Line by Line - Verse 3, Line 5

He constantly (tries to) keep them without knowledge and without desire, and where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them from presuming to act (on it).
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

If men lack knowledge and desire, then clever people will not try to interfere.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Let the people have no cunning and no greed So those who scheme will not dare to meddle
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

He shows people how to forget what they know and what they want, so nobody can push them around. If you think you've got the answers, he'll mess with your head.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

The field of marketing is about trying to convince you and I that a specific product or service will fill a desire. Sometimes the aim is to fill a craving we already have. Just as often, however, the marketing campaigns seeks to create the desire itself by using an assortment of emotional hooks.

If people were desireless, marketers would be put out of business. We wouldn't make decisions based on our feelings. We instead would look at what we needed, not what we wanted.

But marketers know that we are slaves to our emotions. So, they utilize great cunning to beguile us and, time after time, we fall for it hook, line and sinker.

Marketing exists because we provide the space for it. In this vein, we are our own worst enemies.

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.