While discussing life with a friend the other day the word evil came up. He sees America as an “evil empire” that commits acts of torture that surpass anything al-Qaeda has done. I think he was referring to all the bombs dropped over the last 100 years. In any case, this provided grist for my mind’s mill. For starters, the idea of evil immediately brings to mind the chapter 2’s, The whole world recognizes the good as the good, yet this is only the bad — Ha! No wonder Taoist views aren’t mainstream.
When I look around me, I see no good, evil, beauty, or ugly in nature. Consider the Chinese word for nature: zì rán (自然). Zì (自) = self; certainly. Rán (然) = correct; so. Accordingly, Nature = self-correct, self-so, certainly-so. In other words, reality is not duality! The extreme duality we perceive might well be a result of the disconnection from Nature we feel, and vice versa.
Nature includes everything, including the behaviors arising from our biological nature. Therefore, it is oxymoronic to regard any human action as evil, no matter how unpleasant, i.e., nature can be unpleasant but it isn’t evil. As a result, I have to wonder what calling something evil actually means from a symptom’s point of view (p.141).
Thinking that something is evil is mostly a projection (a reflection) of what one hates (1). I recall hearing the phrase, “I hate evil” a few times. I expect this comes from Biblical proverbs 8-13 “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech”. What a sharp contrast this is to chapter 2’s view of good and bad, beauty and ugly. As I see it, ‘hate’ and ‘evil’ share the same side of the coin. Namely, evil actions arise out of hate-filled emotion. So, seeing something as evil actually means we are seeing something we hate. That begs the question, what does hate actually mean from a symptom’s point of view?
There is another way to see evil 
Hate really boils down to what we really feel unpleasant and dislike in the extreme. Conversely, love is what we really like. Why then do we love some things and hate other things? I see the survival instinct at work here. Namely, that which we feel beneficial, we love; that which we feel harmful, we hate. This simple process of attraction and aversion is common to all life. It is the fulcrum of survival. The stronger we feel either one, the more active the response. The only two factors that are unique to humans are tool use and cognition. These greatly influence our responses to these universal survival instincts.
Just imagine what would happen if an angry chimp had a gun and a skillful finger to pull the trigger. Clearly, like chimps without such tools, we’d mostly be throwing feces at each other instead of guided missiles. Considering our capability to destroy anything that disturbs us, it is remarkable that we don’t wreak more havoc on the planet than we do.
Next, imagine how tormented that angry chimp might be if it could think. All its emotional currents could exist larger than life in its imagination — it could love and hate! Clearly, animals (including humans) without thought will mostly experience the moment, ‘up’ or ‘down’, with little cognitive ability to magnify and fixate on it. As it is now, we haul around our ‘loves and hates’ like so much baggage. A worry-free life remains beyond our reach as long as we hang onto our ‘love and hate’ narratives (2).
There is another way to deal with evil
Our exceptional ability to think, and the manual dexterity to make tools, brings with it many unintended and harmful consequences. Even so, as a species, we are not going to do as chapter 80 suggests, return to the use of the knotted rope, nor heed chapter 71’s, To know yet to think that one does not know is best anytime soon, if ever. Still, it surprises me that a rational view of our predicament is as rare as it is (3).
Our typical approach to fighting evil is ironic, hypocritical, and futile. We’re fighting fire with fire. Understanding ourselves as animals above all else would help break this cycle. It would certainly help to realize that our highest ideals are not answers to our problem, but rather symptoms of our problem. Of course seeing our ideals as symptoms rather than as answers may depend on how comfortable we are feeling without thought of self, as chapter 7 puts it. Yes, there’s always a hitch. The good and evil duality we perceive is simply one’s self-projection of one’s own needs and fears.
(1) Also curious is how one person’s ‘hated and evil’ is another’s ‘loved and good’. The inconsistency and hypocrisy in moral outrages is striking, although quite natural as well. A most obvious example is how the right-to-life conservative sees abortion as evil, but condones capital punishment. On the other hand, the free-to-choose liberal often sees capital punishment as evil, but condones abortion. When it comes to killing, humanity’s line in the sand moves all over the place, except for Jainism, I suppose. Yet even Vegans, like the Jains, are moving that line by judging what is sentient. This reminds me of my next post — Is a Rock Conscious?
(2) Letting go is all the more difficult because our loves and hates are inextricably linked. To paraphrase chapter 2, the hates and the loves complement each other. As long as you hold out for one you’ll inherit the other.
(3) It is possible our inability to see ourselves more rationally stems from our real inability to do anything about ourselves. Just as questions demand answers, seeing problems most likely evokes an instinctive urge to fix them. Does this limit our ability to fully consider matters that are truly natural and beyond our ability to fix? Perhaps our belief in free will (p.587, p.591), explicit or implied, is linked to this limitation. No doubt, we have a serious need to feel we are in control… Ha!
Oh I won’t be closing down the site, at least not in my foreseeable future. Even as I tapper off blogging, I’d keep posting the Chapters of the Tao Te Ching. And even if tapper off that, I’d still keep the site up as a kind of reference. So no worries.
Nuts indeed! I suppose that is why Buddha said Right Attention. Certainly, attention focused on the object of one’s needs/fears (desires/worries)drowns out ‘wide screen awareness’. On the other hand though, each life form’s strength is also its greatest weakness. Thinking is our dynamic duo.
While we have our difficulties, there is no other species I’d rather be. Of course, my duck say there is no other species they would trade places with either. Family bonds are strong.
I always click on your facebook posts to see what you have to say. I was just on my way to read about the rock. I don’t always comment but I am sure happy you are writing. I know that one day you will stop but give us some advance notice so we can print everything out.
One of my Facebook friends had an epiphany that awareness is different from attention because attention carries attachment and it reminded me of how much faith we put in language as if language is it, not the experience but the words are what’s important or real. Nuts.
Well it’s unanimous then! I’ll keep posting for awhile longer 😉
I do sometimes wonder why I’m doing this. I began writing observations down years ago to better see what I was thinking. Or rather, think about what I was seeing. Basically, I attempt to understand in words what I feel, but have no words to match. Now, if in doing this, my writings help speak to what others also intuitively feel then this is a double win.
Another reason is that if my boys wonder what I’d say about such and such 50 years from now they can just Google it. The thing is, I am starting to feel I’ve said enough.
It also becomes increasingly difficult to write down the impartial ‘big picture’. Beside, the years are bringing me ever closer to, as the Tao Te Ching say, the “benefit of resorting to no action and the teaching that uses no words“. Or closer still, as chapter 23 puts it:
Please do not taper off your posts. I follow you on facebook, and I’m sure lots of other people read your posts, but simply don’t respond. 🙂
Believe me, your words are needed.
Did you pick up a vibe from this end? I was wondering today about tapering off my posts here. Hearing your words gives me reason to continue awhile longer.
Yours is a good way to reset the clock, so to speak. Though I dare say there is an essential step that precedes your practice. That is being present enough to nip your ‘self’ in the bud. That just goes to show how years of meditation has paid off.
Regarding letting go, I’ve learned a good practice that helps. It’s so practical!
When you are feeling attraction or repulsion, take 30 seconds . Close your eyes if you can, pay attention to what you are feeling, surround your feelings with warmth and openness, open your eyes suddenly and jump back into the world.
Simple and it works to neutralize the pulls and pushes of life.
I find since I’ve been doing this I’ve been less reactive.
I’ve learned so much from you Carl that I already knew but your words have made it more accessible somehow. Thank you.