MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER NINETEEN

absolve yourself of the need or desire to be wise and sophisticated
cast off reliance on the frozen thought forms and constructs
that support domesticated behavior
and all life that you meet will benefit exponentially

give up
sham beneficence
false order
civilized equity
and enjoy the true fallibility of the bodymind

then the inner family and its outward reflection

will be serene and commune
harmoniously

reject the practice of manipulating the flow of living

realize that life will wither
in the harsh light of utility
as it becomes an external thing

to be despoiled
compromised

the miracle can only be grasped
through gentle permission given

to oneself

but this alone will not complete the approach

innocent and simple steps must be taken
to reclaim your original nature
these steps must be artless and unadorned

turn inward
search the bodymind

for the unspoiled canvas
upon which your life is painted

with open hands and arms
absorb the powerful simplicity
of you own self
and its lost and genuine embrace

restrain the prejudiced
and narcissistic self
turning outward
to glimpse within

regulate unrestrained need and desire
by extending the plain self
into the moments
created by looking and not seeing

indulging in insecure thoughts and worry for their own sake
exhausts your connection to life’s energy and flow

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

In Jungian psychology, there is a concept called the persona—the mask, our outward façade which disguises and protects the truer, internal self. Whether self-ascribed or given by others, labels in reference to occupation, social status, even physical or mental ability are all superficial decorations. They are the face painted onto the mask, aspects of the persona and not of the self. But it is easy to mistake one for the other. It is tempting to allow the desire for being wise or being sophisticated to convince you that your true self is that which is seen and ultimately shaped by others. It is difficult to avoid the traps / trappings of culture, society, language, and of the ideas which permeate each of those elements. Nonetheless, it is best that they be cast off, or else you risk becoming nothing but a mask, nothing but a domesticated—read: controlled, enslaved—dog.

Though you should know that giving up these trappings entails giving up much more. In order to do so, you must be willing to sacrifice promises of fortune and power. You will have to surrender illusions about your good moral character. For your identification with your persona is to take for granted that you have mastered the world. After all, the mask was fashioned to fit a particular set of social or institutional situations, and in those circumstances it doubtlessly performs. However, the world is more than that sliver of life; you are more than a fraction of yourself, and both change with time in unpredictable ways. You may believe your actions to be a beneficence, your favored institutions to be of order, and the consequences of your actions to create a sense of equity—you may believe all of these things, but likely you are wrong. This is because life is not a mirror of the impression that made your mask. Life does not conform to your limited understanding, nor is it stagnant from one moment to the next. Necessarily, no matter how perfect your conceptions might seem, no matter how well they perform in the sliver that is the domain of your persona, they will become compromised. Their utility is finite, for a frozen abstraction cannot move with the flow of life; it cannot update in the light of new information, experiences, or personal revelation—and if those crystalized ideas were formed by others, then you are a prisoner of someone else’s folly.

But if instead you set aside the need to identify with a mask, if you accept that who your are will not be received perfectly by others, if you embrace your own fallibility, then it is possible to bring your imperfect aspects into greater harmony with one another. Your separate, instinctive drives can be aimed toward a common objective—a more singular purpose, a more unified self. You can begin to make progress toward your potential if only you’re willing to take the first step: look inward and identify with who you find there and not the shell that is shaped by circumstance.

Yet self acceptance, while necessary, is not sufficient. A thousand more steps must be taken, a thousand-thousand stammering, staggering, stumbling steps. For the Road is long as it is arduous, so you should not expect to traverse it in great strides, especially not at the beginning. In fact, expect to be embarrassed. Like the first kick thrown by the novice martial artist or the first story written by the aspiring novelist, the initial progress will be painful and slow. There will be no art, no adornment, nothing spectacular to show others (or even yourself)—“like [an] unspoiled canvas . . . upon which your life is painted.” And yet, don’t be afraid that your imperfection might be witnessed. Don’t be afraid to see it yourself. Abandon the narcissistic need to be admired, and shed your prejudice as to what you are told you should be. Rid yourself of these things and face the world bravely. Turning outward in this way, you will bring to light that which is hidden within.

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Nineteen”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. pp.35-6