JCVD Monolgue

Van Damme was a huge karate movie star while I was growing up and he has recently done a heist movie called JCVD, set in a post office, from which this monologue is taken and it is obviously very autobiographical and emotional. Stardom, drugs and women he had it all but ultimately now has nothing or paradoxically, maybe everything, it reminded me of a chapter of an ancient chinese text which suggests that success is as dangerous as failure. Both the monologue and verse from Lao tsu are both poetic and poignant . We will resume normal blog posts shortly....



And from the Tao te Ching by Lao Tzu

Success is as dangerous as failure.
Hope is as hollow as fear.

What does it mean that success is a dangerous as failure?
Whether you go up the ladder or down it,
you position is shaky.
When you stand with your two feet on the ground,
you will always keep your balance.

What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear?
Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don't see the self as self,
what do we have to fear?

See the world as your self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your self;
then you can care for all things.