Of ancients adept in the way, none ever use it to enlighten people,
They will use it in order to fool them.
People are difficult to govern because they are too intelligent.
Therefore, using intelligence to govern the country injures the country.
Not using intelligence to govern the country blesses the country.
Know these both and investigate their patterns.
Always investigate the patterns.
That is called profound moral character.
Moral character, profound indeed, distant indeed!
To the outside world, contrary indeed.
Then, and only then, reaching great conformity.
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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.
Fourth Pass: Chapter of the Month
(pandemic era)
Archive: Characters and past commentary
Zoom on YouTube Recordings:
https://youtu.be/gJWfkFPk3rE is the link to the Zoom video of this month’s Sunday meeting. The shorter first part of the meeting begins with a chapter reading followed by attendees’ commentary, if any. A little later on begins the longer open discussion part of the meeting when those who wish to discuss how the chapter relates to their personal experience.
Corrections?
Nothing this time.
Reflections
Of ancients adept in the way, none ever use it to enlighten people,
They will use it in order to fool them.
I’ve interpreted this in various ways over the decades. Early on, I saw this as saying that ancients adept in the way intentionally use it in order to fool people. That never felt correct, so I thought perhaps those ancients didn’t know they were doing this. In other words, the ancients were drinking their own ‘kool aid’. This still seems a reasonable interpretation. Yet, now I see this more realistically in a couple of ways…
First: People only truly understand what they already intuitively know. (See We only understand what we already know). People interpret what they see or hear relative to their own level of “maturity” (for lack of a better word). Frankly, the world we see is a reflection of ourselves, our biases, our fears, our expectations. Thus, regardless of how enlightened the message is, people will skew it to reflect the reality they know, and consequently become fooled by their misinterpretation. History is full of example of such misinterpretation, especially in relation to religions. Indeed, religions never adhere to the founding message of their prophets, but devolve into institutions that more of less reflect the ‘public mind’.
More broadly, misinterpreting each other is very common. I assume everyone has experienced this a few times at least. You say something, which in your mind feels innocuous, but the person hearing it ‘takes it the wrong way’. That is because they are hearing what you say through their own set of filters, e.g., needs, fears, expectations, worries, desires, beliefs, moral values. Of course, you’ve undoubtedly been on the hearing end of this interaction as well.
Why don’t we realize we’re misreading each other? Because we invariably tend to believe we perceive reality… and naturally so. This belief is the disease all humans share as chapter 71 bluntly points out… Realizing I don’t know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease. The next three lines of this chapter also allude to this disease.
Second: We are all human animals, not so different in deeper ways than each other. Anyone adept in the way still deals with the same primary instincts and emotions as everyone else. However, people yearning for a heroic spiritual ‘alpha male’ ascribe wondrous powers to a charismatic personality, which then embodies their yearning. It is all in the eye of the beholder. If the devotee’s eye sees a hero, then hero it is. The fooling aspect isn’t an intentional act on the part of the “hero”. Yet, the “hero” would find it difficult, even impossible, to dissuade the devotee’s hero-belief because the devotee’s emotions are creating this reality.
More broadly, ‘we can only understand what we intuitively know’ means that a teacher is always fooling them… them being any student seeking insight. In a way, if a teacher knows this deeper layer, then he knows he is fooling them, as opposed to a teacher who actually believes he/she either knows the “truth” or can convey the “truth”.
Importantly, intuitive insight is not a function of intelligence, yet raw intelligence is the qualification society requires of its teachers. Indeed, surface abilities—physical (e.g., sports), emotional (e.g., arts), intellectual (e.g., science)—are the only measurable human qualities. So naturally, how else is a hierarchical society supposed to judge and rank its citizens?
People are difficult to govern because they are too intelligent.
Therefore, using intelligence to govern the country injures the country.
Not using intelligence to govern the country blesses the country.
Why are they too intelligent? The first line of chapter 1 says it all: The way possible to think, runs counter to the constant way, especially when viewed in relation to the first line of chapter 71: Realizing I don’t know is better; not knowing this knowing is disease. Human cognition—intelligence—can’t help but take itself seriously. Our sense of self-worth is intimately linked to what we think we know. The linkage between our sense of self-worth and our knowledge declines slowly as life experience allows us to realize we actually don’t know. This is why aging brings increasing wisdom to everyone, at least compared to their earlier life.
Like all animals, survival requires us to respond to the environment—to govern our lives, as it were. Unlike other animals, we believe we make voluntary choices in our actions… we think we are in charge. This sense of agency is the illusionary feeling of being in the driving seat when it comes to our actions. (See Belief: Are We Just Fooling Ourselves?) This illusion of control is a side-effect of our intelligence. Failing to realize that we don’t know, our actions will invariably lead to unintended consequences. Simply put, our cognitive arrogance is our downfall. This line from chapter 16 sums it up, Not knowing the constant, rash actions lead to ominous results.
Thus, governing anything, from your own life on up to a country, using intelligence is bound to fail. The ultimate ignorance embedded in knowledge is incapable of managing the full spectrum of life and death. The disease pointed out in chapter 71 guarantees failure in the long run.
Governing the broad and deep matters of life benefits from slowing down to tap into our intuitive sense of life. This is the realm of intuitive knowing which we share with all life on Earth. It is the ‘listen to your gut’ or ‘listen to your heart’ beyond words perception of reality. When faced with big decisions, people often experience a battle between their intellect and their gut. I would imagine those who’s intellect wins out are more likely to live to regret it. In the end, intelligence and knowledge are finite, while the intuitive realm is immeasurable. Note: This is not to say the intuitive realm is infallible! Even so, its power lies in how it can plumb reality deeper than any words.
Now consider the next line… Not using intelligence to govern the country blesses the country. Free from the pig-headed and often arrogance of intelligence, intuitive perception can take in the ‘big picture’. This has a much better chance of seeing beyond one’s learned knowledge. Naturally, this is difficult, for we rely so heavily on our intelligence to manage life in general. And indeed, intelligence is excellent for managing mundane worldly matters, from hearth surgery and nuclear physics to plumbing and farming. But even these affairs benefit profoundly from being managed in the end by our intuitive realm.
Know these both and investigate their patterns.
Always investigate the patterns.
That is called profound moral character.
Know these both and investigate their patterns is a tacit recognition that intelligence is a vital aspect of human existence. The problem is that we easily, if not lazily, rely on intelligence as the main resource for governing life… too much of a good thing, as it were. Always investigate the patterns is only possible if you’re not passionately choosing to depend on either side—intelligence or intuition. In short, keeping an open mind serves us best. I must say, this feels like a perfect definition of profound moral character. Our disease is what keeps our mind closed off in one way or another. An open mind is only possible if one realizes they don’t know!
An open mind notices the nature of things—the environment—in its quest to see beyond itself. Chapter 15 describes this as, Of old, the adept student was minutely subtle, profoundly connecting, and deep beyond knowledge. Chapter 52, portrays this journey in more detail,
Clearly, this entails observing without passing moral judgment or projecting one’s expectations on how the world ‘should be’. This boils down to observing life in order to conform to nature as opposed to vying with how things are for some self-centered advantage. As chapter 68 puts this, This is called matching of Nature’s ancient utmost.
Moral character, profound indeed, distant indeed!
To the outside world, contrary indeed.
Then, and only then, reaching great conformity.
Moral character, profound indeed, distant indeed! To the outside world, contrary indeed. This certainly highlights the enormity of moral character. Moral character is definitely not something that one can choose to ‘work on’. In my experience, my moral character has deepens as I’ve aged. A good analogy is giving a toddler a bike to ride. He can’t actually ride it until he has learned how to walk. Likewise, we journey through life gradually approaching the peace that comes from reaching great conformity.
Now, exactly what does conformity mean here? As a social species, humans innately feel a need to conform. In our ancestral hunter-gather epoch, conformity would happen intuitively with little to none of the hierarchical social pressures found in civilization. Circumstances have changed greatly, yet we all still express this instinct to conform one way or another. Conforming to what and to which extent are the variables here. Intuitive familial conformity is the starting place for all infants, but this soon extends to feeling pressure in relation to cultural conformity. Some conform willingly, some rebel, and a few simply don’t feel the pressure. These eccentrics march to the beat of their own drum. Yet, even these outliers conform to their own idiosyncratic life patterns There is simply no way to escape conformity unless perhaps one has a serious personality disorder.
I feel here that reaching great conformity needs some clarification. These three characters here are zhì dà shun ( 至大顺 ). The first two translate as “arrive; to; until” + “big; huge; major; great; wide; deep; oldest; eldest”, which I sum up as reaching great. The last character translates as “in the same direction as; with; along; to obey; to follow; to arrange; favorable”, which I sum up as conformity. The great conformity alluded to here is not your typical cultural normal conformity discussed in the last paragraph, and to which some avidly rebel against. Indeed, either conforming to or rebelling against cultural conformity pressures are steps along the way to—and yet often impede—reaching great conformity.
Reaching great conformity can only begin to occur when our own expectations and ideals cease competing with reality! And that only happens when we genuinely realize we don’t know. That is when, as chapter 3 puts it, Doing without doing, following without exception rules. The only path left to follow in life is the one reaching for great conformity.
Chapter Archive https://youtu.be/DZhEyx68tao
This is the complete video. It begins with blowing Zen followed by the meeting
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