Monthly Chapter-70

Our words are very easy to know, very easy to do.
Under heaven none can know, none can do.
Speech has its faction, involvement has its sovereign.
Man alone is without knowing,
. . . and because of this I don’t know.
Knowing self is rare, following self is noble.
Because of this, the sage wears coarse cloth and yearns for noble character.

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Limits: Translations, even my nearly literal one above, invariably lose some of the ancient ‘original intention’ due to the modern cultural context we bring to our language’s words… our ‘education’. Studying the Word-for-Word translation of the Chinese character’s many synonym-like meanings helps mitigate this. (Click graphic at right for on-line Word-for-Word.)

 

Third Pass: Chapter of the Month 8/10/2015

Archive: Characters and past commentary

Corrections?

There are no corrections per se. At the end of Reflections, I include some of the Word-for-Word this time to broaden the meaning of my particular choice of words. That way, you may adjust the meaning to suit.

Reflections:

Is this chapter prepping us for the bluntly-stated disease referred to in the next chapter? Well, many previous chapters prep us for that as well, starting with the first one. Of course, the whole Tao Te Ching is addressing the core problems we incur through civilization, or that civilization exacerbates.

In reading the ethnographic literature on the hunter-gatherer the old way⁽¹⁾ , I was struck by how much their approach to life mirrors the core spiritual ideals that religions (and the Tao Te Ching) promulgate and prescribe. Now, from a symptoms point of view, that makes total sense. The advent of religion coincides with the advent of agriculture and civilization, resulting in the subsequent loss of our ancestral old way. Religions are just a makeshift substitute for that loss.

Our words are very easy to know, very easy to do.
Under heaven none can know, none can do.

With civilization came the exponential rise in formal knowledge, writing, literature, etc. All aim at ‘nailing down’ reality. Certainly, this is not because it is possible to accomplish, but more as a symptom of what deeper intuitive sense of life we have lost through trading the old way for civilization.

Speech has its faction, involvement has its sovereign.

A sense of clearly established hierarchy is essential for civilization to function, and manage large populations. Speech has always played a huge role in that, although less now with the democratizing influences in modern life—most the result of the Electric Revolution. Speech also bolsters group identity of each faction—pseudo tribe—existing within the larger civilization.

Man alone is without knowing, and because of this I don’t know.
Knowing self is rare, following self is noble.

Civilization prevents us from developing the innate sense of self possible in humanity’s ancestral old way.  So, naturally, knowing self is rare, or at least rarer. Thinking was a problem long before civilization arose. Although, I assume that the simplicity of the old way made it far more manageable. Seeing beyond the ideal-self that civilization’s stories promulgate allows for ‘following self is noble’. Realizing I don’t’ know is better since trusting civilization’s ideal-self centers on knowing its story is true (i.e., belief). You can’t be free to follow self as long as you trust the ideal-self into which civilization indoctrinated you from birth onward.

Because of this, the sage wears coarse cloth and yearns for noble character.

As fascination with the intricacies that civilization cultivates begins to fade, all that is left is natural simplicity. I see yearning for noble character as living as close to natural simplicity as possible. Realizing that there is no alternative makes this easy and natural, albeit, still work. After all, life is work from the beating of my heart on up.

Word for Word

Speech has its faction, involvement has its sovereign.

• speech (word; say; talk) have (exist) ancestor (clan; purpose, faction), matter (affair; involvement; work; responsibility) have (exist) monarch (sovereign, supreme ruler; gentleman). 言有宗、事有君。(yán yŏu zōng, shì yŏu jūn.)

Knowing self is rare, following self is noble.

• know (realize; tell) I (we; self) (者) hope (rare, scarce, uncommon), standard (norm; rule > imitate; follow) I (we; self) expensive (precious; noble). 知我者希，则我者贵。(zhī wŏ zhĕ xī, zé wŏ zhĕ guì.)

Because of this, the sage wears coarse cloth and yearns for noble character.

• <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) sage (holy; sacred) human (man; people) by (indicates passive-voice clauses; <literary> to cover; to meet with) coarse cloth (dull brown) mind (keep in mind, yearn for) jade (of a person: pure; fair). 是以圣人被褐怀玉 (shì yĭ shèng rén pī hè huái yù.)

⁽¹⁾  See my series of posts Who are you? for background. Also, see The !Kung of Nyae Nyae, The Harmless People and The old way:  a story of the first people for more specific research on the hunter-gatherer way of life.