Thursday, August 13, 2009

Verse 28: Returning Again and Again

Verse Twenty-Eight
Know the masculine, hold to the feminine
Be the watercourse of the world
Being the watercourse of the world
The eternal virtue does not depart
Return to the state of the infant
Know the white, hold to the black
Be the standard of the world
Being the standard of the world
The eternal virtue does not deviate
Return to the state of the boundless
Know the honor, hold to the humility
Be the valley of the world
Being the valley of the world
The eternal virtue shall be sufficient
Return to the state of plain wood
Plain wood splits, then becomes tools
The sages utilize them
And then become leaders
Thus the greater whole is undivided

~ Derek Lin translation ~
For me, this verse speaks to the idea of returning. It underscores the concept of the cyclical nature of life. Every time we step forward, we are beginning the trek back to where we started, just as birth, for example, is the first step toward death.

As with so many verses in the TTC, this one makes great use of paradox. As Ursula LeGuin explains it,
The reversals and paradoxes in this great poem are the oppositions of yin and yang -- male/female, light/dark, glory/modesty -- but "the knowing and being" of them, the balancing act, results in neither stasis nor synthesis.
For many in the western world, such a philosophy might seem to indicate that Taoists are always standing still. If moving forward and backward lead to the same place, it would appear that no movement is occurring. LeGuin counters that "Reversal, recurrence, are the movement, and yet the movement is forward."

A great example of this principle can be seen in water. Initially, it falls from the sky. Some aspects of this precipitation evaporate, but other aspects find their way into streams. Many of these streams flow into the sea, but eventually, all moisture returns to the source. So, while we see the movements of forward and backward -- birth and return -- water is always moving.

This same principle applies to each of us. We're born and we spend however many days we have on this earth moving to and fro -- hopefully, moving society and consciousness forward -- yet, in the end, we die and the essence of what we call "I" returns to the source.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.

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