Chapter of the Week: #53 [Archive]

Carl

I sincerely wish you good luck with that approach, Lynn.

I said that exactly as you said it to me because I mean exactly what I think you meant which is that is sounds like it works for you and it doesn't work for me. Mostly, I am not attracted to what the end is.

But the proof is in the pudding and I am willing to risk being wrong on a very big idea. If I come to trouble over it, I will seek another way.

Carl

Each week we address one chapter of the Tao Te Ching. 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 53
Were I possessed of the least knowledge, I would, when walking on the great
way, fear only paths that lead astray. The great way is easy, yet people prefer
by-paths.

The court is corrupt,
The fields are overgrown with weeds,
The granaries are empty;
Yet there are those dressed in fineries,
With swords at their sides,
Filled with food and drink,
And possessed of too much wealth.
This known as taking the lead in robbery.

Far indeed is this from the way.

Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.

Carl

[Note: I italicize phrases I borrow from the chapter, and link to phrases I borrow from other chapters to help tie chapters together. While making it more tedious to read, :? the Tao Te Ching is best pondered in the context of the whole.

If we realized that we were possessed of the least knowledge, we'd manage life much more wisely. Simply put, [chref=70]it is because people are ignorant[/chref] (yes, me too) that we so frequently prefer by-paths. It wasn't always this way though. Wild animals don't have this problem, even though they are possessed of the least knowledge, just like us. What gives?

All animals, including us, share a 'more is better' instinct. Feeling 'more is better' more often than not furthers survival. In the wild this instinct seldom leads to imbalance because Nature is always pushing back on animals in the wild. A lion may want more, but is unwilling to go through all the effort required to pursue his quarry if its belly is full. A human, with a gun, can be full as a tick and drunk to boot, yet continue killing his quarry for 'sport'. In captivity, a cow will eat itself to death if the farmer leaves the feed bin open. On the open range, Nature pushes back on the cows 'eat more is better' instinct, i.e., on the range, feed isn't coming out of a hopper (the cow's equivalent of a supermarket), and the cow must keep moving (expending energy) to find food.

One prime purpose of civilization has always been to circumvent Nature and make getting our [chref=46]many desires[/chref] met as easily as possible. We are driven (instinctively I might add) to decrease the [chref=5]ruthlessness[/chref] of the wild and make human life as comfortable and safe as possible. Sounds like a good idea at first, right? Well, [chref=16]woe to him who wilfully innovates while ignorant of the constant[/chref]! And why are we so profoundly ignorant?

No, it wasn't because some Eve ate satan's apple. Biological research is steadily revealing a much less fanciful story about the how and why of life. A new book, A Mind of its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives, is out which covers the human side of this research. Now, when reading the second half of this week's chapter, e.g., 'Yet there are those dressed in fineries', what first comes to mind are thoughts like, "Yeah, damn those __(fill in you favorite villain: those politicians,... Bush perhaps? or perhaps those corporations?)__. Just who are those really? They are us, though we are the last to admit it. As the research points out, our brain distorts reality and deceives us. We need to blame someone, anyone to protect our self image. Of course the other animal don't have this problem for they don't have a 'self image' to protect. But, if they did, they would.

Nevertheless, no one chooses to be possessed of too much wealth and take the lead in robbery. The process of accumulating wealth (money, knowledge, or whatever) is a result of that 'more is better' instinct. As our standard of living rises, our 'grass is greener' instinct urges us on yet further. Attaining what was undreamed of in previous generations (like anesthesia) becomes a minimum standard, a base line. As we keep pushing for more, the base line keeps rising. Sounds good, right. After all, it is progress! But, this is completely out of sync with [chref=25]that which is naturally so[/chref]. Look around! Notice that there is no 'progress' in nature, only change. The baseline remains [chref=28]constant[/chref]. There is no [chref=2]beautiful or ugly, good or bad[/chref] in nature. Only in our brain's mind and how it distorts and deceives us.