Tao Te Ching: Chapter 2 Commentary

This is part of a series on the Tao Te Ching from a Christ-centered perspective.

Yin and yang. Image here.

The first half of Chapter 2 of the Tao Te Ching deals a lot with the concepts of yin and yang. Opposites that create each other, inform each other, illuminate each other, give rise to each other. The second half provides an application of that knowledge for practical action. I quote this translation:

When the world knows beauty as beauty, ugliness arises
When it knows good as good, evil arises
Thus being and non-being produce each other
Difficult and easy bring about each other
Long and short reveal each other
High and low support each other
Music and voice harmonize each other
Front and back follow each other
Therefore the sages:
Manage the work of detached actions
Conduct the teaching of no words
They work with myriad things but do not control
They create but do not possess
They act but do not presume
They succeed but do not dwell on success
It is because they do not dwell on success
That it never goes away

The First Half

When I first read this stuff, I thought: no wonder Asian cultures place such a high value on meditation. You need to think about these lines for hours for them to make any sense at all!

But really, when you ponder them, they do make sense. 

Take the first two phrases:

When the world knows beauty as beauty, ugliness arises
When it knows good as good, evil arises

When I first read them, they felt strange to me. How does such a concept fit with the Gospel? But thinking about it more, it makes a lot of sense. 

Adam and Eve, pioneers of opposition.
Image here.

Whenever there is a lot of good--whenever people recognize good and truth for what they are--ugliness does arise. It is in the natural order. When prophets show up in righteousness, the people stone them or burn them to death, or throw them into lion's dens. Jesus came into the world and was crucified. Part of the nature of our fallen world is that Satan is allowed to tempt us, and the more goodness there is in the world, the more he shows his ugly face and tries to ruin it all.

Thus, as Chapter 2 explains, "being and non-being produce each other." At least in our fallen world that is propelled by duality. In 2 Nephi 2, we see that prior to Adam's fall, the world lacked this duality--opposites were literally incomprehensible. But they are necessary to "make the world go round," as it were. 

Duality isn't just good and evil, though. Let's read the next few lines: 

Difficult and easy bring about each other
Long and short reveal each other
High and low support each other
Music and voice harmonize each other
Front and back follow each other

Think of how true these concepts are. Difficulty breeds easiness as surely as easiness breeds difficulty. As a musician, I think of learning to play the piano. I spent years slaving away over the piano, and it was difficult. But now, I can sit down at the organ in sacrament meeting or the piano in the Primary and barely practice. The prelude is my practice. All those years of difficulty have made my life super easy.

On the other hand, if I had been lazy all those years instead of cultivating that talent, having callings like ward organist and Primary pianist would be very, very difficult right now!

"Long and short reveal each other." Without opposites, you can't appreciate something for what it is. Just today I was wondering how big Britain is. I thought: if only I knew how large Britain was in comparison to an American state. (... don't ask, I think crazy things all day.) Part of living in a duality world involves seeing things in relation to other things. You don't know if something is big until you see it in comparison to something else. It is the comparison that reveals the truth. 

Long and short reveal each other. Image here.

"High and low support each other." I think of tall trees and the small plants beneath them. The trees provide the shade for the smaller plants; as the smaller plants grow and die and decompose they provide the soil for the tree. They each support each other in their way.

"Music and voice harmonize each other." They are so different but together they are beautiful. 

"Front and back follow each other." Everything has a front and a back and where the first goes, the second goes also.

These are all attempts at make the ineffable concepts of eternal forms of duality conceivable to the human mind. 

The Second Half

The second half here is about application.

Therefore the sages:
Manage the work of detached actions
Conduct the teaching of no words
They work with myriad things but do not control
They create but do not possess
They act but do not presume
They succeed but do not dwell on success
It is because they do not dwell on success
That it never goes away

Eradicate your ego through meditation! Image here.

Each of these lines is worthy of deep pondering, but the takeaway thought for me comes down to the final lines: "They succeed but do not dwell on success / It is because they do not dwell on success / That it never goes away."

To me, what this is saying has everything to do with what Moses taught in Moses 1:10, that "man is nothing," and what Jesus taught all through the New Testament and other revealed scripture, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." When we are truly humble, when we realize we are no better than the dust, and when we realize we are equal in value to our neighbors and start acting that way--that is when success comes.

Sages relinquish control to God, teach by example, create and act and work without exercising unrighteous dominion, and succeed because they do not dwell on, or take pride in, their success. When all actions become a reflection of God, and when no level of success or defeat affects the soul, success is inevitable--in whatever definition "success" takes in God's timing and His plan.

Conclusion

There must be opposition in all things. When we humble ourselves before God, He makes us strong.