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Chapter of the Week: #70
Time has indeed flown by. Great job, great life, and a new son this past October. I could want for nothing more.
I suppose I choose to say I am an atheist for a few reasons.
1) As Wikipedia defines it, an Atheist is one who rejects the belief in the existence of deities or specifically the belief that no deities exist. Where Theism is the belief that at least one deity exists.
2) I definitely do not believe that there is such a thing as a deity and feel that, at the core, this label fits.
3) Most importantly I think that all of the suggestions you made, while good one in their own right, lead to a further explanation. If i tell someone "I am a cynic in the classic Greek sense" I then have to explain to said person what that actually means. By stating I am an Atheist the assumption is that I am not a religious person.
Makes for a much shorter conversation on the matter.
I suppose I choose to say I am an atheist for a few reasons.
1) As Wikipedia defines it, an Atheist is one who rejects the belief in the existence of deities or specifically the belief that no deities exist. Where Theism is the belief that at least one deity exists.
2) I definitely do not believe that there is such a thing as a deity and feel that, at the core, this label fits.
3) Most importantly I think that all of the suggestions you made, while good one in their own right, lead to a further explanation. If i tell someone "I am a cynic in the classic Greek sense" I then have to explain to said person what that actually means. By stating I am an Atheist the assumption is that I am not a religious person.
Makes for a much shorter conversation on the matter.
Comments
Chapter 70
My words are very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice, yet no
one in the world can understand them or put them into practice.
Words have an ancestor and affairs have a sovereign.
It is because people are ignorant that they fail to understand me.
Those who understand me are few;
Those who imitate me are honored.
Therefore the sage, while clad in homespun, conceals on his person a priceless
piece of jade.
Read commentary previously posted for this chapter.
Read notes on translations
Now, do it too at Wengu!
It is interesting comparing the ‘It is because people are ignorant that they fail to understand me’ with the more literal ‘Man alone is without knowing, and so accordingly I don't know’. I may well have missed something in my translation attempt, but mine still rings truer than the way it is usually translated. Namely, who is the ‘me’ to which the other translations, like D.C. Lau’s refer? My wording feels more in keeping with ‘[chref=71]To know yet to think that one does not know is best[/chref]’, i.e., ‘and so accordingly I don't know’. D.C. Lau's 'they fail to understand me' sounds like the 'me' (Krishna) of the Bhagavad Gita. That's is fine naturally; but seems a tad inconsistent with the Tao Te Ching 'voice'.
Why are ‘people are ignorant’? The biggest contributor to my own ignorance has always been [chref=71]thinking that I know[/chref]. Thinking that I know only props up my preconceptions. Conversely, wondering ‘why, what, when, where, who’ always tends to open up my perception. (Why do all those words begin with ‘W’). Of course, I’ll always come up with some answers, but as long as I regard them as [chref=15]tentative[/chref] and transitional ‘stop gaps’, I don’t get stuck in ignorance as long.
The sacred person wearing coarse cloth keeps in mind purity reads to me as advice on keeping priorities straight. Keeping in mind anything trumps concern for exterior trappings like the clothes that I wear, or even the things I say (good thing that!). Then too, the Chinese word here is yu (玉) which as we see below translates as Jade, pure; fair; handsome; beautiful. What are these words meant to really imply? I’ve always like D.C. Lau’s ‘conceals on his person a priceless piece of jade’, but that seems to neglect the word huai ( 怀) which means bosom, mind, keep in mind, cherish, think of, yearn for. Yum yum, food for thought. Cherishing beautiful, thinking of pure, keeping in mind purity in a Christian context is straightforward compared with a Taoist context. For example, ‘[chref=81]Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful[/chref]’ or my all time favorite, ‘[chref=2]The whole world recognizes the beautiful as the beautiful, yet this is only the ugly[/chref]’.
The more translated:
Our words are very easy to know, very easy to do.
Under heaven none can know, none can do.
Words have a purpose, affairs have a hierarchy
Man alone is without knowing, and so accordingly I don't know.
Self knowing is rare, self normal is noble.
Because of this, the sacred person wearing coarse cloth keeps in mind purity
The less translated:
I (we) speech (word, say, talk) very easy know (realize, notify, tell), very easy go (travel, temporary, do).
heaven below (under) none ability (capability, skill) know (realize, notify, tell), none ability (capability, skill) go (travel, temporary, do).
speech (word, say, talk) have (there is; exist) ancestor (clan, faction, school, purpose),
matter (affair, thing, responsibility) have (there is; exist) monarch (sovereign, supreme ruler).
husband (man) only (alone, yes) nil (without) know (realize, notify, tell),
correct (yes, this, that) use (because of, as well as, accordingly) I not know (realize, notify, tell).
know (realize, notify, tell) I hope (rare, scarce, uncommon), norm (rule, follow) I expensive (valuable, noble).
correct (yes, this, that) use (because of, as well as) sage (sacred)human being (man, person, adult)
by (marker for passive-voice clauses) coarse cloth (dull brown) mind (keep in mind, yearn for) jade (pure; fair; handsome; beautiful).