Highest good is like water.
Water benefits all things and does not contend,
Dwells in places the multitude loathe.
Therefore, it is somewhat like the way.
In being, satisfactory is earthy.
In intention, satisfactory is depth and benevolence.
In speech, satisfactory is truth.
In honesty, satisfactory is order.
In work, satisfactory is ability.
In action, satisfactory is time.
He alone does not contend,
Hence, there is no blame.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
Chinese character translation and commentary archive
Corrections?
None this time
Reflections:
Highest good is like water.
Water benefits all things and does not contend,
Dwells in places the multitude loathe.
Therefore, it is somewhat like the way.
Water has no agenda, no preferences that sully its intentions. Hypocrisy comes to mind. When I’m not pushing for my own agenda or preferences, I can be impartial and honest. As soon as my agenda triggers emotion, I set about cleverly rationalizing why my preferences are justified.
This is completely natural, of course, with us usually unaware of most of it. It flies below our cognitive radar. The only time we really notice it is when it is happening in other people — those hypocrites 😉 As I age, I am increasing aware of this natural bio-hoodwink.
In being, satisfactory is earthy. I feel this as keeping my feet on the ground or being grounded. This shows it is just as difficult to be satisfactorily grounded today as it was back then. Of course, that was only 2 to 3000 years ago, and recent history vis-à-vis The Tradeoff.
In intention, satisfactory is depth and benevolence. This addresses the problem of how our preferences — our agendas — sully our intentions. It requires some depth of mind to realize the unsatisfactory nature of such bias. While its satisfactory in the short-term, not so in the long-term.
In speech, satisfactory is truth. Truth and trust go hand in hand, and trust is the jewel that maintains close relationships. However, too much truth can be problematic as the next line addresses.
In honesty, satisfactory is order. If you are too bluntly honest, chaos easily ensues. That’s why they say silence is golden. This reminds me of chapter 26’s The still is the ruler of the restless.
In work, satisfactory is ability. Being competent in whatever your work is what counts — not the kind of work or profession. The following are verses from the Bhagavad Gita that correspond to and expand on this. Particularly 18:47. Note: It helps to take a Taoist view of God to plumb the deepest meaning from the Bhagavad Gita. As chapter 4 hints, It resembles the ancestor of the Supreme Being. In other words, don’t let the word get in the way of this ‘resembles the ancestor’ mystery.
4:14 In the bonds of works I am free, because in them I am free from desires. The man who can see this truth. In his work he finds his freedom.
4:24 Who in all his work sees God, he in truth goes unto God: God is his worship, God is his offering, offered by God in the fire of God.
6:1 He who works not for an earthly reward but does the work to be done, he is a Sanyasi, he is a Yogi: not he who lights not the sacred fire or offers not the holy sacrifice.
13:29 He who sees that all work, everywhere, is only the work of nature; and that the Spirit watches this work ‑ he see the truth.
18:12 When work is done for a reward, the work brings pleasure, or pain, or both, in its time; but when a man does work in Eternity, then Eternity is his reward.
18:47 Greater is thine own work, even if this be humble, than the work of another, even if this be great. When a man does the work God gives him, no sin can touch this man
In action, satisfactory is time. Patience is a virtue that makes action always less dangerous.
He alone does not contend, Hence, there is no blame. Personally, I find the blame-game begins within, and then projected outward onto suitable scapegoats to unload some of that burden. We contend with ourselves in that we harbor ideals of how life should be that conflict with the reality — how things are! The battle we wage is internal; the collateral damage happens when we vent our frustrations.
All this reminds me of chapter 44,
This also reminded me of the last section of a post I made on water — Water in Mind. It may offer food for contemplating mind as you watch the moment-to-moment of thought (or silent awareness) flow into the void of time.
A Philosophical Side to Water
I can’t let a whole post go by without an ‘Observation’, now can I? Water has long been a fitting spiritual metaphor. Here’s an angle which I’ve never seen used…
Thought is like water flowing into bottomless space — the silent and void. To paraphrase chapter 5, Much thought leads inevitably to silence. Better to hold fast to the void. This sounds good in principle. Alas, the brain has a mind of its own and thought can’t help but trickle down into its neural space. After all, nature abhors a vacuum. Space just attracts stuff, whether empty shelves, open fields, or trillions of synapses ready and waiting to fire. They estimate that to be between 100 trillion and 1,000 trillion synapses. The process of the mind filling up this synaptic space may be what produces the illusion of time itself. Indeed, when I cease to think, for the short time I’m able, time stands still. That is what I know to be eternity.
I’ve thought about this business of time a lot, especially lately as my time allotted becomes increasingly shorter.
The physicists think of time as a dimension, so that one can place an event in four dimensional space: 3 space dimensions and one of time.
But I don’t think that time is that concrete.
Time, to me, is the awareness of change. The past is memory, the future is imagination. The only thing real is the present, eternal now. Change in the now occurs periodically, giving rise to the passage of changes, or as we call it, the passage of time. If there were no changes, how would we know that time passes?
Since Tao is the process of flow and change, time is the measure of Tao, the counter of changes, the rate of flow.