Daodejing, Verse 20

Daodejing - Other Voices

Chapter 20 is one of the longest (and, for me, the most difficult!) so far. I’ve decided to break it into two parts to avoid dissertation-length posts. (You’re welcome.) Let’s put our disbelief on suspension for a moment and then dive on in…

Stop thinking, and end your problems.
What difference between yes and no?
What difference between success and failure?
Must you value what others value,
avoid what others avoid?
How ridiculous!

Ok, what? Are we talking about complete apathy here? Is this saying, ‘Stop thinking, stop caring, and everything will be just fine’?

Putting it that way, this advice seems unwise. But let’s consider another question: do you think more people tend to err by being too apathetic? Or by being too headstrong, goal-driven and passionate?

I imagine that at the time when this was written, the latter was a bigger problem than the former. Perhaps that’s not always the case. I wonder, do we live in a similar cultural climate today? Let’s consider for a moment the dangers of being too focused on ‘the difference between success and failure‘.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the world of politics, both in the USA and UK, of which I am sometimes an interested observer, particularly during the last election cycle in the US. I’m really amazed by the incredibly immense pressure on every politician to win elections, to be on top of every 24-hour (or 30-minute!) news cycle, and spin every possible event to create an image of their own success, and their opponents’ failures. This atmosphere is so toxic and completely counter-productive, both for the individuals involved and for everyone who feels the effects of these collosal struggles.

But what about each of us? Are we exempt from this disease? I can think of many, many times when I’ve felt that I simply must suceed in something or other: being accepted to a university, getting a job, or simply arriving at a destination on time when I’m running late. This insistence that this-or-that simply must happen is what leads us to manipulate and coerce people and situations to suit our needs, or get careless in our haste, and then suffer anxiety when we realise the limits of our puny influence.

Since all of us fall into this error, it’s helpful to remind ourselves, ‘What difference between yes and no?‘ Most of the things we spend our time worrying about, and the things we spend our lives trying to achieve, are far less important than we make them out to be. If we could learn to ‘value‘ and ‘avoid‘ things a little bit less, then maybe our lives would be a little bit calmer, efficient, and more productive. What do you think?

Here's the link to Verse 20, Part 2.
~ Transformations, author C.M. Bryan, original post date: 1/8/10 ~

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