Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same kind). What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace?Shit happens.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
Accept disgrace willingly. Accept misfortune as the human condition. What do you mean by "Accept disgrace willingly"?
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
Favor and disgrace make one fearful The greatest misfortune is the self What does "favor and disgrace make one fearful" mean?
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
Winning can be just as bad as losing. Confidence can mess you up just as much as fear. What does "winning can be just as bad as losing" mean?
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
It doesn't matter how virtuous, nice, just, respectful, kind or loving a person is. Our world has billions of different organisms and entities who share the same space and time. Every action (or non-action) creates ripples that spread out from the being to parts unknown.
Since the human brain is incapable of factoring in every being and every variable, we get blindsided by reality again and again. Things happen that we never see coming and many of them seem not to make any rational sense at all.
When shit happens, we need to accept it for what it is and to deal with it as best we can. Getting all up in arms and railing against the heavens never has solved a problem. It might make us feel better, but, in the long run, it doesn't do us a bit of good.
To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.
I always wonder: would being one with the Tao make us able to see reality coming at us so it doesn't blindside us, or would it just make us able to go with the flow better when we're smacked, without fighting it....
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