Tzu-kung, disciple of Confucius, after
travelling to Ch’u in the south, came back by way of Chin. When he was passing
through Han-yin he saw an old man who was engaged in irrigating his vegetable plots.
The way this old man did it was to let himself down into the well-pit by
footholes cut in the side and emerge clasping a pitcher which he carefully
emptied into a channel, thus expending a great deal of energy with very small
results.
“There exists,” Tsu-Kung said to him, “a contrivance
with which one can irrigate a hundred vegetable plots in a single day. Unlike
what you are doing, it demands a very small expenditure of energy, but produces
very great results. Would you not like me to tell you about it?” The gardener
raised his head and gazed at Tsu-Kung. “What is it like?” he asked. “It is an
instrument carved out of wood,” said Tsu-Kung, “heavy behind and light in
front. It scoops up the water like a bale, as quickly as one drains a bath-tub.
Its name is the well-sweep.” A look of indignation came into the gardener’s
face. He laughed scornfully, saying, “I used to be told by my teacher that
where there are cunning contrivances there will be cunning performances, and
where there are cunning performances there will be cunning hearts. He in whose
breast a cunning heart lies has blurred the pristine purity of his nature; he
who has blurred the pristine purity of his nature has troubled the quiet of his
soul, and with one who has troubled the quiet of his soul, Tao will not dwell.
It is not that I do not know about this invention, but that I should be ashamed
to use it.” (Chuang Tzu)
"Problemi Filosofici della Scienza" (2011). "L'Ultima dea d'Occidente. Saggio sulla razionalità inesorabile" (2018). "The Empty Campus. Education and Miseducation in the New Global Age" (2016). "Metafisiche del Mondo" (1997)."La Società del Contrario" (2005). "I labirinti del cuore" (2011). "Kafka Ridens. Studio sull’umorismo in Kafka" (2010). "Beffe e Beffatori in Nome di una Crisi" (2021).
Dr. Divago, a.k.a. Sergio Caldarella, is a published author of sixteen books, several papers, articles and two theater pieces. He has participated as speaker in local and international conferences and seminars throughout Europe and the US. Some of the events he participated as invited speaker have been organized, sponsored or hosted by the followings: International Plato Society; Platoninstitut; Istituto Mediterraneo di Studi Universitari; The Italian Philosophical Society; The National Research Council (CNR); The M.I.T., Goethe-Institut; The British Council; Alliance Française; Assiberica; Thomas Aquinas Society; Spertus Institute Chicago; The Universities of Siena; Genova; Catania; Naples Eastern; Naples Federico II and Monmouth; The Scuola Normale Superiore; The German Embassy in Rome; Frankfurt Book Fair; Rome Book Fair “Più libri Più Liberi”; Jüdisches Kulturzentrum Veitshöchheim; Shir Shalom.
Selective Bibliography: "The Empty Campus"; “Metafisiche del Mondo"; “Memoria e dolore”; “La Società del Contrario”; “L’Algebra degli Scacchi; “Le lacrime della pioggia”; “Problemi Filosofici della Scienza”; "L'Ideologia del lupo."
