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Chapter of the Week: #55 [Archive]
we speak (to others or as mind-speak) as though we 'know', when in reality, our reasoning is baseless. So why do we act as though we know?
Speaking for myself, I've been conditioned to act as if I know. In school, if you don't know, you 'fail.' At my job I was not allowed to say I didn't know. I'm like a broken record, but below that conditioning is fear. Fear that I will be thrown out of the tribe, the job, school, if they find out I don't know, and then I will end up in the gutter and die!
I remember at work there was a Korean programmer, and whenever some crisis was brought to him, he would say "I know nothing." Pretty soon he had all the programmers saying that (jokingly, of course) and what a burden was lifted just by those words, even in jest.
So, I know nothing. It took me over 50 years to get here and it's pretty nice.
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 55
One who possesses virtue in abundance is comparable to a new born babe:
Poisonous insects will not sting it;
Ferocious animals will not pounce on it;
Predatory birds will not swoop down on it.
Its bones are weak and its sinews supple yet its hold is firm.
It does not know of the union of male and female yet its male member will stir:
This is because its virility is at its height.
It howls all day yet does not become hoarse:
This is because its harmony is at its height.
To know harmony is called the constant;
To know the constant is called discernment.
To try to add to one's vitality is called ill-omened;
For the mind to egg on the breath is called violent.
A creature in its prime doing harm to the old
Is known as going against the way.
That which goes against the way will come to an early end.
I prefer to interpret this chapter from a subjective point of view. Seen this way, the issue is not how to secure the self. Rather, the issue is the subjective 'self' that feels the need for security in the first place. After all, a new born babe has not yet formed an idea of self. Once we believe in a separate self, we launch our self into a life long quest to save 'it' (add to 'it', secure and protect 'it', show 'it' off, and so forth).
The breath corresponds to our original new born nature. The mind corresponds to what we learn subsequently. First, we learn the 'illusion of self*'. Next, we learn a world-view to which we can cling in order to bolster that 'illusion of self'. Once the mind establishes it-self, it imagines possibilities and eggs on the breath to achieve them, and then hangs on to them for dear life. We forget our new born babe, rush on [chref=52] to know the child[/chref], and eagerly [chref=36]strengthens[/chref] its notions of self. The fact that we set up the self is part of our humanity, but we can only find true harmony when our 'illusion of self' is [chref=36]laid aside[/chref] enough to know the new born babe again.
* As Buddha said, 'The illusion of self originates and manifests itself in a cleaving to things'
The more I?m able to live my life without all my interpretations & illusions, instead seeing things clearly, realistically, the more harmony there is. I?m able to know the constant, which for me is seeing things as they truly are, instead of filtered through the illusions of my desires. My main ?effort? in life these days is not to push and strive to make certain things happen, but rather to put forth effort to pay attention to what?s real in life. Using the ?weight of the uncarved block? to push down on desires, ?turning back? from desires to the harmony of the constant.
When I first started reading the Tao Te Ching, I thought of ?a creature in its prime doing harm to the old?, as young people, (including myself), not being respectful to older people, the ways of tradition, etc. Now I think of the old as the way, the constant (old as in eternity). Fighting against the way life really is, through desires or by-paths, ends in problems for any of us.
And thanks Joe for your concise and simple description of what the struggle is for all of us. We are complicated creatures trying to live life simply.
But I don't want to be seen as stuck up. Conversely, I don't want to be seen as common, either. Don't want ot be taken for granted, my being or my words. Really the break I took from these boards did me a favor, but it's also good to be back. Man is a social animal by instinct for sure, but it's nice to have deserts to wandre off into once in a while...
I have found some comfort in this phase: "What other people think of me is none of my business." I will certainly always care what people think of me, but I have little control over it. I have learned that what others think of me is mostly based on their stuff, their projections of what's going on inside of them. I have also learned that when I am wondering what people are thinking of me, they're not thinking of me! They're wondering what others are thinking of them! I am not the center of anyone's universe but my own.
Of course, I have to be reminded of this over and over. In fact, just writing this helped with some tapes that were playing in my head this morning. So thanks, Buddy!