Chapter 44: Moderation

Which is nearer, a name or a person? Which is more, personality or treasure? Is it more painful to gain or to suffer loss?

Extreme indulgence certainly greatly wastes. Much hoarding certainly invites severe loss.

A contented person is not despised. One who knows when to stop is not endangered; he will be able therefore to continue.

Interpretation:

This chapter makes the point that having to much of anything invites disaster.  

In the "classic" style of the Tao teh Ching, the first stanza asks a series of questions.  Do you feel closer to a person or to that persons name?  In other words, do titles matter more than the personality of the person?  Do you value people or treasure more?  Everyone enjoys gaining, is the pleasure more than the pain of loss?

The second stanza observes that if you indulge, you almost certainly waste and that gathering together more than you need invites loss.  A small house is easy to keep in order, but who can keep track of all that comes and goes from a mansion.  More importantly, contentment never comes to those who are always fearful that they will lose what they have.

The third stanza finds two benefits to moderation.  First, the person who is not always longing does not make enemies.  Second, the person who knows when to stop does not put himself in danger.  These two create an opening for a good and long life within the bounds of moderation.

Understanding the Tao te Ching Chapter 13: Favor and Disgrace are Equal

13.

Favor and disgrace are alike to be feared, just as too great care or anxiety are bad for the body.

Why are favor and disgrace alike to be feared? To be favored is humiliating; to obtain it is as much to be dreaded as to lose it. To lose favor is to be in disgrace and of course is to be dreaded.

Why are excessive care and great anxiety alike bad for one? The very reason I have anxiety is because I have a body. If I have not body why would I be anxious?

Therefore if he who administers the empire, esteems it as his own body, then he is worthy to be trusted with the empire.

Interpretation:

This chapter is again talking about seeking balance rather than a high place.  This time the context is appearance before other people.  Are we considered to be "favored?"  Are we considered to be "disgraced?"  The author recommends avoiding both positions.  It is easy to understand why disgrace is undesireable who why favor?  Perhaps the life of the movie star can be used as an example.  The famous person, while receiving many benefits from fame also cannot go to a restaurant without being approached by fans, photographers hound them constantly and their private affairs are likely to appear on the front page of magazines.  Truly they pay a high price for their fame.

The author, desiring a quiet, and balanced life, avoids both favor and disgrace.  Preferring to live a quiet, unnoticed life.

The second stanza is often interpreted to mean that it is somehow unsatisfactory to have a body or to be living.  This is inconsistent with the message of the Tao te Ching.  It is more likely that this passage is meant as reminder that the Tao itself is not concerned with issues of favor and disgrace.  It is only those of us seeking to care for our human bodies that conceive and worry about such notions.  A good way to observe the truth of this is to explain to a dog or cat the shame of nudity.  Truly favor and disgrace are human attributes. 

The final message is for those who would rule.  If you would treat the ruled as your own body, your worries will serve those you lead.

Understanding the Tao te Ching Chapter 4: 無源

4.

The Dao appears to be emptiness but it is never exhausted. Oh, it is profound! It appears to have preceded everything. It dulls its own sharpness, unravels its own fetters, softens its own brightness, identifies itself with its own dust.


Oh, it is tranquil! It appears infinite; I do not know from what it proceeds. It even appears to be antecedent to the Lord.

Interpretation:

This short chapter can be interpreted to say that while we can measure any particular unit of energy, solar, atomic, etc.  the cause or source of energy itself is quite unmeasurable and apparently without bounds.  This assessment seems consistent with physicists assessment of the first moment of the universe, they describe the beginning of the elements of the universe that we know, including the inflation of the universe itself.  While there could not have been a moment before the first moment, all of the universe that we know came from some primal, formless, timeless force.  Here is a gateway to the Tao.

The final line of this verse is sometimes interpreted, "This appears to have been present even before God."  It is more likely that this line refers to the rightful rule of men as described by Confucius.  This school of thought described the rule of the Emperor as a reflection of the divine order of the Universe.  It is likely that Laozi is here suggesting that the nature of Tao precedes man as an instrument of the divine.

Understanding the Tao te Ching Chapter 1: What is Tao?

1.

The Dao that can be understood cannot be the primal, or cosmic, Dao, just as an idea that can be expressed in words cannot be the infinite idea.

And yet this ineffable Dao was the source of all spirit and matter, and being expressed was the mother of all created things.


Therefore not to desire the things of sense is to know the freedom of spirituality; and to desire is to learn the limitation of matter.


These two things spirit and matter, so different in nature, have the same origin. This unity of origin is the mystery of mysteries, but it is the gateway to spirituality.

Interpretation:

This passage makes two points.  One on the nature of Tao, one of the way to experience Tao.  

Many enlightened individuals have made the observation that the thinking mind, the "worried" mind can't understand the true nature of the Universe.  The argue goes like this "eyes don't hear,"  "ears don't see."  Your problem solving mind is only eyes or ears.  There are a lot of things going on in the universe that can't be seen or heard.  

This information is still experienceable, just not through thought.  A good way to get at this understanding is through the work of Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor http://drjilltaylor.com/ 

Dr. Taylor observes that only a very small part of our brains "think" thoughts, the rest is occupied with a wide array of feelings and understandings that are not thoughts, nor are they problems to be solved.  Joy, is not a thought, empathy is not a thought.  The  motivating force behind the Universe is not a thought.

Perhaps the first message of the Dao could be restated this way:  "You are not going to be able to think your way through this one.  The Universe does not think in any way that we understand nor does it need to think in order to act.  If you want to get to know it, you'll have to stop trying to figure it out."

Learning how to "know things" without "figuring them out, leads us to the second message.  It comes in the third stanza.  You can't really "want" to know Dao.  Desire inspires us to reason, to figure out, to find a way to get what you want.  If worried thoughts are not the path to the Tao, then desire can not lead you there.  It's like a deaf person staring harder at the radio in hopes of hearing.  The Tao already is.  You already are.  Understanding of the Tao is something you let happen, not make happen.