January 2009

Commentary

Our mind’s eye gives us a superior ability to solve problems. Ironically, the source of some of our greatest problems originates in our mind’s eye! Our expectations channel what we expect to see; our expectations drive what we think we see. Like a horse wearing blinders to avoid being spooked by things moving in its peripheral vision, conforming to cultural norms helps us avoid being spooked by what exists ‘outside the box’.

This is no accident. Cultural ‘blinders’ are vital for large populations of people to maintain group identity, a sense of shared cultural connection. All the blind, deaf, hobbled and crazy effects are the price we pay (the tradeoff , the unintended consequences). Of course, this results in some ‘positive’ feedback. In other words, the blind, deaf, hobbled and crazy effects we feel often narrow our cultural blinders even further. We become neurotic. To undo that damage, the wise person acts for the belly, not the eye.

Acting for the belly, however, need not mean renouncing those tastes, colors, sounds, goods hard to come by, etc. These are actually symptoms rather than causes. Why we desire the tastes, colors, sounds, goods hard to come by is the deeper question.

Again, we feel safer in the solidarity shared norms make possible. This physiological culture fortress keeps the wilderness at bay, initially. The downside of any fortress is that it also serves as an excellent prison. The final irony: The more we want to escape its walls, the higher the walls become. Bottom line: it is having too many desires for the safety and comfort that these five promise, that become the prison. Escape is simple: Therefore the sage desires not to desire, And does not value goods which are hard to come by.

Now, this begs the question, how? As they say, nature abhors a vacuum. You can’t just rid yourself of desires, now can you? You must replace the five tastes, colors, sounds, goods hard to come by with ’something else’. Alas, only by letting go of what we cling to, can make room for that ’something else’ for which we yearn. Usually our life’s circumstances bring about the weakness and the loss required to make room. In the meantime there is always this: I do my utmost to attain emptiness.

Translation

The five colors make people’s eyes blind,
The five sounds make people’s ears deaf,
The five tastes make people’s mouths brittle,
The rushed hunt makes people’s hearts go crazy.
Goods hard to come by make people behave harmfully.
Because of this, the wise person acts for the belly, not the eye,
Hence, he leaves that and takes this.

five color (look; expression) command (order; make; cause) people eye (item; look) blind,

five sound (news; tidings; tone) command (order; make; cause) people ear (on both sides) deaf,

five taste (flavor; smell) command (order; make; cause) people mouth (opening; entrance) bright (clear; brittle, frank),

gallop to hunt hunt command (order; make; cause) people heart (mind; feeling; intention; core) issue (deliver) go crazy,

hard to come by (rare) of goods (commodity; money) command (order; make; cause) people go (prevail;; circulate; do) hinder (harm).

this (that; justify) use (take; according to; because of; so as to) sage (wise person),

do (act; serve as; become; be) belly (abdomen; stomach) not do (act; serve as; become; be) eye (item; look),

incident (happening; reason; hence) go (leave; remove) that (those; the other; another) take (get; seek; adopt) this.

Original

五色令人目盲，
五音令人耳聋，
五味令人口爽，
驰骋畋猎令人心发狂，
难得之货令人行妨。
是以圣人，
为腹不为目，
故去彼取此。