Welcome to another week of the Tao te Ching. We are looking at chapter 18 this week. I really don’t know what to say about this chapter. It seems as if it’s saying (in a nutshell), “when everything goes to sh$t, good things come about as a result.”
Messy and chaotic.
For instance, from the Mitchell version:
“When there is no peace in the family, filial piety begins.”
Or, the same line from the Jankel version:
“When there is conflict in the family, the children become loyal and obedient.”
It’s a short chapter and the other sentences in it pretty much follow suit as the two quoted above. Like the old saying that you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet? I kind of get the impression that like someone with a bad addiction, things need to hit rock bottom before they can get better.
The last line of the Jankel version kind of hits home right now regarding the state of affairs in the U.S., to me at least:
“When there is confusion within the country, experts and specialists vie for power.”
That sounds kind of depressing, but I guess there is a lot of truth to that. Sometimes, things do need to get really bad before they can get better. That is often what causes good change to come about.
Sometimes I feel as if I really don’t get what the Tao is trying to teach me. It’s nothing if not thought-provoking, though.
What do you think?
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