DDJ #02 – All The World Knows Beauty

I had an “awakening moment” of sorts AFTER I wrote what’s below. Originally that made me NOT want to continue writing these personal commentaries. Perhaps exactly the opposite is what I need to do! I have a feeling the deep reflection on that first passage was what led to my “awakening.”

What I wrote last week was a reflection of who I was last week (after that experience). What’s below is a reflection of who I was 2 weeks ago (before that experience). What I write from this point forward will be a reflection of who “I” am at that particularly slice of time.

Enjoy!

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All the world knows beauty
but if that becomes beautiful
this becomes ugly 
all the word knows good
but if that becomes good
this becomes bad 
the coexistence of have and have not
the coproduction of hard and easy
the correlation of long and short 
the codependence of high and low
the correspondence of note and noise
the coordination of first and last
is endless 
thus the sage performs effortless deeds
and teaches wordless lessons 
he doesn’t start all things he begins
he doesn’t presume on what he does
he doesn’t claim what he achieves 
and because he makes no claim
he suffers no loss

From Red Pine’s translation.

The first section of this passage is basically saying “Without THIS there’s no THAT.”

There’s no good without evil.
No happy without sad.
No up without down.
No yin without yang.

It’s something so obvious it seems like it doesn’t need to be said BUT if a person REALLY understood the dichotomy of this (yin) and that (yang) one would (theoretically) come to the same conclusion as the sage in our story.

thus the sage performs effortless deeds
and teaches wordless lessons 
he doesn’t start all things he begins
he doesn’t presume on what he does
he doesn’t claim what he achieves 
and because he makes no claim
he suffers no loss

thus the sage performs effortless deeds

I’m still at a loss to what an “effortless deed” is, but it sounds like some fly ass shit. Does that mean I that I shouldn’t try to perform? Does it mean that I understand that my performing is effortless when it’s in accordance with (my) nature?

and teaches wordless lessons 

What the hell are wordless lessons? I’m getting this lesson from words. Does that mean it didn’t come from a “sage”? This was the last bit that he wrote before retiring from the city life. Did he “realize” something and let everything go to let these be his last words before (what he believed was) “sagehood”?

he doesn’t start all things he begins

I don’t even know where to start on this one! (Hmmm… But I’m beginning this now and didn’t start it…)

he doesn’t presume on what he does

I can dig this one. There’s a few definitions of presume, but what I take from this line is that he isn’t attached to what he does and perhaps doesn’t make assumptions on the results.

he doesn’t claim what he achieves

I look forward to being able to one day internalize this, but I can’t right now. Claiming my achievements are an important part of completing the short and long term goals I have in life. I’m certain that I will get to a point in life where I can completely let go of all of the competitiveness and ego around claiming what “I” have done and what “I” am responsible for. Not yet though! I think it’s dangerous to try to take on attributes of “sages” before one’s time. Sagehood wasn’t built in a day!

and because he makes no claim he suffers no loss

That sounds baller as hell. Suffering no losses! But, you just have to reread the first section of this passage to know that if you “suffer no losses” you also “enjoy no gains.”

All this “daoism” stuff is tricky . Can someone enjoy the fruits without the labor? Sure! I do it all the time at the grocery store. Your life and your surrounds is a garden. One that can be cultivated with daoism (or any number of religions or philosophies). Through proper cultivation one can enjoy freedom. Laughing when something’s funny and crying when it’s sad.

The more one internalizes the dichotomy of THIS and THAT the more one understands that the “gains” and “losses,” the “beauty” and “ugly,” the “good” and “evil” and “this” and “that” are one.

So perhaps the “effortless deeds,” “wordless lessons,” “not starting what one begins” and “suffering no loss” has more to do with a state of mind than what is physically manifested in one’s reality…

Or not! lol