Friday, June 15, 2012

Line by Line - Verse 72, Line 5

Therefore the sage knows (these things) of himself, but does not parade (his knowledge);
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Therefore the sage knows himself but makes no show,
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Therefore the sages:
Know themselves but do not glorify themselves

~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

The Masters know themselves,
but they don't reveal themselves.

~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
Let's face it. No one likes to be "buddy buddy" with those individuals who are into crass self-promotion. Every second of every moment is all about them: their wants, their needs and their goals. Such individuals view other people as mere pawns to be manipulated and played off against each other in order to satisfy the self-promoter's most base desires.

On the other hand, people do like to be around those who are kind, compassionate and caring, the anti-self-promoter. Such individuals don't worry about accolades and status. They are disinterested in trying to one-up everyone around them.

When we are in the presence of such people, it helps the rest of us to feel good about the world and ourselves!

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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