Verse 57 - Living Without Authoritarianism

[Eva Libre]

57th Verse

  

If you want to be a great leader,

you must learn to follow the Tao.

 Stop trying to control.

Let go of fixed plans and concepts,

and the world will govern itself.

 

How do I know this is so ?

Because in this world,

the greater the restrictions and prohibitions,

the more people are impoverished;

the more advanced the weapons of state,

 the darker the nation;

the more artful and crafty the plan,

the stranger the outcome;

the more laws are posted,

the more thieves appear.

 

Therefore the sage says:

 I take no action and people are reformed.

I enjoy peace and people become honest.

I do nothing and people become rich.

If I keep from imposing on people,

they become themselves.

 

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

 

I work at allowing all others

         To trust in their highest nature

Rather than imposing my rules

          and regulations on them.

Moreover, I am free to be myself

          I do not have to live by

Anyone else's rules.

          

 

Do The Tao Now

 

Make time to do something you've never done before - it could be walking barefoot in the rain, taking a yoga class, speaking before a group at a Toastmasters club, playing a game of touch  football, jumping out of an airplane in a parachute, or anything else you've always wanted to do.  Recognize that you've created restrictions for yourself that keep you from new and expanding experiences, and find the time now to close your personal rule book and plunge in where you've never before wandered.  Also make time to give those in your charge an opportunity to do the same, enjoying how much they accomplish with minimal or no action on your part.

 

Source - Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life (Living the Wisdom of the Tao)

by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Practice the art of allowing yourself.

 

Begin by letting yourself be more spontaneous and less regimented in your daily life:  Take a trip without first planning it.  Go where you’re instinctively guided to go.  Tell the authoritarian part of you to take a break.  Introduce a different side to yourself and the world by affirming:  I am free to be myself.  I do not have to live by anyone else’s rules, and I release the need for laws to regulate my behavior.

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Practice the art of allowing others.

 

Catch yourself when you’re about to cite a rule as a reason for saying no to a child or someone you supervise, and instead consider the ramifications of saying nothing and just observing.  When you change the way you look at your role as a leader, you’ll find that very few edicts are necessary for people to conduct the business of their lives.  Everyone has a strong sense of what they want to do, what limits they have, and how to actualize their dreams.  Be like the Tao – allow others, and enjoy how your nonauthoritarian leadership inspires them to be themselves.

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

 

To rule the state, have a known plan

To win a battle, have an unknown plan

To gain the universe, have no plan at all

 

Let the universe itself

          reveal to you its splendor

How do I know this should be so ?

          Because of this -

The more restrictions, the more poverty

The more weapons, the more fear in the land

The more cleverness, the more strange events

The more laws, the more lawbreakers

 

Thus the Sages say,

          Act with a pure heart and the people will be transformed

          Love your own life and the people will be uplifted

          Give without conditions and the people will prosper

          Want nothing and the people will find everything

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

 

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

 

A state may be ruled by measures of correction;

Weapons of war may be used with crafty dexterity;

But the kingdom is made one's own

          only by freedom from action and purpose.

 

How do I know that it is so ?  By these facts -

In the kingdom,

           the multiplication of prohibitive enactments

           increase the poverty of the people;

The more implements to add to their profit

          that the people have,

          the greater disorder is there in the state and clan;

The more acts of crafty dexterity that men possess,

          the more do strange contrivances appear;

The more display there is of legislation,

          the more thieves and robbers there are.

 

Therefore, a sage has said, "I will do nothing of purpose,

          and the people will be transformed of themselves.

I will be fond of keeping still,

          and the people will of themselves become correct.

I will take the trouble about it,

          and the people will themselves become rich;

I will manifest no ambition,

          and the people will of themselves attain

          to the primitive simplicity."

 

 

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Politics"

 

We live in a very low state of the world

          and pay unwilling tribute to governments

          founded in force.

 

The tendencies of the times favor

          the idea of self-government

And leave the individual, for all code,

          to the rewards and penalties

          of his own constitution.

 

Therefore, all public ends look vague and quixotic

          beside private ones.

For any laws but those which men

          make for themselves are laughable.

 

Hence, the less government we have the better,

          the fewer laws, and the less confided power.

The power of love, as the basis of the state,

          has never been tried.

 

We must not imagine that all things

          are lapsing into confusion,

If every tender protestant be not compelled

          to bear his part in certain social conventions:

Nor doubt that roads can be built,

Letters carried, and the fruit of laborers secured

          when the government of force is at hand.

Could not a nation of friends devise a better way ?

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

 

57

BE FIRM

 

At each stage of your child's life

she needs demonstrations of

your love and your support.

 

Your love comforts and accepts.

It is a mirror in which your child

sees herself as beautiful and

worthy.

 

Your support encourages and

affirms; it is a springboard

toward independence.

 

Too many rules turn facilitation

into interference, affection into

business.  Let your child help set

her own limits against which she

can push now and then.

 

Be firm without being rigid.

Your child will grow up with

lots of healthy personal power.

 

[Eva Libre]

Tao Te Ching - The Classic Book of Integrity and The Way by Lao-Tzu

A New Translation by Victor H Mair

based on the recently discovered Ma-Wang-Tui Manuscripts

 

57 (20)

 

          Rule the state with uprightness,

          Deploy your troops with craft,

          Gain all under heaven with noninterference.

 

          How do I know this is actually so ?

 

Now,

          The more taboos under heaven,

                     the poorer the people;

          The more clever devices people have,

                     the more confused the state and ruling house;

          The more knowledge people have,

                     the more strange things spring up;

          The more legal affairs are given prominence,

                     the more numerous bandits and thieves.

 

For this reason,

The sage has a saying:

           "I take no action,

                     yet the people transform themselves;

           I am fond of stillness,

                     yet the people correct themselves;

           I do not interfere in affairs,

                     yet the people enrich themselves;

           I desire not to desire,

                     yet the people of themselves become

                                simple as unhewn logs."

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

If one governs the state with governance, he will use the military with perversity.  It is by tending to matters without conscious purpose that one takes all under Heaven as his charge.

 

If one governs the state with the Dao, the state will be at peace.  If one governs the state with governance [zheng], (1) perverse [ji] military action will begin.  But if one tends to matters without conscious purpose, he shall be able to take all under Heaven as his charge.  As an earlier section says, "One who takes all under Heaven as his charge always tends to matters without deliberate action.  But when it comes to one who does take conscious action, such a one is not worthy to take all under Heaven as his charge." (2) Thus, if one governs the state with governance, because he is not worthy to take all under Heaven as his change, he will use the military with perversity [ji].  To govern the state with the Dao means to encourage growth at the branch tips by enhancing the roots.(3)  To govern the state with governance is to attack the branch tips by establishing punishments.  With the roots not firmly established, the branch tips wither, and the common folk will have no means to cope with life.  This is why things will surely develop to the point where one will "use the military with perversity". 

 

How do I know that this is so ?  It is by this: The more all under Heaven are beset with taboos and prohibitions, the poorer the common folk grow.  The more the common folk are beset with sharp instruments, the more muddled the state becomes.

 

A "sharp instrument" [liqi] is an instrument that one can use to profit himself.  If the common folk are strong, the state will be weak. (4)

 

The more people have skill and cleverness, the more often perverse [ji] things will happen.

 

If the people increase their intelligence and knowledge, artful falsehood will arise.  When artful falsehood arises, evil doings will begin.

 

The more laws and ordinances are displayed, the more thieves and robbers there will be.

 

One establishes the rule of law because of the wish to extinguish evil, but perverse military efforts result.  One increases taboos and prohibitions because of the wish to instill a sense of shame in the poor, but the common folk become increasingly poor. (5) "Sharp instruments" are things that one wishes to use to strengthen the state, but doing so only makes the state increasingly muddled.  It is because one neglects the roots in order to tend to the branch tips that things all reach such a state as this.

 

Thus the sage says: I engage in no conscious effort, and the common folk undergo moral transformation spontaneously. (6)  I love quietude, and the common folk govern themselves. (7)  I tend to matters without conscious purpose, and the common folk enrich themselves.  I am utterly free of desire, and the common folk achieve pristine simplicity by themselves.

 

What the sovereign desires, the common folk are quick to pursue.  Because all I desire is to have no desire, the common folk will also become desireless and achieve pristine simplicity by themselves.  These four [engaging in no conscious effort, loving quietude, tending to matters without conscious purpose, and being desireless] are all a matter of encouraging growth at the branch tips by enhancing the roots. (8)

 

 

Text, in Italics above, is Wang Bi's commentary.

The notes below, are from the translator, Richard John Lynn -

(deb's note - "section" is used for verse in these notes.)

 

(1)  Cf.  Wang's commentary to section 17, fourth passage.

 

(2)  Section 48, fourth through sixth passages.

 

(3)  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 38, paragraph 14.

 

(4)  In the Laozi weakness is self-fulfilling and good, so one must interpret "if the common folk are strong, the state will be weak" as a good thing.  After all, for the Laozi, weakness is strength, which can be explained here in terms of how "sharp instruments" in the hands of the common folk are the means to make themselves strong and prosperous.  The "sharp instruments" of the common folk thus serve to bolster rather than threaten the state.  "Sharp instruments" are bad, however, when employed by the state.  The Laozi has already warned that the state should not use sharp instruments, that is, punishment and military coercion.  Cf. section 36, second passage.

 

(5)  Hatano Taro cites Fujisawa Togai's (1794-1864) reading note to this passage, which asserts that chi (shame) is a mistake for zhi (stop).  Hatano agrees, as does Lou Yulie when he cites Hatano's remarks (without mentioning Fujisawa).  See Hatano, Roshi Dotokukyo kenkyu, 363; and Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 151 n. 6.  But although "one increases taboos and prohibitions because of the wish to stop poverty" is certainly possible, "instill a sense of shame [chi]" is still the better reading, for it is likely that Wang had the following passage from the Lunyu (Analects), 2:3, in mind: "If the people are led by governance [zheng] and kept in order by punishment [xing], they will evade these without shame".  Cf. section 17, fourth passage.

 

(6)  Cf. section 37, first through third passages.

 

(7)  Cf. section 37, last passage.

 

(8)  Alan Chan translates, somewhat differently, this passage from Wang's commentary and discusses and compares it to the Heshang Gong commentary in Two Visions of the Way, 172-73. 

[Eva Libre]

From Stephen Mitchell - tao te ching - A New English Version -

 

If you want to be a great leader,

you must learn to follow the Tao.

Stop trying to control.

Let go of fixed plans and concepts,

and the world will govern itself.

 

The more prohibitions you have,

the less virtuous people will be.

The more weapons you have,

the less secure people will be.

The more subsidies you have,

the less self-reliant people will be.

 

Therefore the Master says:

I let go of the law,

and people become honest.

I let go of economics,

and people become prosperous.

I let go of religion,

and people become serene.

I let go of all desire for the common good,

and the good becomes common as grass.

 

 

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

Let go of fixed plans and concepts,

and the world will govern itself.

 

When you follow the simple way of it, you notice that reality holds all the wisdom you'll ever need.  You don't need any wisdom of your own.  Plans are unnecessary.  Reality always shows you what comes next, in a clearer, kinder, more efficient way than you could possibly discover for yourself.

 

Last week, in Copenhagen, I bought a black eye patch to rest my right eye when it hurts - my pirate costume.  My eyes are seeing less, for longer periods of time, and the pain has increased.  The cells in my corneas seem to be dying at a very fast rate.  I'm excited to find out what blind people know: the kindness of a world without vision, how the other senses become more acute, how the hands learn to feel their way, how ready friends and strangers are to help.

 

It turns out that I may or may not go blind.  Before I left for my summer tour in Europe, a specialist told me that there is such a thing as cornea transplant surgery.  Good.  One moment there's no cure, and the next moment there is.  He said that I wouldn't be a candidate for another four or five years.  Good.  Stephen does some research and learns that if I'm going to have surgery, the sooner the better.  Good.  I'll be able to see with new eyes.  He does more research, and we learn that the surgery has repercussions: uncomfortable stitches in the eyes, and twelve to eighteen months' recovery time.  I hear from a woman who still has six stitches in her eyes after sixteen months, 20/500 vision, and a lot of pain.  Good: I can do that.  People say, "Katie, stop traveling the world."  Is that the way of it ?  Who knows ?  Success or no success with the surgery, whether my body rejects the new cornea or accepts it, whether I see or not, I have no experience with traveling under such circumstances.  Reality will let me know.  What it shows me for the present is to keep moving.

 

Now, through the Internet, Stephen discovers that there's a new kind of cornea transplant surgery ("cutting-edge", he says, with a smile) called DSEK - Descemet's stripping endothelial keratoplasty - and the leading practitioner is Dr Mark Terry in Portland, Oregon.  It's a one-hour procedure, with no stitches, or two or three at most, that transplants just the endothelium (inner layer) of the cornea, and it has a recovery time of weeks or less.  Good.  Then he finds that the director of one of the Fuch's online groups has been pleading, "No, no, no, don't do that, it's experimental, there's not enough data, the Fuchs' dystropy can return if they don't remove the whole cornea, don't let them use you as a guinea pig !"  Good: maybe the traditional surgery is the way.  He does more research, talks to some doctor friends, asks a lot of questions, and we're back to the new surgery.  Good: that will be easier.  How do I know to have surgery ?  I don't need my eyes, after all.  But the pain is getting worse, and at times it is exhausting; it lessens my efficiency in sharing inquiry with people.  That shows me the way of it.  And right here, right now, nothing has happened, and I can't know what will happen.

 

I am dictating this after putting drops of eye-pain medication in my right eye.  I've been doing my job, a weekend intensive, and then I signed books for an hour or so until my eye stung.  What a beautiful moment: Stephen typing my words, the breeze flowing through the open terrace door of the hotel room, the Stockholm sky, the gratitude I'm feeling for two doctors - Pascale's mother, who express-mailed me emergency eyedrops from France, and Gustav's father, who prescribed another brand here in Stockholm.  They, too, are the way of it, allowing me to continue to function in this moment.  Tomorrow morning, Gustav will pick us up after breakfast and drive us to the airport for our flight to Amsterdam.  Who knows how my eye condition will turn out ?  I only know that it's a good thing, as I sit here, doing what I do, being what it is.

 

Whose corneas will show up ?  Who will die and give me new vision, if the surgery works ?  Like me, like you, he or she will die perfectly on time, not a moment too early or too late, and I will inherit the corneas living in that person now - a woman, a man ?  Old, young ?  Black, white, yellow ?  (One dear man in Germany, who loves The work, offered to donate his corneas.  Stephen thanked him and said that he didn't qualify, since he wasn't dead.)  I love the way of it.  I love that when I die, my body parts, too, will be recycled.  Take my heart, my organs, my secondhand eyes; take whatever you need, whatever is usable - they don't belong to me anyway, and they never have.

 

I look forward to being blind if the surgery doesn't work.  I've already been there, almost.  I have walked through airport terminals unable to see the signs or read the monitors, I have walked through hotels when the world was a total blur, I have stood in front of a thousand people when I was unable to see raised hands, in a world without faces, without colors - a beautiful world, and very simple to live in.  Stephen can see and read without glasses, and at the hotel breakfast buffet I am quick to be on my own as he points out where the soft-boiled eggs are, where the decaf is, where the bread goes into the toaster, where the yogurt and fruit are.  I know that I don't need to know anything, and perception shows me shadows, textures, the feel and glow of the world.  I gather my food and walk across the large dining room with him, looking for the man who is to join us for the breakfast business meeting.  As I walk, everything is dark, and yet there are differences, shadows dark and darker.  A shadow moves.  I say, "Is that Peter, sweetheart ?"  Stephen answers, "Yes.  There he is."  Without him, I would have had no difficulty walking up and saying, "Peter, is that you ?"  And today, the way of it is so kind that there are no obstacles, no chairs out of order, no objects on the floor to trip over.

 

I always know that the way is clear.  And when I trip over an obstacle, I enjoy myself all the way to the ground.  Falling is equal to not falling.  Getting up again and not being able to are equal.  The only way you can know the way of it is to join it without separation.  It's constant lovemaking, with no other lover than what is.

 

I see the common good everywhere.  The common good looks like entire villages being wiped out by a tsunami.  It looks like one man losing his legs, another man getting the raise that he worked so hard for, a woman so obese that she can't bend over.  It looks like the stench coming from the sewer, or the clouds as they slowly move across the blue sky.  I no longer believe that the man with no legs shouldn't have lost his legs.  I see that he wants them, I see that he thinks he needs them, and I see the heartbreak that comes from believing that.  I see that his war with reality is causing all his misery.  Misery can never be caused by loss of legs; it can only arise from his desire for what's not.

 

"I should", "I shouldn't", "you should", "you shouldn't", "I want", "I need" - these unquestioned thoughts distort the appearance of the good that is as common as grass.  When you believe them, you make your mind small, and small-mindedness doesn't allow you to see why the loss of legs is good, why blindness is good, sickness, hunger, death, a village wiped out, the whole apparent world of suffering.  You stay unaware of the good that is all around you, you block out the elation you'd feel when you finally recognized it.  Whatever you think, reality is the natural way of it.  It won't bend to your ideas of what it should be, and it won't wait for your consent.  It will remain just as it is, pure goodness, whether or not you understand.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 57 –

 

In this and some of the following chapters of the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu counsels the rulers of 2,500 years ago on how and why to pursue a high quality of leadership.  His advice is pertinent today, in the 21st century, to all forms of leadership, including government, business, and, in particular, parenting.

 

The essential message in this 57th verse is to allow rather than interfere.  Now I don't interpret this to mean letting an infant crawl into traffic or leaving a child alone near a swimming pool - obviously, you must be sensible when supervising those who could harm themselves or others.  What I believe Lao-tzu is conveying here is that allowing is quite often the highest form of leadership.  He states that "more people are impoverished" in societies with excessive restrictions and prohibitions; the same can be true in families with commandments that must be obeyed without question.  The more authoritarian any system is, the more outlaws will appear.

 

On the other hand, when children are encouraged to explore and exercise their inquisitiveness, they're inspired to be their best with little need for regulation.  So when you change the way you view the need for rules, family members will tend to make decisions based on what's best for everyone rather than themselves.  See what happens, for instance, if you drop an absolute curfew time for your teenagers, asking them to just be sensible about when they come home and to notify you if they're going to be later than normal.  You may find that because you didn't impose yourself on them, they end up coming home even earlier than when they had a strict curfew governing their conduct.

 

Examine the restrictions that you enforce in your family.  Remember that effective parents don't want to be leaned on; they want to make leaning unnecessary.  After all, you want your children to be responsible, healthy, successful, and honest - not simply because you're there to monitor them, but because it is within their nature to do so.  So set an example and let them see that it's possible to be self-sufficient and enormously successful.  Allow them to learn to trust in their highest nature, rather than having to thumb through a rule book to decide what's right.

 

Change the way you look at the need for edicts, laws, and prohibitions, and see yourself as someone who doesn't need to rule with an iron fist.  Then enjoy taking this revised view of your leadership abilities into every area of your life where you're considered to be "the boss".