Verse 55: Childlike

Verse Fifty-Five
Stay childlike and be one with Heaven
Without seeking gain all is given
Snakes will not bite and eagles will not pluck your eyes
Though bones become brittle and sinews weaken
Spirit is forever robust

To wonder at the fullness of it all
Continue to give pleasure when not all is known
Children learn that all is different
Enjoying each and every thing
Sameness in all things abounds
The Way is maintained in peace

Deny the Way and you will die strangely
~ Stephen F. Kaufman translation ~

This talk of each individual retaining a childlike nature may lead some to think that Lao Tzu is suggesting that growth and maturity are inherently bad, that we should remain as innocent babes throughout each life. As usual, what we have here before us is a metaphor, not something to be taken literally. The writer[s] of the TTC understands intuitively that life is a cycle and every entity is born, lives and then dies.

So, what might the metaphor in verse 55 mean? From the perspective of Tai Chi Master John Lash it means:

To the child, the world is Oneness. The child sees no separation between himself and his mother or between himself and the toy he holds in his hand. Everything he touches becomes an extension of himself.

This, of course, brings us back to the concept of the interconnection of all things. As Lash points out, we experience this interconnection as infants. Unfortunately, as we age and mature, we often spend the rest of our lives unlearning this basic lesson!

In many ways, as Roger Ames & David Hall point out, an infant represents the dynamic of equilibrium.

The newly born child is the image of fullness of potency: a robustness that makes it immune from environing evils. This image is instructive. What gives the baby its vigor is its capacity to respond from the center, being supple yet firm, flexible yet potent. The baby, unconsciously and without motivation, is the embodiment of harmony and equilibrium. Vitality, then, is sustaining this kind of balance in the rhythms of the day.

In time, however, society starts to impinge on the child's natural nature. Through the process of socialization, each child slowly begins to shed that which is truly hers or his. As Nina Correa explains it,

The newborn doesn't stop and wonder why he acts the way he does. His natural life force just constantly emanates from within him. It's so plainly and simply obvious for him to act that way. His life is progressing and increasing as though he had received some special gift.

Then adults come along and try to tell the growing infant which parts of himself he has to control. The child is forced and cajoled into following societal rules and dismiss those parts of himself that don't conform. He's told that true strength comes from discipline, and that he must discipline himself. But all the while as a child is repressing his own natural urges and the parts of him that make him an individual, he still has moments of anger and sadness. He ends up pretending he's much stronger than he actually is because everyone tells him that's the way he has to be. All that self-discipline makes him grow up too early and lose the life force he received at birth. He's no longer following Dao, but following a course that's been prescribed for him by others. It's no wonder so many people get old before their time and die from stress-related illnesses.

So, if we want to live a life in accord with Tao, we need to retain those childlike qualities of connection and expression. In time, our body will grow old and "brittle", but, if we remain young at heart, the aging process won't be a part of life that we dread but embrace.

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