The virtue mentioned several times in this chapter is When you let go of your ambitions, the worldīecomes fresh before your eyes. Motherly, but here he lets us know that it also brings out the child Usually, Lao Tzu compares this yielding to the You choose the lowest seat, then others will fall effortlessly Impossible to lift everyone else to an elevated position, but if Over others, thereby losing compassion for them. Is the white field hovering over the black yin, likeĪnyone choosing the former will elevate himself Yang is regarded as manly and yinĪs womanly, in the Chinese tradition. The manly and womanly are opposites of the same Latter shows exemplary character, because it proves that you White and black, but the meaning is the same. The Chinese words used can also be translated
So the sage modestly steps out of the light, into the Tao Te Ching keeps repeating the ideal of yielding, Darkness refers to the dim valley compared to theīrightly lit mountain, the shady side, yin, instead of the sunny Vocabulary, since the time when Jesus called himself the light.Ĭonsequently, we call his counterpart the prince of darkness.īut the opposites mean something else to Lao We do love to forgive a repenting sinner.Ĭhoosing the darkness before the bright seemsĮven more absurd to us, because we have a tradition ofĬomparing the latter to salvation and the former to its Other hand, can find themselves even more praised than everīefore. Those who confess humbly and regretfully, on the When they refuse to admit any wrongdoings, althoughĮvident. We frequently witness examples of this in modernĭay politics, where pompous dignitaries fall from grace The one who accepts disgrace, on the other hand, will But insisting onīeing honored is a mentality that surely leads to disgrace. Polarities, such as honor and disgrace, preferring the latter.
In this chapter, Lao Tzu also uses quite strong Whatever we do to wood, it can never be as splendid Passively reduced to whatever we make of it, or abandoned The wonderfully complex process of life and growth. Was when still part of a living tree, where it participated in This is even more obvious if compared to what it More useful to us, but in no way finer than it was in its We should not think that we improve the wood by Nothing surpasses the natural state of wood before the knife
When carved, it can become almost anything you want. A piece of wood is as simple as somethingĬan ever be, but it contains numerous possibilities. Lao Tzu is fond of the image of the uncarved wood asĪ symbol of simplicity and humility.
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