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Chapter of the Week: #72 [Archive]
These are beautiful sentences. One could take one and just be with it for a long long while. Maybe today I'll be "falling apart like melting ice." Doesn't that sound good and right?
I can see how all of us are all these things; what a joy. Even if we don't know it, we still are. Once everything else falls away, here we are.
Leslie sent me a book, "Loving What Is." There it is in a nutshell. The word loving may be loaded; maybe "Returning to What is" would be better in this forum.
I can see how all of us are all these things; what a joy. Even if we don't know it, we still are. Once everything else falls away, here we are.
Leslie sent me a book, "Loving What Is." There it is in a nutshell. The word loving may be loaded; maybe "Returning to What is" would be better in this forum.
Comments
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.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
The relationship between awe (reverence, veneration) and awful (fearful, terrible) is interesting. The former has a 'good' feeling about it, the later a 'bad' one which naturally calls to mind, [chref=2]... the whole world recognizes the good as the good, yet this is only the bad[/chref].
In the first line, the Chinese characters literally say, 'People not fear impressive strength, follow big impressive strength extremely'. Thus, simply said, awe and awful are just the moderate and extreme degrees of fear respectively. Nature maintains a balance between fear and need (the two fundamental driving forces of life). Civilization attempts to reduce fear and satiate need, and in the process upsets the natural balance. Not for long though, for then some awful visitation will descend upon them. The curious thing about the awful visitation is that the awfulness is in the eye of the beholder - those who have lost the balance of a proper sense of awe. Hmm, perhaps that is why old time religion was big on instilling the 'fear of God' in people. Not that such constriction and pressing down actually works, especially in the long term. Rather, such fire and brimstone feels more like a symptom of [chref=38]the beginning of disorder[/chref].
The next line literally says, 'Not improperly familiar with their living space, not be disgusted with their existence. Man only not be disgusted.' I suppose this more simply says that if we have neither too much attraction or aversion toward other folks, they will be more content with their existence, at least as it relates to us. Calls to mind, [chref=16]... but should one act from knowledge of the constant one's action will lead to impartiality,...[/chref] or more colloquially, 'mind your own business'.
The last line (literally) begins with, 'Wise man, self know, not self become visible.' Often, it seems that what we know of ourselves is linked to what is visible to others. Of course that is natural for a social species like us. But, perhaps only 'natural' in the small intimate setting of our primal ancestors. Just imagine how the more impersonal circumstances of civilization might muck up an otherwise natural phenomenon. And really that is what the Tao Te Ching is all about. It is just pointing out a 'way' to avoid some of the inevitable pitfalls we face as modern humans; I doubt there was any need for 'taoism' 100,000 years ago, eh?
And it ends with, (Wise man) 'self love, not self value; Hence rid of the other, seek this.' First, of course, our lopsided sense of self, ego self value we could say, also increases as civilization 'bulks up'. Second, note the contrast between love and value. It is interesting how we often use these words interchangeably, while in fact they point to contrasting qualities, i.e., love has a giving quality, while value has a taking or holding on quality. For example, compare these two phrases: (1) I love ice cream, I value freedom! (2) I love death, I value life! Speaking of ice cream, it is time for my evening beer.