Verse 62: The Honorable Way

Verse Sixty-Two
The Tao is the center of the universe,
the good man's treasure,
the bad man's refuge.
Honors can be bought with fine words,
respect can be won with good deeds;
but the Tao is beyond all value,
and no one can achieve it.
Thus, when a new leader is chosen,
don't offer to help him
with your wealth or your expertise.
Offer instead to teach him about the Tao.
Why did the ancient Masters esteem the Tao?
Because, being one with the Tao,
when you seek, you find;
and when you make a mistake, you are forgiven.
That is why everybody loves it.
~ Stephen Mitchell translation ~

Here in the United States of America -- it's just as true in many other nations as well -- our system of government has been developed and crafted to provide the greatest benefit to the rich and powerful.

They are the ones who are provided with direct access to our elected representatives; the rest of us have access only to junior staffers and volunteers.

They are the ones who are provided with the largest and most diverse tax breaks and subsidies; the rest of us only get as much as to sustain a meager existence.

They are the ones who have laws and regulations passed to insulate them from our needs; the rest of us must fight tooth-and-nail to secure watered-down protections for public health and safety.

They are the ones who wage wars to protect vital national interests and, just as importantly, their profit margins; the rest of us are sent to fight these wars and die.

And they are the ones that our internal security forces (i.e., the police and the courts) go out of their way to protect; the rest of us are the ones they supposedly need protection from.

It's the kind of system in which the highest are exalted and the lowest are trampled upon. As Roger Ames & David Hall state, this is not the way of Tao.

Way-making in its capacity to accommodate all things is an appropriate model of rulership, and would be much more valuable to those taking on political responsibility than the usual expensive yet largely worthless symbols of office. After all, it is from way-making that the rulers can learn tolerance and compassion necessary to find a place in the community for all their people, however humble and inept the lowest might be. And their is fair recognition that comforting the least among us and surviving through the most trying of times are occasions for those who are better off to grow in greatness. Those who are suffering provide those more fortunate the precious opportunity to be generous and share what they have.

Compare this ideal to the current debate on health care. While no one is arguing that tens of millions of Americans lack health insurance, the vast majority of the rich and powerful seem wholly uninterested in adopting any plan that guarantees every American the right to better health! For them, it's far more important to protect their profit margins than to support a system that offers "tolerance and compassion" to those not as fortunate as they are.

It goes far beyond this one singular issue. By and large, the upper strata of our society opposes simple concepts like a minimum wage, the right of workers to organize, public health protections and laws that protect our natural environment. Instead of supporting systemic strategies that will lift all boats at once, the ruling class offers philanthropy.

In and of itself, philanthropy is not a bad thing. When someone has more than they need, it's a wonderful gesture to give some of that excess to others. But the problem with philanthropy is that it does not address the systemic problems at all! It tends to focus on narrow issues and, more often than not, comes with strings attached -- this is particularly true when philanthropy is mixed with religion.

In essence, philanthropy allows the rich and powerful to have their cake and eat it too! The inequalities in the system continue unabated and this provides them with the opportunity to amass even greater fortune and power which, in turn, provides them with an even stronger influence in the halls of government which will pass more laws that will protect their myopic interests. With their increased fortunes, they can make a public show of throwing a few bread crumbs to the masses and soaking up all the adulation and plaudits for their "generosity".

Ursula LeGuin puts this more succinctly when she writes,

I think the line of thought throughout the poem has to do with true reward as opposed to dishonorable gain, true giving as opposed to fake goods.

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