Enlightenment Is An Exclusive Destination

[plebeian]

38. Degeneration

 

The man of superior character is not (conscious of his) character.
Hence he has character.
The man of inferior character (is intent on) not losing character.
Hence he is devoid of character.
The man of superior character never acts,
Nor ever (does so) with an ulterior motive.
The man of inferior character acts,
And (does so) with an ulterior motive.
The man of superior kindness acts,
But (does so) without an ulterior motive.
The man of superior justice acts,
And (does so) with an ulterior motive.
(But when) the man of superior li acts and finds no response,
He rolls up his sleeves to force it on others.

 

Therefore:
After Tao is lost, then (arises the doctrine of) humanity.
After humanity is lost, then (arises the doctrine of) justice.
After justice is lost, then (arises the doctrine of) li.
Now li is the thinning out of loyalty and honesty of heart.
And the beginning of chaos.
The prophets are the flowering of Tao
And the origin of folly.
Therefore the noble man dwells in the heavy (base),
And not in the thinning (end).
He dwells in the fruit,
And not in the flowering (expression).
Therefore he rejects the one and accepts the other.

 

This is my favorite chapter in the Tao Te Ching. I believe it sums up the state of affairs and how many of us are living in today and the type of individuals with whom we find ourselves dealing more and more. Holden Caufield called them “phonies” in Cather in the Rye. When you open your third eye you can smell the stench of the phony from across the room. They fool many, including themselves but the Taoist is trained to spot them and combat their bullshit.

The men of inferior character tries too hard. They calculate their every move convincing themselves that if they say the right things, act the right way, wear the right fashion, and repeat what’s popular in the day, they will advance. Sadly it works for many of them. The men of superior character act naturally, live by their convictions and prove themselves not through words but through actions. In the end it boils down to who is left with self respect, the men of superior character or the men of inferior character?

 

The poets and novelists of our generation are artist and musicians. They are the Dickens, Updike’s, Steinbecks and Hemmingways. Roger Water’s is what of those modern day poets. He wrote about the man of superior character in his song Dogs.

 

"Dogs"

You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.
And after a while, you can work on points for style
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake
A certain look in the eye, and an easy smile
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to
So that when they turn their backs on you
You'll get the chance to put the knife in.
You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder
You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you get older
And in the end you'll pack up, fly down south
Hide your head in the sand
Just another sad old man
All alone and dying of cancer.
And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone
And it's too late to loose the weight you used to need to throw around
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone
Dragged down by the stone.
I gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused
Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise
If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this maze?
Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everythings done under the sun
And you believe at heart, everyone's a killer.
Who was born in a house full of pain
Who was trained not to spit in the fan
Who was told what to do by the man
Who was broken by trained personnel
Who was fitted with collar and chain
Who was given a pat on the back
Who was breaking away from the pack
Who was only a stranger at home
Who was ground down in the end
Who was found dead on the phone
Who was dragged down by the stone.

 

There are a lot of management books written trying to teach people how to rise to the top, to be the CEO, the Zuckerberg, Jobs and Gates of the world, how to be the Dogs. Well, I’ve never seen a book, other than The Tao Te Ching, written about how to thrive in the middle. Not so close to the top where you are the subject of all of the hate, scorn and envy and live in fear of losing it all; and not at the bottom where you are stepped on by every other living being; but in the middle where you can sort of live a content life, fairly anonymous and hopefully secretly somewhat in control of your own contentment. In the middle you can pull a few strings, manipulate a few of the ambitious ones into being the heroes who stick their necks out to draw the attention away from ourselves. Make others be the heroes. Let them draw the fire away from you. You can use the man of inferior character to your own advantage. They love to volunteer to take the credit. It seems counter-intuitive but give it to them! Give them their sense of false confidence and eventually it will all collapse around them. They will be dragged down by the stone.

Edited July 2, 2014 by plebeian

[Mystique Enigma]

A student once asked his teacher, "Master, what is enlightenment?"

The master replied, "When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep."

 

Bows