Tao Te Wednesday

2/8/2012

He who is in harmony with the Tao
is like a newborn child.
Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak,
but its grip is powerful.
It doesn't know about the union
of male and female,
yet its penis can stand erect,
so intense is its vital power.
it can scream its head off all day,
yet it never becomes hoarse,
so complete is its harmony.

The Master's power is like this.
He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.
He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.
He is never disappointed;
thus his spirit never grows old. Verse 55

Laura Novak

2/8/2012 01:21:53 am

I'll be interested to know what Mistah Charley can find on this one!!

mistah charley, ph.d. link

2/8/2012 01:46:36 am

Yes, the little stiffy is in the original. Here's John Heider's interpretation:

People who surrender all their blocks and conflicts experience a free flow of vital energy.

They look as radiant as a baby, and they employ a childlike immunity to injury. Bugs don't bite them. Dogs don't attack them. Trouble-makers leave them alone.

Their bodies seem relaxed and pliant, but their stamina and strength are remarkable. They are sexually moving without being overly erotic. They can sing or even yell for a long time and never get hoarse.

It is as if they were newly in love, not with one person, but with all creation, and their energies are as abundant as all creation.

It is a mistake to confuse excitement or arousal with the vital flow of enlightenment. Stimulants and emotional adventures arouse people, but such arousal does not enhance one's energies. On the contrary, excitement spends energy and exhausts vitality.

Think of excitement as tension that comes when stimulation meets resistance. The exciting experience ends when the stimulation stops or when a person wears out.

But the vitality of enlightenment is a continuous flow. It meets no resistance and goes on and on without stress.

Excitement is rooted in passing desires. Vital energy springs from the eternal.

mistah charley, ph.d. link

2/8/2012 02:24:03 am

Ellen Chen's commentary on this chapter sees it as "a paean to infancy against the stiffness and inflexibility of old age....Spiritually some young persons are already stiff and inflexible, while some old persons are as supple and gentle and infants."

Ursula Le Guin, in her commentary, says the baby, as a metaphor of the Tao, "embodies the eternal beginning, the ever-springing source....What is eternal IS forever young, never grows old. But we are not eternal....The Way is more than the cycle of any individual life. We rise, flourish, fail. The Way never fails. We are waves. It is the sea."

On Monday I had shopped at the nearby Aldi discount supermart, and was in the process of returning my cart to get my quarter back when an elderly man approached me. It became clear this was his first visit to the store and he was not familiar with the Aldi way and its power. To quote the Aldi website, "You'll find ALDI shopping carts hooked together right outside the door. As you approach the store, just insert a quarter to release a cart. When you’re finished shopping, reconnect the chain and get your quarter back."* I showed him how it worked, and helped him insert the quarter into his own cart - "Just a bit further - there you go." He began to speak of how things keep getting more complicated, and more expensive, and taxes are too high, and we need to get the Democrats out of power. When he got to this point, I said, "At least the prices in here are lower than elsewhere - you'll see." I wished him a good day and went on my way.

*"Part of the ALDI experience is enjoying all of the money-saving rituals that come with smarter shopping. ALDI regulars have come to find our easy-to-use shopping cart deposit system downright endearing, figuring that paying too much is a much greater inconvenience. With this system, we don’t have to assign an employee to round up carts in the parking lot, we don’t lose expensive carts, and you don’t have to worry about dings in your car doors from runaway carts....This expense-saving tradition (no rolling carts to chase and no damaged cars!) has become a legendary part of the ALDI culture."

http://aldi.us/us/html/company/shopping_smarter_3181_ENU_HTML.htm

The coin-operated shopping cart is NOT a flaw - it's a feature!

supple and gentle AS infants

2/8/2012 02:30:41 am

I wish we could edit these - and we can, of course, until we hit the submit button.

Laura Novak

2/8/2012 06:45:11 am

I really like both interpretations above. I see I need to go deeper or move wider when it comes to reading the Tao. I've liked Mitchell's translation a lot. But it seems lacking in this particular and oddly complicated case.

And the Aldi story is interesting. I need to ponder that! Thank you Mistah Charley!

mistah charley, ph.d. link

2/8/2012 08:49:05 pm

Re reading the Tao Te Ching - the "widest" source for a variety of translations is http://home.pages.at/onkellotus/Menu/Content.html
- I've been nibbling at the edges of this site, but got an idea of its extent only just now, in the process of composing this comment you are now reading. Wow.

With regard to going deeper, Heider has been a favorite of mine for a long time, no doubt because the flavor he adds ("sensitive New Age guy", sort of - but also tough-minded in the way psychotherapists like to think they are) is one I'm used to. The further advantage is that paper copies are abundant and not too expensive, and his explanation is integrated into the text, and thus available through the website I just mentioned - whereas the other translators' footnotes and commentary are not there.

Ellen Chen's translation and commentary, which I've just checked out of the public library, is so extensive as to be a bit daunting to the person with medium enthusiasm to delve deeper, which is my current situation.

Ursula K. Le Guin's version is one I wish I had, and may be especially rewarding to those who have read some of her own books.

I'm tempted to add a commentary on the Parable of the Old Man and the Aldi Shopping Cart - maybe later.

Laura Novak

2/9/2012 02:25:15 am

Thanks for this. And I'd love to hear more about the parable. I thought of you yesterday while at the grocery store!

mistah charley, ph.d. link

2/9/2012 11:09:01 pm

THE OLD GUY AT THE GROCERY STORE

The Grocery Store

If you're a value-conscious food shopper, if you have an Aldi's within shopping range (Google "aldi store locator"), and if you're not familiar with them, I suggest you check it out. See the company's website and the Wikipedia article about them. One opened in my catchment area within the last year, and has become one of my usual stores.

The Old Guy

White male, apparently in his seventies, dressed in casual clothes. Grocery shopping by himself on Monday morning. Garrulous.

Looking Back on the Interaction

At the time, I patted myself on the back for my good deed, and for expeditiously going on my way after getting him squared away with his cart.

In hindsight, I see I could easily have been kinder. The man was hungry for conversation, as well as for tasty, nutritious, cost-effective groceries. Why was he there by himself? Other people his age shop in couples. I should have given him a couple more minutes of my time.

V-A

2/10/2012 09:46:22 am

I'd like to add the parable of The Noisy Nurses.

Today my mother had open heart surgery. It all went well. She is recovering in ICU in a room across from the nurses' station. Around 5:30 pm the nurses got very loud. They shouted across the corridor about patients, their care, about their weekend plans. Everything about their voices made me hate them and the medical industrial complex more. I thought of all the old people in their rooms, their hearts bruised and swollen from invasive surgeries. I wanted respect. Quiet. Nuns in white habits whispering in a French convent. When I asked why there was so much noise, I was ganged up on by all the nurses, circling me, and learned it was nearing shift change. Hadn't anyone told me I was not meant to be there at that time?

A priest I like ends his service with these words: Be kind to one another. We are all involved in a great struggle. The old man at Aldi's I have no trouble being kind to. But the Noisy Nurses, they are my challenge.

Ottoline

2/10/2012 05:22:38 pm

I stayed at the hospital bedside of each parent almost all the time in their last years. Both of them complained (more than once) about a wild raucous party outside their door during the night on nights I was not there. Some night-time hospital dementia, but prob some loud noises, too. Miserable for the patient. Miserable for me in trying to reassure them. Miserable for the patient in not believing me and feeling I did not believe them. V-A, I hope your mother's recovery is good. It can be a long hard road, and I sincerely hope your mother is a lucky one.

Laura Novak

2/10/2012 10:06:54 am

Mistah Charley, I like your story. And I understand how you thought later of what the old man was really reaching out for. Sometimes we miss cues. Sometimes that can't be avoided. We can't be there all the time for everyone. With good luck, you'll see him again and can rework the story for yourself.

V-A I am glad to hear this. Though not about the nurses. It happened to me over and over when recovering from my C-section. It was awful. And I find it goes on all the time in surgery recovery rooms, not just the floor rooms. I love your analogy of the nuns in the convent, or rather, you wish for that pristine silence.

We all have our weaknesses when it comes to patience. And yours is understandable. Yes, let's be kind to one another.

V-A

2/10/2012 09:58:13 pm

Good morning all. Poor nurses. They just seem to be part of the ME world, where each individual's needs trump the good of the whole, all the time. These poor children were raised this way. On display and out loud. I've met school teachers like this, and nurses, and rude young people in movie theatres. I simply must learn not to be a mad old geezer, complaining about the current world. But what's to happen if we don't speak up? That's the yin, yang. Accepting, rejecting. Those teachers we respect, they didn't stay silent.

Ottoline

2/11/2012 12:14:44 am

Mad old geezer? Come sit over here by me. I think MOG is vastly preferable to passive, or silenced. Why should out geezer views not have as much air time as those of the clueless? When my father was called by the receptionist at his MD BY HIS FIRST NAME (which the gum-chewing youngster mispronounced) I flew into a rage and did the MOG thing. The other shy, polite old people in the waiting room pretended not to hear. My father was too polite to do this but did not reprimand me. MOGs unite! Esp now.

Ottoline

2/11/2012 12:23:31 am

V-A, my experience as the support person for a hospitalized loved one is that MOG is good. Being viewed as a loose cannon by the staff means they are a little more on their toes re your patient, because they never know what MOG thing you might do next. Bringing in SMALL exquisite bouquets of flowers is good too, even for the ICU (where it must usually sit outside the room on the nurse-station counter). Thank-you notes accompanied by such flowers to any staff that you like also serves to confuse all -- so the loose cannon thingie helps your patient that tiny little extra bit.

Laura Novak

2/11/2012 03:28:40 am

Man oh man have I had more than my share of being a Mama Grizzly (I HATE using that term.)

Sorry to report that I've got nothing new to write. Wish I did. Will have to think of something!

V-A-

2/11/2012 09:11:38 pm

I'd love your thoughts on some of the nyt recent articles on the dangers and annoyances of being over-connected electronically. There seem to be many such editorials. Data mining, knowing too much about strangers, the time we spend on computers and smart phones and tablets. With my mom in the hospital, I'm struck by the number of friends she has and how many want to help me. Someday, if it's me in the hospital, all I'll have is a tablet and a slew of emails-- if I'm that lucky. Or I'll have to be a game like Farmville, so people can "care" for me virtually.

I keep thinking I want to unplug entirely and see what happens. I'd love to hear your views of the State we're In, electronically. Or how it affects you as a writer. Or how you use it all as a tool as a writer.

Or if you're really brave, how about the threat of a Sarah rise in the maw of Republican dithering? Is it possible?

mistah charley, ph.d. link

2/12/2012 09:19:46 pm

"the threat of a Sarah rise in in the maw of Republican dithering? Is it possible?"

Well, Sarah's speech at the conservative conference this weekend was a big successs.

http://barracudabrigade.blogspot.com/2012/02/video-sarah-palins-speech-at-cpac-on.html

She is definitely in her element as a rabble rouser. I rate the chance of her actually coming to a position of power as low, however, because her potential backers among The Owners now see that she is an unreliable instrument - she cannot be trusted to do as she's told.

Conscious at last!

2/13/2012 12:13:20 pm

I know that I am late to this party, but I wanted to share a translation that is very different for verse 55. The translator is R.B. Blakney:

Rich in virtue, like an infant
Noxious insects will not sting him;
Wild beasts will not attack his flesh
Nor birds of prey sink claws in him.

His bones are soft, his sinews weak,
His grip is nonetheless robust;
Of sexual union unaware,
HIs organs all completely formed,
His vital force is at its height.
He shouts all day, does not get hoarse:
His person is a harmony.

Harmony experienced is known as constancy;
Constancy experienced is called enlightenment;
Exuberant vitality is ominous they say;
A bent for vehemence is called aggressiveness.

That things with age decline in strength,
You well may say, suits not the Way;
And not to suit the Way is early death.

Laura Novak

2/15/2012 01:34:28 am

Thank you Conscious! Wow, that IS different. I hope you join us for the new one!

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