MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

the tao brings forth life
the path and power of virtue nurtures that life

the spine of the world shapes them
the mind of the world moves and completes them
they are of a piece
forming a harmonious unit

that is why a natural reverence
for the tao way of life and its power
manifests spontaneously

the tao way of life produces everything
the way of virtue nourishes everything through
birth
growth
maturation and
death
and acts as a protector and guide

mystic virtue assists but does not control
as such it is mysterious to everyone
and virtuous to all

the mystic knows
that it is difficult to know
which thoughts of tao making
are his
and which thoughts flow
from the interplay
of life and its nurturing

remember

the tao way of life
allows

—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching; An authentic Taoist translation. translated by John Bright-Fey

Philosophers throughout the ages have debated what is “The Good.” This is a question about morality and virtue. What is it we ought to do? What ought we pursue in our lives? There have been countless answers to these questions, some of which question the validity of “Goodness” (and thereby its counterpart, evil) itself. Here, the Tao Te Ching makes its own argument as to what constitutes virtue and why.

We should be familiar now with the idea that concepts are naturally dualistic in nature. By labeling a thing with a word or image, we are distinguishing (excluding) that thing from being other things and vice versa. This is the mechanism by which human beings come to understand and interact with the world. We think and act with this as our core principle beneath all other axioms. To do otherwise is impossible, because to identify anything or to choose to do anything is to discriminate between at least two categories.

Thus do we make our models of the world. Models—representations of the things-in-themselves; and like maps, our models are always lacking in detail compared to the real, live, noumenal landscape. Nonetheless, we must make them if we are to navigate, and by our navigation through perilous waters do we test the validity our maps and models. If a particular description of (or a particular claim about) reality allows us to move toward our aims (our goals; our higher potentials), then our model possesses predictive power—at least in the moment.

These are the foundational ideas upon which the Tao Te Ching’s assertions are made. The claim is that there is a real difference—a separation—between being and nonbeing. It might also be characterized as between “the course of life” and “complete and total death.” Other philosophers have identified this same conceptual divide as being the affirmation versus the denial of the justification of conscious existence.

We are those conscious beings whose existence, finite and full of suffering as it is, is either to be seen as worthwhile or else worthless. The argument for living the Tao way of life is that it is, by its very definition, an effort to orient ourselves toward acceptance, assent, and accord with Nature—that is, with existence as it is as opposed to how we would like it to be. The claim is that, if we follow the path of acceptance, we will gain the power to nourish ourselves and others throughout the course of our and their lives. This is a falsifiable claim. If one doubts, he can test it himself and see what differences occur in his own life from taking such a stance. But perhaps we need more convincing before we are willing to put forth such an effort? Very well, then.

Think about what constitutes suffering and what constitutes power. Suffering occurs when our desire or aversion is different than the reality. We suffer when we fail to achieve that which we want. We suffer when we experience that which we expressly do not desire. And what is power? Simply the ability for one to manifest his will in the world. Consider these together in the following context: if virtue is, at least, the affirmation of life and not the denial of it, then we must love life for all its pains and joys if we are to be virtuous. If we are suffering, it means that we have in some small part turned away from life—because we desire it to be otherwise, otherwise we would not be suffering. This is why power is necessary in order to nourish life. In order to transmute suffering into meaning, into “The Good”—we must be capable of aligning our will with what is. This means understanding the self and its nature and how that nature fits into the world around us. The objective universe cannot be made to move in a way other than its blind design, but we human beings can transform ourselves into the keys that unlock meaning formerly hidden away in suffering.

While this is not as simple as I’ve made it sound—Lao-tzu even forewarns that the mystics is aware of his potential for arrogant self deception, his potential for believing he is the master of the universe and not the other way around—it is at least possible through incremental steps for us to learn to accept as a grounds for embracing life and eventually moving forward, upward, toward something worthwhile, something that makes life’s pains justified. A reason to pursue virtue.

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Fifty-One”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. p.100