The Dao of Open Source Software

About six years ago I was reading 365 Tao: Daily Meditations by Deng Ming-Dao. It has a short reading for each day. I started re-reading it again this year. Sometimes it amazes me how what I read seems applicable to various things. What I just read seemed to cover who we have open source software. It didn't start that way but it got there. Here is that reading.

Farewell

We part at the crossroads.
You leave with your joys and problems.
I with mine. Alone, I look down the road.
Each one must walk one's own path.

People's paths come together all too briefly when sharing friendships, but that makes those times no less valuable. We must take advantage of support and sharing in a mutually beneficial way. Whenever we take from another, we should try to give back something. This is fundimental. No one should lean on another person, or expect another to carry them a long distance down the road. Friends should walk side by side for as long as their journel carries them, without becoming dependent on one another.

There should be no obligation. If I can help someone do something, then I should do so without any hesitation or expectation of reward or debt. If there is something that I need to learn and my companion can show it to me, then I should accept it in humility. No one "owns" knowledge. It should be freely shared.

Parting is inherent in all meeting. Nothing lasts forever. Transience is what gives life poignancy. Every person is responsible for himself or herself. There is no road to walk but your own.

You probably won't find this framed on any IP lawyer's wall. Gee, are there any Taoist IP lawyers?