Tao Te Wednesday

2/1/2012

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.

If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.
If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.

Verse 33, Stephen Mitchell New English Version

Laura Novak

2/1/2012 01:23:40 am

This is timely for me from the knowing oneself and the true meaning of riches context. The death part, not really relevant at the moment for me. But I'll be curious to hear what MC might offer us this morning.

mistah charley, ph.d. link

2/1/2012 02:58:16 am

John Heider's interpretation, The Tao of Power, puts it this way:

To know how other people behave takes intelligence, but to know myself takes wisdom.

To manage other people's lives takes strength, but to manage my own life takes true power.

If I am content with what I have, I can live simply and enjoy both prosperity and free time.

If my goals are clear, I can achieve them without fuss.

If I am at peace with myself, I will not spend my life force in conflicts.

If I have learned to let go, I do not need to fear dying.

mistah charley, ph.d.

2/1/2012 03:10:27 am

Kurt Vonnegut, most well known for Slaughterhouse-Five, wrote this about his friend Joseph Heller.

Joe Heller

True story, Word of Honor:
Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer
now dead,
and I were at a party given by a billionaire
on Shelter island.

I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel ‘Catch-22′
has earned in its entire history?”
And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
Not bad! Rest in peace!

Laura Novak

2/1/2012 05:29:25 am

This is one passage where I believe the author made quite a leap. The first part makes perfect sense. The second does as well, except I'm not sure what one has to do with the other. Unless he had a friend who thought he knew it all and was dying?

I once saw KV at a party in Amagansett on Long Island. He was very tall. That said, I too feel that I have enough. And that's why this passage spoke to me. Thanks MC!!

grannyj

2/1/2012 08:10:03 am

You seem to choose the verses I need to read- just when I need to read them the most. Thank you both once again.

Laura Novak

2/1/2012 09:13:44 am

GrannyJ, you and I must be on the same path. I choose the ones that have meaning at the moment for me as well. Be well, my friend.

mistah charley, ph.d. link

2/2/2012 12:04:19 am

Laura, you raise an interesting point about the connection between the last part of this passage and the earlier part. Perhaps there is a link in "enoughness" - enough money, enough things, enough sunrises and sunsets.

Ellen M. Chen, a scholar of Taoism whose translation with commentary of the Tao Te Ching is highly praised, writes at the beginning of her article "Is There a Doctrine of Physical Immortality in the Tao Te Ching?" (History of Religions, 1973) that she agrees with the "opinion that there was a basic incompatibility between the goals of the philosophical Taoists, on the one hand, and the alchemists and adept, on the other." The former taught people to become reconciled with death as a part of nature's cycle of change, whereas the latter advocated the pursuit of immortality.

Vonnegut, whom I quoted earlier, addressed the issue of mortality in his Bokononist last rites, ideally recited on one's deathbed, given in his novel Cat's Cradle. To wit, and I quote:

“God made mud.
God got lonesome.
So God said to some of the mud, "Sit up!"
"See all I've made," said God, "the hills, the sea, the
sky, the stars."
And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look
around.
Lucky me, lucky mud.
I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.
Nice going, God.
Nobody but you could have done it, God! I certainly
couldn't have.
I feel very unimportant compared to You.
The only way I can feel the least bit important is to
think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and
look around.
I got so much, and most mud got so little.
Thank you for the honor!
Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep.
What memories for mud to have!
What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!
I loved everything I saw!
Good night.
I will go to heaven now.
I can hardly wait...
To find out for certain what my wampeter was...
And who was in my karass...
And all the good things our karass did for you.
Amen.”

"Karass" - humankind is organized into invisible teams to do God's will, and you don't know who is on your team; "wampeter" is the central theme or purpose of a karass. These are Bokononist terms; Bokononism is a fictional Calypso Zen; or we could call it Taoism with Jamaican jerk seasoning on it.

Vonnegut is presumably kidding about finding out about these puzzlements in the next life. In another place he describes the side-splitting joke with which he began his speech to the American Humanist Association as the successor to the late Isaac Asimov as honorary president : "Isaac is in Heaven now." It slayed them, metaphorically speaking.

mistah charley, ph.d. link

2/2/2012 12:13:11 am

Ellen Chen's translation of Chapter 33:

One who knows (chih) others is knowledgeable (chih);
One who knows (chih) the self is enlightened (ming).
One who overcomes others has physical might;
One who overcomes the self (tzu sheng) is strong (ch'iang).
One who knows contentment (chih tsu) is rich;
One who acts strongly (ch'iang) has will power (chih).
One who does not lose where one belongs lasts long;
One who dies without perishing (wang) has longevity.

grannyj

2/2/2012 06:05:03 am

Thank you dear Laura. I am so glad you are here.

go to this site link

5/28/2013 10:04:15 pm

Tao Te Wednesday is a new resemblance. I applaud the pain you have taken to dictate such beautiful lyrics. The meaning of lyrics are so powerful so that it can attract every reader's mind and can even shed tears of joy. Thanks for your hard work.

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Laura Novak

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