from Verse Fifty-ThreeThe Way cannot encourage those who take to profiteering, but it can be used to stabilize the spirit and avoid harm. So one savors having no troubles rather than savoring prosperity; one savors having no crime rather than savor having merit.~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~
In Part I of this verse, I talked about the importance of context and here is the context I spoke of. The Way is available to us to aid us in finding balance and harmony; it is not a tool that can be used to help us gain advantage over others.
It should be remembered that, in the Taoist conception, the Way is impartial. It's not like some being or entity that we can dial up to ask for favors. In essence, all it provides is a framework of vital energy for each of us to find our center point. Once we find this center and embrace it as our foundation, the goal is to stay close to it.
The centered person doesn't strive too far in any direction, lest they leave the center behind and become unbalanced. Wallowing in self-pity or working hard to amass worldly goods takes us far afield and leads to disharmony of the spirit.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
It should be remembered that, in the Taoist conception, the Way is impartial. It's not like some being or entity that we can dial up to ask for favors. In essence, all it provides is a framework of vital energy for each of us to find our center point. Once we find this center and embrace it as our foundation, the goal is to stay close to it.
The centered person doesn't strive too far in any direction, lest they leave the center behind and become unbalanced. Wallowing in self-pity or working hard to amass worldly goods takes us far afield and leads to disharmony of the spirit.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
Yes, that's a big part of my problem, and what draws me toward Taoist thought, becoming centered. I've never been able to find and maintain that balance very well.
ReplyDelete"The Way is available to us to aid us in finding balance and harmony; it is not a tool that can be used to help us gain advantage over others."
ReplyDelete53 being my magic number, I feel now is the time to comment on a developing trend:
Trey: what are you doing?
Can you see it?
You are interpreting the tao to promote your left-wing beliefs.
Tao is far beyond anything as mundane as politics.
Do please try stepping back a little, re-reading what you have written, and realigning yourself.
It really isn't anybody's responsibility to interpret great writings: they are what they are, clear to those who are interested in understandng.
Taoism does not equate to leftism.
I think interpretation can be helpful, although sometimes I disagree with Trey's interpretation.
ReplyDeleteWhen is interpretation helpful? When the text is socially/politically applicable, as many verses of the TTC are. Or, for an even more obvious example, the Bhagavad Gita.
The texts are clear to a certain class of people, that class that in archaic times was called the priestly caste...it is helpful in general for the priests to interpret the text to members of other castes. Of course, we no longer know who the priests are.
I agree that Taoism does not equate to leftism. Leftism as embodied in the French and Russian Revolutions is war against reality, not flowing with reality. As in:
"Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it".
~Marx, 11th Thesis on Feuerbach
Whoa!
ReplyDeleteWorthy comment Dasein36. I had to re-read that.
Lao Tzu saw the world as perfect.
Marx - as you say - saw the need to change it.
I say: I am part of the world.
If I change myself, the world is changed.
I often wonder if anybody ever wondered if Marx was mad. I certainly have wondered...
Crow,
ReplyDeleteI fail to see how a statement like "The Way is available to us to aid us in finding balance and harmony; it is not a tool that can be used to help us gain advantage over others" is promoting any type of political agenda. I'm merely underscoring a point that Lao Tzu made over and over again.
Maybe the problem here is that you view every word as either right or left?
Your words Trey:
ReplyDelete"I would say that a leftist or progressive sees that society has turned from the Way and desires to try to nudge society back on the path."
You could do an awful lot of good here. Imagine you yourself needing a little nudge now and then.
Each of us could use several nudges, certainly me included!! The Way is so simple, yet following it with an ego-infused self is anything but simple.
ReplyDeleteWords, words, words. All these texts RT is analyzing have esoteric and exoteric meanings. Left and right, up and down, male and female, up and down...yin and yang...the Tao is beyond all that, but we are here in this world of 10,000 things. The Te in the Tao Te Ching is about virtue and kind of in this world, I think.
ReplyDeleteWords, words, words.
I think I'm off to meditate, or at least drink some pinot noir.