Infrequent speech is natural.
Fluttering breezes change direction; sudden showers can’t last the day.
What does this? Heaven and earth.
Even Heaven and earth are unable to long continue,
And so what about people?
Hence, following the way is the same as the way.
Following virtue is the same as virtue;
Following loss is the same as loss.
Together in the way, the way happily satisfies;
Together in virtue, virtue happily satisfies;
Together in loss, loss happily satisfies;
When trust is not sufficient herein, there exists no trust herein.
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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
Archive: Characters and past commentary
Corrections?
None this time
Reflections:
Infrequent speech is natural.
Isn’t that one reason we say, “Silence is golden”. When I observe nature, I see it in constant flux, constant flow. Nature holds onto nothing, except perhaps for squirrels who store nuts for the winter. When nature holds on, it appears to be for practical reasons. Speech is a little different. It begins as words, symbolic representations of nature’s reality we soak up from infancy. Next, we weave these words into stories that invariably arise from some personal agenda — whether fear or need, shallow or deep. Yes, exactly what I am doing here. After that come the listeners of speech who interpret what they hear in the context of their own personal story and voilà! Misunderstanding is born. Speech and the cognitive story land it inhabits is more virtual reality than natural reality. That is not to say, virtual reality is not natural in the ‘big picture’ sense of the word nature. Even so, speech tends to make mountains out of molehills.
Fluttering breezes change direction; sudden showers can’t last the day.
What does this? Heaven and earth.
Even Heaven and earth are unable to long continue,
And so what about people?
Change is very unnerving, especially in circumstances of civilization. Civilization requires a certain degree of stability and constancy at the material level. The constancy that chapter 1 refers to — The way possible to think, runs counter to the constant way — just can’t cut it. We do all we can to ‘nail things down’, e.g., traditions, art, music, laws, morality, religion, economics, science… knowledge. The increased disconnection from nature these circumstances create helps to conceal much of nature’s ebb and flow from us. We can never adapt to the flow, and so we experience any change as disproportionately greater than it is. Such making of mountains out of changing molehills is another side effect of civilization.
Hence, following the way is the same as the way.
Following virtue is the same as virtue;
Following loss is the same as loss.
‘Following’ gives dynamic meaning to the more static nature of these words — or any words for that matter. We dream up stories with future scenarios, goals, ideals, etc., and press on through life chasing after them. We begin ‘here’ and hurry to get ‘there’. Experiencing the following as actually the end goal helps to connect ‘here’ and ‘there’. When you feel the following as the end, the difference between any beginning and any end dissolves. Profound sameness is all that remains.
Together in the way, the way happily satisfies;
Together in virtue, virtue happily satisfies;
Together in loss, loss happily satisfies;
When trust is not sufficient herein, there exists no trust herein.
‘Together’ in what ever side of life we experience offers a sense of connection. The word happily can be a little misleading if we try to peg down the meaning of what happy actually is. We happily follow as long as it gives life meaning. Life meaning and the validation of the sense of self is the psychic glue that binds, whether it be pleasure or pain, gain or loss. Together in __(fill in the blank)____ is what actually drives us to do what we do, not free will. The sense of connection, by whichever way we come to feel it, holds us there until it ceases to connect. Then we move on to the next promise, unless perhaps, all we are doing is following.
What makes moving on to the next promise different from following? When following is an end in itself, you are following the process rather than a particular object or end result. Then, the ‘how’ takes precedent over the ‘what’ — quality over quantity. Naturally, all this is easier said than done. Chasing after this or that is instinctive. This biological hunt and gather drive is a boom in the wild; only in civilized circumstances does it become ‘too much of a good thing’.
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