Translation
The greatest heights exist below what we realize,
Next comes what we praise.
Next comes what we fear.
Next comes what we bully.
When trust is lacking, there is no trust.
Long drawn out speech is noble,
Meritorious accomplishment is fulfilling,
The people all say, “I am natural”.
1) highest (greatest; excessively; too) upper (higher; superior; better), below (under; lower; inferior) know (realize; notify) have (exist) of. 太上，下知有之。(tài shàng, xià zhī yŏu zhī.)
2) his (her; its; their; that; such) order (sequence; next) parent (relative; intimate) <conj.> and (yet, but) reputation (fame; praise) of. 其次亲而誉之。(qí cì qīn ér yù zhī.)
3) his (her; its; their; that; such) order (sequence; next) fear (respect) of. 其次畏之。(qí cì wèi zhī.)
4) his (her; its; their; that; such) order (sequence; next) insult (bully) of. 其次侮之。(qí cì wŭ zhī.)
5) true (confidence; trust; faith; believe in) not foot (enough; ample) here (herein; how; why), have (exist) no (not) true (confidence; trust; faith; believe in) here (herein; how; why). 信不足焉，有不信焉。(xìn bù zú yān, yŏu bù xìn yān.)
6) long-drawn-out (leisurely) ! his (her; its; their; that; such) expensive (precious; noble) speech (word; say; speak), 悠兮其贵言，(yōu xī qí guì yán.)
7) merit (achievement; skill; work) accomplish (succeed; become) thing (business; trouble) satisfy (fulfil), 功成事遂，(gōng chéng shì suì,)
8) the common people all (each and every) say (call; name; meaning; sense) I at ease (natural; free from affectation). 百姓皆谓我自然。(băi xìng jiē wèi wŏ zì rán.)
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Corrections?
None this time
Reflections:
The greatest heights lie below what we realize.
The sky overhead, whether pitch black, starlit, or brightly blue, beckons us, almost instinctively, to look upward. The sky above is simple and mostly peaceful where as the earth below is a mixed bag of rewards and dangers. Thus, it is not surprising that above is venerated while below is held in low regard. With civilization and its hierarchical framework, upward feels even more ‘superior’. Where else would a ‘hell’ exist but downward below?
‘The greatest heights lie below what we realize’ takes a poke at the hierarchical lens through which we view life. In other words, what we realize arises mostly through the cognitive framework we cultivate from infancy. This framework filters perception in that we learn early on to judge the world in terms of ‘good’, ‘above’, and other positives vs. ‘bad’, ‘below’, and other negatives.
‘The greatest heights lie below what we realize’ hints at the ultra mundane, the magic and marvel of the unnoticed and under appreciated constant non-polar essence of ‘the way’, so to speak. (For more on below, see Tangents below.)
Next comes what we praise.
Next comes what we fear.
I’m sorry Lao Tzu. I prefer to put fear as that which comes Next. In addition, from fear (and its softer side, respect) arises praise. Praise is a way for the mind to turn one’s sense of awe into awesome instead of awful. We praise what serves our hopes, dreams, and values. Praise is a very personal projection of one’s overall life agenda, while fear is an even deeper projection of one’s survival agenda. Fear is where the rubber hits the road.
Next comes what we bully.
Praise and its counterpart blame are the source spring for bullying. We tend to bully whatever factors we blame for the problems in life, especially when our efforts to win out fail. As chapter 38 hints, Superior etiquette acts but when none respond, Normally roles up its sleeves and throws away. Certainly, bullying is often not overt, yet it is genuine even when unnoticed. For example, passing judgment easily becomes just another subtle form of bullying.
When faith is lacking, there is no faith.
This is the first time in a long time I feel like using another word to convey the meaning better. Now it is the word faith. Line 5’s literal rendition of this line is: true (confidence; trust; faith; believe in) not foot (enough; ample) here (herein; how; why), have (exist) no (not) true (confidence; trust; faith; believe in) here (herein; how; why). 信不足焉，有不信焉。
The problem with faith is that the word plays such a large role in Western religion… “Ye of little faith” etc. Confidence and trust have a more neutral connotation. Oh, I see I did change it to trust for the online version, but the print version is still faith. Should I change that, or leave it as an example of the need to examine the other meanings given for the Chinese character involved?
Long drawn out speech is noble,
I notice that when I am most sincere and ‘in the moment’ with what I’m saying, my speech becomes a more long drawn out speech. When thought is touching the ‘eternal present’, speech can’t help but be long and drawn out. Conversely, when I am relying on memory or speaking from emotion, speech flows quickly. Such speech is always dregs from the past. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with that naturally. It just helps to see things as they are. This helps inoculate me from wild goose chasing temptations.
Meritorious accomplishment is fulfilling,
This is not necessarily saying that meritorious accomplishment is a ‘good’ thing, especially in light of chapters 16’s Devote effort to emptiness, sincerely watch stillness. Personally, I find the pursuit of accomplishment, meritorious or not, as a futile act. Giving myself to the work, the moment, and the process is the key to fulfillment. I can spend decades on the process and never accomplish the end I seek, yet if ‘process’ and ‘moment’ are paramount, then my effort will not be in vain — just the opposite. You could say, ‘accomplishing the moment’ is all that is truly fulfilling.
The people all say, “I am natural”.
The humbleness of simply being aligns with all of nature. Nature is without affectation. Honestly, without affectation is perhaps more precise than the current word, natural. Natural is without affectation, or “self so”, (自然 zìrán) to put it most literally! Natural like faith, comes with a lot of cultural baggage. Shall I swap out natural for without affectation?
Tangents
The greatest heights lie below what we realize.
The flow of one’s life is as the flow of water.
Water takes its character from circumstances and gravity. Gravity pulls water toward the sea, and the circumstances of the land determine its characteristics at any given moment, from a gentle flow to a roaring rush.
One’s life takes its character from circumstances and the ‘gravitational pull’ of one’s genetics. Genetics pulls us through life to ‘the Great Sea’ below that people call death. The particular circumstances present at our birth and throughout our life determine our life’s characteristics at any given moment, from a gentle sigh of relief to a roaring outburst of fear, anger or angst.
Naturally, ego feels and thinks otherwise; it has its illusion of a self to maintain. For the self, its greatest heights lie above. Self needs to feel in control and capable of rising above to reach whatever Promised Land it imagines.
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
I adjusted some of the punctuation—the easy part. Now to wade into the deep. As is often the case, I would do more, but I don’t know how. Language is limited. Take line 1 for example. The greatest heights lie below what we realize. The literal, word for word is: highest (greatest; excessively; too) upper (higher; superior; better), below (under; lower; inferior) know (realize; notify) have (exist) of. (太上, 下知有之).
I don’t see any other way to word it without losing the core meaning. It can help to change the context a little. For example, we tend to more focused on the future, and more blind to the past. We’re not reflective enough; “those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it” speak to this. Borrowing from this chapter, an apt parallel would be, The greatest future lies behind what we realize.
Lines 2,3,4 all begin with ‘Next’. This gives the impression of hierarchical sequence, giving greater emphasis to praise than fear, and greater emphasis to fear than bully. I don’t see it that way, but I don’t know any way to write the horizontal view I see. If anything, fear precedes everything—even line 1’s statement. In other words, I see fear as the underlying impetus that drives the rest. You could say that praise is the positive branch and bully is the negative branch of fear. The actual character for Next is cì (次) order; sequence; second; next; second-rate; inferior; <chem.> hypo-.
Line 5 hinges on how one interprets the central character, xìn (信) which means: true; confidence; trust; faith; believe; profess faith in; believe in; at will; at random; evidence; letter; message; information. The initial meanings feel most relevant, but it still hinges on how you interpret these words (true; confidence; trust; faith; believe). Part of me wants to pick true for that is the most precise, i.e., it is either true or not true. It can’t be half-true, or can it? What about half-truths? I see half-truths as merely a situation where some aspects of something are true and others are not true.
Anyway, I’ll replace the current trust with faith. I realize that trust is often connected to money and worldly things. Faith feels broader and deeper, as in spiritual faith, or as in losing faith in your politicians. It is not that you don’t trust them; you just trust them to be human. 😉
Commentary:
I already made commentary on lines 1-4 in the issues section above. Looking ‘below‘ and ‘behind’ allow us to see so much more of what lies in the greatest heights above and ahead. It seems an odd thing, but less so if viewed as a kind of “circle of reality”. Look behind and you see ahead; look below and you see above. However, it doesn’t work the other way around, i.e., look ahead and you can’t see behind; look above and you can’t see below. Perhaps that is because time flows in only one direction—backwards oddly enough. Only we are such suckers for energy (the bio-hoodwink) that we look to its direction—ahead—for understanding where we ‘are’. Enough of such crazy talk (Straight and honest words seem inside out).
The greatest heights lie below what we realize, so what else can we do but act out of feeling – emotion. The praise, fear, bullying, are all symptomatic of that which we can’t realize.
When faith is lacking, there is no faith is helpful to know. Faith is like a switch; it is either on or off. Anything in between is more like a hope and wish for faith, although that hope can easily pass for faith I suppose.
D.C. Lau’s translation, ‘When there is not enough faith, there is lack of good faith’ misses a deeper point by ‘over translating’ (i.e., making the English poetic). The most literal would be ‘true not enough here, exist no true here’ (信不足焉, 有不信焉). Again, the key word here is xin (信) true; confidence; trust; faith; believe in. Think of it this way. If you had any lack of faith about the direction your body would go when you rolled out of bed, you’d have no confidence. You would be frozen, unable to roll out of bed for fear of flying upward to the stratosphere instead of down to the floor. Faith is a very, very fragile condition. Once broken, it is extremely difficult to reinstate.
I see the last three lines as a whole. When ‘people’ employ long drawn out speech instead of impulsive reactive speech; when ‘people’ feel fulfilled through meritorious accomplishment, they feel most natural.
Suggested Revision:
The greatest heights lie below what we realize.
Next comes what we praise.
Next comes what we fear.
Next comes what we bully.
When faith is lacking, there is no faith.
Long drawn out speech is noble,
Meritorious accomplishment is fulfilling,
The people all say, “I am natural”.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
I’m departing a bit from the traditional interpretation again. There is a cultural tendency to ‘follow the leader’. Because we’ve ‘always seen’ something a certain way in the past drives us to maintain that tradition going forward. While that’s often wise, if one wishes to see ‘outside the box’, it helps to be not religiously bound to the view ‘always seen’ from inside the box. Each time I return to a chapter, I attempt to see what I’ve not seen before – to set ‘always’ aside and read between the lines. I feel the following translation /interpretation is faithful to the core meaning, though not in the traditional way. It is a matter of perspective. Anyway, you be the judge…
In Lau’s version, best of all rulers is but another word for God, in my view. Love, praise, fear, and take liberties (bullying) are various ways people treat ‘God’. On a personal level, this describes the various ways ‘I’ can manage ‘my’ life. I use ‘I’ and ‘my’ tenuously for these are nonsensical at their core (but, then what isn’t?). How one manages life hinges on one’s sense of responsibility, guilt, morality, desires, pride, fear, etc. This results in two sides of a mysterious coin: some equate God (the greatest heights) with ‘self’ (‘God-self’), while others see ‘self’ (ego) as an impediment to the greatest heights.
Lau’s version talks of ‘when his task is accomplished‘. Accomplish what? Letting life’s ‘accomplishments‘ happen naturally means giving up responsibility; I can’t take credit, nor can I receive blame. I become an integral part of whatever happens no matter what I ‘do’. I can do nothing, or rush about and meddle in everything. Yet, neither makes a difference when viewed from the greatest heights. What is different, however, is how I end up feeling as time unwinds events before me. Realizing that I can’t truly decide (i.e., free will) is very peaceful. Indeed, I always end up doing what needs doing anyway, regardless. I only lose this fulfilling sense of meritorious accomplishment when I forget what I realize to be so. Why do I forget something so integral to knowing contentment? Nature can’t allow living beings to feel that content. After all, life must push back on entropy to survive.
This chapter gives good guidance for parenting, and for encounters with wild animals. Being a shadowy presence (lying below what we realize) works wonders. Many would probably wonder how this keeps the kids and wild animals in line? Why do they not take liberties? Kids and animals alike are able to see past cultural pretence into one’s core nature. It instills respect (praise and fear) when all they see is a ‘shadowy presence‘ (i.e., the below what we realize). Otherwise, they simply respond to what they see; this is often the duplicity of conflicting needs and fears we of less maturity struggle to maintain.