Verse Sixty-Five
In ancient times,
leaders who were right with Tao
didn't teach everybody
how to become enlightened.
They kept people's lives simple.
People who know too much
can't be taught anything.
Leaders who try to be clever
always screw things up.
Leaders who keep things simple
always make things right.
If you get that,
you'll understand
the mysterious power of Tao.
That kind of power is so deep,
so extensive,
it penetrates into every level of existence.
~ Ron Hogan rendition ~
How many of us haven't thrown up our hands trying to figure how to do our taxes or fill out some complicated application? Every paragraph of the instructions is filled with references to other paragraphs on other pages and, when we track those down, they too cite other parts of the instructions or, even worse, a separate document that we don't even have! Arghh!!!!
More often than not, we humans have a terrible penchant for taking simple and straightforward ideas and concepts only to turn them into convoluted and complicated labyrinths. And what does all this pretzel-making do for us? It generates untold amounts of anxiety, stress, frustration, resentment and anger.
It's bad enough that most of us engage in these disharmonious actions during our routine lives -- often without even realizing it -- but it's even worse when cunning people in government do it on purpose as a strategy to achieve their own ends. In a manner of speaking, I'm talking about conquest through manipulation.
When you come right down to it, governments can always choose to employ the use of force to get what they want, but why force an issue or a sought after result when you can manipulate the people into doing what you want them to do willingly and voluntarily?
More often than not, we humans have a terrible penchant for taking simple and straightforward ideas and concepts only to turn them into convoluted and complicated labyrinths. And what does all this pretzel-making do for us? It generates untold amounts of anxiety, stress, frustration, resentment and anger.
It's bad enough that most of us engage in these disharmonious actions during our routine lives -- often without even realizing it -- but it's even worse when cunning people in government do it on purpose as a strategy to achieve their own ends. In a manner of speaking, I'm talking about conquest through manipulation.
When you come right down to it, governments can always choose to employ the use of force to get what they want, but why force an issue or a sought after result when you can manipulate the people into doing what you want them to do willingly and voluntarily?
As John Lash
points out,A government that manipulates its people will not be of benefit to its citizens and must ultimately fail, since it violates the principles of Tao. But our governments are the product of individual citizens. We cannot be manipulative in our individual lives and expect to have a community life that is not manipulative. So each individual part of the Tao is responsible for the whole.
Of course, this brings us back yet again to this idea of interconnection and Oneness. If we view ourselves as separate actors and focus all of our attention on looking out for ourselves, then manipulation is attractive because it can help us to satisfy our individual desires. If, on the other hand, we see the connection of all things, then our thoughts and actions are steered toward satisfying the needs of the overall world community.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
amen :)
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