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Tao Te Ching
THE TAOISM OF LAO TZU
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Tao Te Ching
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The Book
The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained. The great Taoist philosophy classic by Lao Tzu translated, and each of the 81 chapters extensively commented. Click the image to see the book at Amazon (paid link). |
Tao Te ChingBig Is Small at First
We already know about non-action, wu-wei, and about the importance of avoiding to interfere, but what about tasting the tasteless?
Well, chapter 12 says that the five flavors dull the mouth. Spicy food is tiresome at length. Fireworks in the mouth deafen the palate. Chapter 12 also warns against a multitude of colors and tones. Spectacles are fun at first, but at length they dull the senses.
Tasting the tasteless is to increase one's sensitivity by being restrictive with stimuli. Sensations wear down the senses. When you increase your sensitivity you learn to taste what seems tasteless. You perceive nuance and observe the small things.
With increased sensitivity the small things grow in your perception of them, and you discover their importance. This is another way of saying what was stated in chapter 59: moderation means prevention. When you see the glimpses and listen to whispers, you become aware of things at the moment of their appearance.
They may be small and seem completely insignificant. But if you contemplate their possible consequences at length, you may be able to avoid disaster.
That's meeting the big while it's still small. Anyone with huge responsibilities must learn it, or crisis after crisis will appear.
Big problems start as small problems. That's when to solve them. Big obstacles start as small obstacles. That's when to overcome them.
This is true for one's personal life, as well as for the family, the town, the country, and the whole world. Whatever great problem we live with, if we look back we discover that it could have been solved easily in the beginning. But at that time nobody cared.
We are often stuck in the misconception that the world is a static place, although we can see that everything in it moves and changes constantly. When problems appear, they are usually quite small and nonthreatening. So we ignore them, thinking that they will stay that size forever. They don't.
Any problem not dealt with will grow. That's the way it is. We need to learn to deal with problems immediately. Then we will find that we need to do almost nothing.
Actually, many problems are initially so small that they are solved just by recognizing them. By discovering and exposing them, we make our world immune to their potential harm.
In the middle of his reasoning about big and small, Lao Tzu states that we should return animosity with virtue. That attitude alone would solve just about any major crisis in society, if it had been applied early on. Animosity feasts on being met by animosity. If not, it will wither.
So, to create a peaceful world we must learn not to respond to aggression with the same, but treat it in a noble manner. That's great virtue, in the sense of being morally superior as well as being the most efficient countermeasure.
Treating small issues as if they were big, is learning to take things seriously. Not only should we seriously consider what we want to do before doing it, but also what seems so insignificant that we feel no urge at all to deal with it. The danger lies in ignorance and indifference – especially in the latter.
In society, few things are as damaging as indifference.
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Tao Te Ching Explained
Preface
Introduction
Literature
translated and explained by Stefan Stenudd.
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The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained. The great Taoist philosophy classic by Lao Tzu translated, and each of the 81 chapters extensively commented. |
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