Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Chapter of the Week: #29 [Archive]
So, What are the chances of misunderstanding each other here?... Excellent I hope!
Why would I hope for such a thing?
Why would I hope for such a thing?
Comments
Note: The Tao Te Ching can be obscure, especially if you think you're supposed to understand what it's saying! We find it easier and more instructive to simply contemplate how the chapter resonates with your personal experience. Becoming more aware at this fundamental level simplifies life. This approach conforms to the view that true knowing lies within ourselves. Thus, when a passage in the scripture resonates, you've found your inner truth. The same applies for when it evokes a question; questions are the grist for self realization.
Chapter 29
Whoever takes the empire and wishes to do anything to it I see will have no
respite. The empire is a sacred vessel and nothing should be done to it.
Whoever lays hold of it will ruin it; whoever lays hold of it will lose it.
Hence some things lead and some follow;
Some breathe gently and some breathe hard;
Some are strong and some are weak;
Some destroy and some are destroyed.
Therefore the wise avoids excess, extravagance, and arrogance.
If considered from a 'turning back' perspective, this chapter points to symptoms rather actions to avoid. Thus, when I perceive the empire as ruined, I then feel I should do something to it. When I feel I've lost it, I then lay hold of it. Only when I feel things - the empire - are sacred and perfect as they are, am I capable of not meddling. [chref=48]It is always through not meddling that the empire is won. Should you meddle, then you are not equal to the task of winning the empire.[/chref] Now, being the instinct driven animal that I am, of course I lay hold of and I do, but seeing this situation as it really is takes some of the wind out of my emotional sails, and helps me avoid excess, extravagance, and arrogance.
The empire is the way it is with some things strong and some things weak (etc.). Our inability to accept that and conform leave us no respite from birth to death. When we keep looking over the empire's fence onto the green grass of our imagined empire, we can never simply be here. Okey, smarty pants, what should we do... :? ... [chref=23]A man of the way conforms to the way;[/chref]
respite. The empire is a sacred vessel and nothing should be done to it.
I am led to consider that since all things in harmony and discord make up the universe, power or earthly desire would upset the balance of nature, and a sage following the path should avoid these things. I'm at work right now, and I can percieve inner-truth while reading that statement. Competition is uneccessary and a waste of energy. Peace is the only way to sucess within one's own mind.
Hence some things lead and some follow;
Some breathe gently and some breathe hard;
Some are strong and some are weak;
Some destroy and some are destroyed.
Therefore the wise avoids excess, extravagance, and arrogance.
My interperetation of this passage is that all things are reflections of subjective reality, and each have their opposite. 'For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.' We also see that Enlightenment would mean perfect harmony with nature, and all things in balance with the universe.
Is there anything I seem to have missed :?:
-Blake L.
You asked "is there anything I seem to have missed"? As 'miss' and 'have' are co-generating :yy: (opposite sides of the same coin), I can't answer that question in that context. I find all I'm really able to do is notice nature - how it 'ticks' and 'tocks' away. However, just because a 'tick' looks like a 'tick' to me, doesn't mean that it's not really a 'tock' instead... or as well... or will be.
I truly concur with one of Buddha's last admonitions before he died: to paraphrase... "Only accept what you hear as true, if it rings true within you. Let go of the rest". I notice that we naturally do the former, i.e., we listen to and accept what we are ready to believe. However, we tend to contend with anything which challenges what we believe.
So, you didn't 'miss' anything, but, neither has your journey ended. When you're ready to have more... or less... than you have today, you will pick it up, or drop it, quite naturally... and not a moment before. It's quite an adventure, I'm finding. And yes, it's a little scary at time, as all adventures tend to be.
and my, yes, I relate to Carls statement about people challenging anything they dont believe-see this all over in America-dont upset people's shaky faith, in god or government or family or they'll bite back...in juvenile corrections for some reason, a large number of my coworkers are fundamentalist Christians, real bible thumpers, and though i dont argue with them nowadays, man, did we have some knock down drag outs way back when...I'm going to hell ,according to them, and no amount of good works i do on this earth can change that unless i believe as they believe...