Every language bears in its proverbs deep traces of its workings. Solomon's adage, "He that soweth iniquity shall reap calamity … he that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed," has its counterpart in the sayings of all peoples. Say the Chinese, "Sow beans and you will reap beans; plant melons and you will reap melons. One cannot plant bitter gourds and reap sweet tasting fruit." "Heaven is bountiful to all according to their deserts; on the good it showers felicities, on the not good it inflicts calamity." But though man may not escape the Law, man can deprive it of evil by his attitude towards its results. Hence worshipful humility is more fitting than argument. "Stand in awe and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still." "The Lord is in his holy temple: be silent before him all the earth." The solemn mysteries of life are not to be profaned.
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Are we straw dogs?