Line by Line - Verse 20, Line 3

But mark their issues, good and ill;--
What space the gulf between shall fill?
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Is there a difference between good and evil?
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Goodness and evil
How much do they differ?
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Why should you care if others find you attractive or not?
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

On the surface, most people will tell you that they intuitively know the difference between right vs wrong or good vs evil. But do they? So often, these definitions are defined for us externally and may, in fact, differ substantially from what we feel in our hearts. If we insist on following our own internal compass, we may find ourselves shunned, ostracized, imprisoned or even killed.

Right and wrong often are situational. What may be deemed good in one situation may be deemed wrong as wrong can be in another slightly different situation.

And what about those situations in which a person does the so-called right thing for the wrong reasons or does a perceived evil out of good intentions? Where is the line between right and wrong then? Is it wide or very narrow? Who decides?

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