Loaded down in living, can you be without?
Focused in spirit, can you be as a baby?
Washing away the mystery, can you see life as flawless?
Loving the nation, can you govern the people without acting?
When Heaven’s gate opens wide, can your action be female?
When understanding reaches its full extent, can you know nothing?
Give birth to, nurture, give birth and yet not have;
Act and yet not depend on;
Be in charge and yet not rule;
This is called profound moral character.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
Archive: Characters and past commentary
Corrections?
None this time
Reflections:
Today the list of questions this chapter highlights hints at how we beat ourselves up over not being as perfect as we think we should be. Take the first two lines for example,
Loaded down in living, can you be without?
Focused in spirit, can you be as a baby?
The implied answers to the questions tout ideals to which we aspire, but which are, like all ideals, unrealistic and unnatural. I suppose that seems an overly bold statement, but not if you agree that ideals are fundamentally projections of what we want to happen. Moreover, ideals all tend to arise when we think we know, and thus a symptom of our ‘disease’. As chapter 71 puts it, Realizing I don’t’ know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease.
I see aspirations as a kind of civilized hunt & gather dynamic. Of course, our hunt & gatherer ancestors also must have aspired to some ideals — they could think after all! However, they would have felt much less pressure to realize their aspirations since they enjoyed a socially secure egalitarian life. In our hierarchical social system, the need to have our ideals mesh with reality is huge because this promises a path to connection.
Still, I’m not saying we shouldn’t aspire to ideals, especially these Taoist ideals. We are civilized people, not hunter & gatherers. However, chasing after what is ultimately futile may be more harmful than beneficial. Acknowledging (Right Comprehension) that ideals are not real, but simply symptoms of what I desire makes for a self-honest internal compromise. This reminds me of chapter 1’s suggestion, Hence, normally without desire so as to observe its wonder. Normally having desire so as to observe its boundary.
Desire is not something one can give up, and so chapter 1 astutely suggests, “normally having desire”. Frankly, all other references to desire in the Tao Te Ching are ideas hinting at limiting desire. As chapter 19 says, See simply, embrace the plain, and have few personal desires. Alas, that smacks a little of the free will ideal. (See Free Will: Fact or Wishful Thinking?)
An unavoidable misunderstanding that occurs in reading any scripture is the ideal of free will, either implicit or implied. We cherish the belief in our power to make choices. After all, that is what we believe sets us apart from ‘dumb’ animals. The lure of free will is that it promises to make ideals come true if we try hard enough.
Getting over this fantasy was perhaps the most liberating leap of my life. I no longer waste time and energy on futile pursuits, and best of all, forgiveness has become almost second nature now. Without free will, no one can be blamed for the deeds they do. Their deeds, both good and bad arise from deep-seated needs, fears, and the circumstances in which they find them selves, and of which they — we — have no control! I find that the more ruthless I face the truth, the less I stress over the impossible. The truth truly sets us free.
Give birth to, nurture, give birth and yet not have;
Act and yet not depend on;
Be in charge and yet not rule;
This is called profound moral character
Viewing the list of questions as hinting at how we beat ourselves up over not being as perfect as we think we should be, puts the last four statements in a more realistic light as well. Rather than being prescriptions for perfecting one’s character, they now come across as describing the reality one experiences in moments of profound moral character. How long these moments last depends on how quiescent one’s needs and fears remain. You see, one has no way to improve one’s moral character. It just is what it is.
Allowing nature (ziran 自然) to be self so takes courage, i.e., (zi 自 self) + (ran 然 so)
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