Tao Tuesday #22
When a superior man hears of the Tao, he immediately begins to embody it.
Each week I will choose, or open a page and allow a passage to be chosen, from Lao Tzu’s classic text the Tao Te Ching.
I believe Taoist teaching have much to offer in software as in life, so I’ll be adding some thoughts and reflections alongside it.
All excerpts are from Stephen Mitchell’s translation, unless otherwise stated.
Verse 41
When a superior man hears of the Tao,
he immediately begins to embody it.
When an average man hears of the Tao,
he half believes it, half doubts it.
When a foolish man hears of the Tao,
he laughs out loud.
If he didn’t laugh,
it wouldn’t be the Tao.
Thus it is said:
The path into light seems dark.
The path forward seems to go back.
The direct path seems long.
True power seems weak.
True purity seems tarnished.
True steadfastness seems changeable.
True clarity seems obscure.
The greatest art seems unsophisticated.
The greatest love seems indifferent.
The greatest wisdom seems childish.
The Tao is nowhere to be found.
Yet it nourishes and completes all things.
I know I am a fool.
Why?
Because when I hear wisdom, when I realise how lost I have been in some insane thought process, how clouded my mind has become, how detached I have been from the simple truth, I can’t help but laugh.