Ordinary men look bright and intelligent,As with yesterday's post of Line 11, I believe Lao Tzu is utilizing self-deprecating humor to underscore the same basic point.
while I alone seem to be benighted.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~
Others are clear and bright,
But I alone am dim and weak.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~
Ordinary people are bright
I alone am muddled
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~
(No corresponding lines)
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
We too often accept external definitions of intelligence and wisdom. In our world today, intelligence (brightness) typically is tied to ambition. A person who is ambitious -- a real go-getter -- is given accolades by society, while the person who is apt to go with the flow of life is said to be unambitious and, hence, not very intelligent.
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True. Also, if the translation does come to meaning "dark" or "night" it could be talking about how he sticks to the yin side of things, as he wrote elsewhere in the TTC.
ReplyDeleteWhich, in the end, comes to the same thing you wrote, basically.