Daily Tao - Chapter 5
October 23rd, 2005 - Posted by Alan Howard
Today's Daily Tao is:
Nature
Nature is not kind;
It treats all things impartially.
The Sage is not kind,
And treats all people impartially.
Nature is like a bellows,
Empty, yet never ceasing its supply.
The more it moves, the more it yields;
So the sage draws upon experience
And cannot be exhausted.
I think this is saying that the Sage is one who treats people without favouritism. He is as I aspire to be, seeking the balance in all things. It is also experience that continues to drive the Sage, providing incentive and inspiration to do the things he does.
Entry Filed under: Pre-2006
One Response to “Daily Tao - Chapter 5”
Posted: Oct 24th, 2005 at
I see an argument that the verse means the opposite. There’s a tendency to idealize nature and consider it a value in itself. The bellows just moves air as the sage draws upon experience. Both are ultimately empty, yet both are inexhaustible.
It could be argued that it’s meant to remind the reader to look within for wisdom rather than to have it imposed on you by the judgments of nature or designated “sages”.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed