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Chapter of the Week: #72 [Archive]
so that's where the voice inside my head are coming from.[cite] Luke Abbott:[/cite] "I can edit anyone's post, user or guest, to say whatever I want them to say"
it does have a valid point to keep troll's from posting hateful messages.
[Edit: Had to make a nice "quote" box... :P -Luke]
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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 72
When the people lack a proper sense of awe, then some awful visitation will
descend upon them.
Do not constrict their living space; do not press down on their means of
livelihood. It is because you do not press down on them that they will not
weary of the burden.
Hence the sage knows himself but does not display himself, loves himself but
does not exalt himself.
Therefore he discards the one and takes the other.
Well, some awful visitation has descended up them... er, us. The unintended consequences of civilization have descended upon us. Of course, we are not about to give up the comfort and security - the intended consequences - so what are we to do.
First, until we fully realize and accept the deeper causes of our dis-ease, our problem, nothing is going to change. Well, actually it may get worse for the tools (technology) that enable civilization will continue to increase at a pace that has become exponential since the dawn of agriculture. Ah, okay, let's blame agriculture instead!
To [chref=28]return[/chref] and recover a proper sense of awe sounds like it would help us. How to go about that is another matter. An integral aspect of our sense of awe (that hasn't reach the level of being awe-full) is fear. This deep emotion provides the fuel for awe. But, we do all we can to avoid feeling fear. Safety first! That's okay, but we just don't know when to [chref=32]stop[/chref]. Civilization has permitted us to become unwittingly obsessed with perfection; we fill life [chref=9]to the brim[/chref].
Finally, the urge to display one's self is simply wanting others to know what we want to know, i.e., that we are okay. Any need to display or exalt myself is simply a symptom of the fact that I don't know myself and thus am inwardly insecure. Of course, know himself doesn't refer to the idea of self, the ego, but to ones intrinsic original nature. This being who you are, not who you wish you were, which is just more fallout from the civilizing forces which act upon us from birth.
Now, I've beaten the dead horse enough. What is the solution to the problems caused by civilization? The only long term solution I have felt feasible up to now is outlined in the bottom of the paper on ethics: There may be a silver lining. Time will tell. As for my own individual life right here and now... living right here and now, is the best solution I've found up to now. And I mean each mini-moment. As the Bhagavad Gita puts it, "work with perfection without expecting perfection". I have found that my expectations hold the seeds of my sorrows, so I don't invest much in them anymore. That alone goes a long way toward counteracting civilization, for which expectations are a prime ingredient. Oh, I should add that Sunday's Taoist meeting and writing this 'column' helps refresh my world view and thus also weaken civilization's hold on me. None of these are a panacea... but you knew that already. Nevertheless, it works better than anything else I've found... and search I have!
Now it is time to go [chref=4]empty[/chref] and pick some 'weeds' in the garden. Ah, where would we be without 'weeds'?
When my desires run rampant, they press down on the reality of my life. And the reality is that I will always have suffering of some kind in my life, being human. But if I can more often let go of my desires, they won?t press down on my ?awe?, my true awareness of reality, and then the suffering is not such a wearisome burden.
One of the keys seems to be my letting go of the fear of the ?void?, the grand emptiness. My fear of the void drives me to pursue myriad desires, which multiply in complexity because of civilization. (Having a sweet tooth wouldn?t cause me problems if I had to work my butt off in the jungle gathering fruit.)