Saturday, June 11, 2011

Line by Line - Verse 32, Line 8

When it once has that name, (men) can know to rest in it.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

There are already enough names.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Names came to exist everywhere
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

But once everything has its name,
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
We have the world broken down into so many compartmentalized units. In our eyes, our self -- as well as everything else -- is an island far from the mainland. Every actor and action is independent.

Because we view all things as separate, we too often fail to see the ties that bind. We ignore how each act creates a ripple effect that impacts all these other so-called independent actors.

We fail to understand the thread that binds all existence together in one conjoined tapestry.

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

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