Monthly Chapter: 3

Not to value worthy people, enables people to avoid contending.
Not to value rare goods, enables people to avoid stealing.
Not to catch sight of what suits desire, enables people’s heart to avoid confusion.
This is because of how the wise person governs;
Empties their hearts, fills their bellies,
Weakens their aspirations, strengthens their bones,
Always enables the people to be unlearned and without desire,
And enables resourceful men to never dare to act also.
Doing without doing, following without exception rules.

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Word for Word

Limits: Translations, even the nearly literal one above, lose some of the original meaning due to the cultural context of contemporary words. Studying the numerous synonym-like meanings of the Chinese characters in the Word-for-Word translation mitigates this. (Click graphic at right for on-line Word-for-Word.)

Third Pass: Chapter of the Month 10/31/2016

Chinese character translation and commentary archive

Corrections?

None this time

Reflections:

Some regard the Taoist way as mysterious and somewhat impractical. However, the first three lines push back on that opinion, although I can see how these lines may feel impractical on the surface.

Not to value worthy people, enables people to avoid contending.
Not to value rare goods, enables people to avoid stealing.
Not to catch sight of what suits desire, enables people’s heart to avoid confusion.

If you read them as a proscription to actively not value something, then they are completely impractical, and even silly. On the other hand, if you read these lines as simply pointing out a natural process, then the practical work before you lies in proving this complimentary process through personal observation and experience. This can be actually more difficult to do than it sounds.

The hierarchical nature of civilization compels its citizens to value worthy people, to value rare goods, and even catch sight of what suits desire. Valuing anything in nature over any other thing would be the manifestation of an innate hierarchical instinct. The difference here lies in how civilization over emphasizes our innate hierarchical instinct in order to make its system of social organization function efficiently.

We’re reared from birth onward — ‘brainwashed’ — in this amplified hierarchical system, and so we never question ‘the value added’ nature of our perceptions. We feel it is completely natural to value worthy people, to value rare goods, and even catch sight of what suits desire. Not to value can feel utterly unnatural, which makes deeper insight through personal observation and experience very difficult, at least in youth.

Truth to tell, this is a recent development in human cultural evolution following the Agricultural Revolution. Agriculture necessitates as settled existence of large populations that cooperate and compete together more or less harmoniously. The hierarchical social system that underlies civilization achieves that, but not without costs — contending, stealing, confusion.

Unlearned with weakened aspirations?

This is because of how the wise person governs;
Empties their hearts, fills their bellies,
Weakens their aspirations, strengthens their bones,
Always enables the people to be unlearned and without desire,

These next four lines present the positive view and wisdom of empty hearts, weak aspirations, unlearned and without desire. The only one of these that may feel right is the observation on desire… with caveats aplenty, of course. The other views likely evoke incredulity. These don’t make sense because we all have bought into civilization’s paradigm that encourages us to value worthy people and rare goods.

And enables resourceful men to never dare to act also.
Doing without doing, following without exception rules.

What! Ensuring that resourceful men to never dare to act runs completely against civilization’s grain. Indeed, we value the achievements that accrue when resourceful men dare to act! Then to top it all off, we are presented with the non-sense of Doing without doing, following without exception rules.

Doing without doing, following without exception

The reason we have such difficulty making sense of this is due to the hierarchical nature of how we view life. Sure, following is fine, but leading and taking responsibility is better… right? We feel it is superior to be in control. Isn’t that what sets us above all other ‘dumb’ animals?

Our civilized view of time influences our sense of ‘doing’ and getting life ‘done’ , especially since we found ways to ‘tell time’… clocks and calendars. Our measured view of time augments our hierarchical view of life. Indeed, all forms of measurement go hand in hand with hierarchy. On the other hand, an ‘ignorant’ animal in the wild simply lives life, doing what needs doing at each moment. It exists in a state of pre- intention. There is no future and no past, and thus life is only doing without doing — in the moment of existence.

Whether this feels simple and straightforward, or paradoxical and confusing probably depends on how firmly entrenched one is in a hierarchical point of view. As I said, we’ve all been brainwashed in that point of view to one degree or another. As you wean yourself from that conditioning, doing without doing will feel natural and true.

I’ll stop before I sound even more like a broken record. I’ve commented on this wéi wú wéi and wú wéi (为无为 and 无为) many times in the past. Below are a few links to review if you wish more.

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Third Pass: Chapter of the Month 10/31/2016

Chinese character translation and commentary archive

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