$42

Life, when it came to be,

Bore one, then two, then three

Ellements of things;

And thus the three began

—Heaven and earth and man—

To balance happenings:

Cool night behind, warm day ahead,

For the living, for the dead/

Though a commoner be loth to say

That he is only common clay,,,,,

Kings and princes often state

How humbly they are leading,,,,

Because in true succeeding’,

High and low correlate.

It is an ancient thought,

Which many men have taught,

That he who over-reaches

And tries to live by force

Shall die thereby of course,

And is what my own heart teaches.

interpretation:

Everything works by threes, positive,negative, neutral, heaven/earth, result

human beings (3) actions -male,female,child  – thus three actions must take place before “materialization” which we call the “effectg”  “high and low correlate, work together, thus a man is “wise” when it refrains by “making it happen”(over-reaches) which forces “force” going “against the “nature of things” – great lesson of life of coiurse

#43

As the soft yield of water cleaves obstinate stone,,

So to yield with life solves the insoluble:

To yield, I have learned, is to come back again,

But this unworded lesson

This easy example

Is lost upon men.

interpretation

Stupid people do not “yield” even though Nature yields constantly

What is the mystery of yielding?  egoless people understand what

yielding is all about; they “know” how “Nature” works!  Unfortunately

stupid people do not!

#44

Which means more to you,

You or your renown?

Which brings more to you,,,

You or what you own?

And which would cost you more

If it were gone?

The niggard pays,

The miser loses

The least ashamed of men

Goes back if he chooses

He knows both ways

He starts again.

interpretation:

What this stanza is saying is that “people in general use status, wealth

to determine “who they are” That is more meaningful to them than who “they really are” which means nothing to them, one is materialistic; the other speculative.  Man can lose his money; man can be disgraced, lose his status, usually they work together.  The wise man does not depend on status or wealth, but “his true self”

#45

A man’s work, however finished it seem,

Continues as long as he live:

A man, however perfect he seem,

Is needed as long as he live:

As long as truth appears falsity,

The seer a fool,

A prophet a dumb lout.

If you want to keep warm keep stirring about,

Keep still if you want to keep cool,,,

And in all the world one day no doubt,,,,

Your way shall be the rule.

interpretation:

The so called “real world””materialistically inclined world” exists; the “seer/prophet” is needed despite the criticizm, laughter, jeers, insults,

as in the biblical prophets of the Hebrew tradition.  The priests of that time were as corrupted as they are today in our generation; puppets of the kingly authorities.  Common Sense which hasnt existed for hundreds of years, reign supremely today as it did years ago., but as we approaach the Golden Era, that will change of course!  “these are my words of course”

The beginning sentence stating that a “man’s work is never finished, means his “inner work” not his outer work, must eradicate the “cause” of his ignorance of course!  ignorance that breeds ‘destruction”

#46

In a land where the way of life is understood

Race-horses are led back to serve the field,,,

In a land where the way of life is “not” understood

War-horses are bred on the autumn yield.

Owning is the entanglement,

Wanting is the bewilderment,,,,,

Taking is the presentiment:

Only he who contains content

Remains “content”

interpretaton:

Contentment what is it?  according to the author there cannot be contentment in a world where there are winner and losers; the world that we live in today.  In the stock market, the winner takes the money of the loser etc. its all about “winning”  winning what?  money,power,influence what else? nothing of course, is that why we incarnated? or are there other reasons for incarnations? LaoTzu believes there is, mighty ones of course!

Who are the disbelievers?  Those who laugh, jeer, insult, make mockery of “The Way of Life”  – do you know people like that?  I do of course, there are more of them than us unfortunately, the kings,queens of old of course! the many false prophets of before and now – what dominates their life, money, power influence of “dummies”

#47

There is no need to run outside

For better seeing,

Not to peer from a window, Rather abide

At the center of your being;

For the more you leave it, the less you learn,

Search your heart and see

If he is wise who takes each turn;

The way to do “is to be”

interpretation:

“truth lies within, not without”  search your heart; not your head!

#48

A man anxious for knowledge adds more to himself every minute;

A man acquiring life loses himself in it,

Has less and less to bear in mind,

Less and less to do,

Because life, he finds, is well inclined,

Including himself too.

Often a man sways the world like a wing

But not by deed;

And if there appear to you to be need,

Of motion to sway it, it has left you behind,

interpretaton:

What does the author mean when he says that “life is well inclined” what is life?  What does it mean to “be living” – does living imply “knowing” and if so “knowing” and “knowledge” are not compatible – “knowing stems from the “inside”; knowledge the “outside” The author prefers the inside to the outside, one is soul; other ego of course! Do we dictate to Nature, or does Nature have the first and last word?  even a dummie knows that answer!

The surest test that a man be sane

If he accepts life whole, as it is

Without needing by measure or touch to understand

The measureless untouchable source

Of its images,

The measureless untouchable source

Of its substances,

The source which,while it appears dark emptiness,

Brims with a quiick force

Farthest away

And yet nearest at hand

From oldest time unto this day

Charging its images with origin

What more need I know of the origin

Than this

interpretation:

What is wholeness/Oneness?

Is the part more important than the “whole”

Holography shows proof that the part is the whole

but the “part” does not “know” this

One is “relative’\” the other non relative”

One is “linear” the other “non linearP

One is the ego; the other the “soul”

One is measusrefull, the other measureless

One is “spirit”; the other “science”.

One is “life”; the other death”

One is eternal; the other “lifeless”

“origin”? certainly not in the measure-ful!

Stanza 22

” Yield and you need not break”

Bend and you can straighten,

Emptied and you can hold,

Torn and you can mend;

And as want can reward you

So wealth can bewilder.

Aware of this, a wise man has the simple return

Which other men seek:

Without him inflaming himself,

He is kindled,

Without explaining himself

Is expllained,

Without taking credit

Is accredited

Laying no claim

Is acclaimed

And, because he does not compete,

Finds peaceful competence,

How true is the old saying,

Yield and you need not break”

How completely it comes home!

interpretation:

The key to this stanza is simply  the word “yield”

What does this word mean?  yield to what?

Yield to the “wholeness of “what is” a higher power of course!

and what “is” this “higher power”?  if there is a higher power

there is also a lower power in differentiation!

Obviously ManKind has yielded to the “lower power/ego” through

ignorance of course – result chaos, wars, murders, deceptions, lies etc.

the cause of course is “ignorance of WHAT IS, JUST IS – effortless effort,

“one with the ONE –  unfortunately “ignorance BREEDS ignorance i.e. the example of PHd arrogance in action. i.e. my exwife’s retort – “just simply “free association” ! nothing of consequence; she reflects the “insanity” prevading our planet- PHd’s qualified to brainwash the uniformed!  DUPED!

Stanza 23

Nature does not have to insist,

Can blow for only half a morning,

Rain for only half a day

And what are these winds and these rains but natural?

If nature does not have to insist,

Why should man?

Is it natural to?

That whoever follows the way of life feels alive,

That whoever uses it properly feels well used,

Whereas he who loses his way of life feels lost,

That whoever keeps to the way of life

Feels at home,

Whoever uses it properly

Feels welcome,

Whreras who uses it improperly

Feels improperly used,

Fail to honor people

They fail to honor you.

interpretation:

What “is” Nature? are human beings “part of Nature”? of course!

then why dont human beings “abide by the Laws of Nature?

Human Beings “despoil Nature” insult Nature” in their own lives, and

in the ecology itself, – spraying poisons on crops, trees etc.

ManKind has seperated from Nature all ways, mentally, emotionally physically and especially spiritually  why? ignorance of course, ego aspirations of course, economic money reasons of course! prestige reasons of course – but most of all ARROGANCE – the socalled Kingly Cult, kings, queens, titans of industry, Henry Ford  Carnegie, Goldman Saks, the list is endless of course –

# 24

Standing tiptoe a man loses balance,

Walking astride he has no pace

Kindling himself he fails to light

Acquitting himself he forfeits his hearers

Admiring himself he does so alone.

Pride has never brought a man greatness

But, according to the way of life,

That brings the ills that make him unfit,

Make him unclean in the eyes of his neighbor,

And a sane man will have none of them.

interpretation:

“Pride goeth it before the falleth”

#25

Before creation a Presence existed

Self-contained complete

Formless, voiceless, nameless, mateless

Changeless

Which yet prevaded itself

With unending motherhood,

Though there can be no name for it,

I have called it “the way of life”

Perhaps I should have called it “the fullness of life”

Since fullness implies widening into space,

Implies still further widening,

Implies widening until the circle is whole,

In this sense

“the way of life” is fulfilled,

Heaven fulfilled,

Earth fulfilled

And a fit man also fulfilledL

These are the four amplitudes of the Universe

and a fit man is one of them:

Man rounding the way of earth

Earth rounding the way of heaven,
Heaven rounding the way of life

“Till the earth is full”

Interpretation:

The “laws of the Universe are perfect”  ManKind is not perfect unless he/she abides by these Universal Laws- unfortunately this has not happened! ManKind is imperfect, since he/she knows nothing of the “way of life”  This treatise is meant to awaken this dormancy.  “a fit man” is a man who “knows that he knows that he knows “he knows”, four “knowls” “four amplitudes of the Universe”  until ManKind realizes that he/she is in ignorance; they will continue to “suffer the consequence” of “ignorance”:

#26

Gravity is the root of all grace

The mainstay of all speed

A traveler of true means, whatever the day’s pace,

Remembers the provision-van

And however fine prospect be offered,is a man

With a calm head

What lord of countless chariots would ride them in vain,

Would make himself fool of the realm,

Would pace beyond rein,

interpretation

The root?  the cause, the source, basically the Universal Laws, Man, is “not the Source”although man/MAN have much in common since he IS a cocreator, only when He recognizes the “source as the SOURCE’ which unfortunately man does not!  One of the reason scientist have “no clue” about “gravity” – gravity goes far beyond the physical world, transcends many worlds, interacts with them of course, cannot be fathomed by mathematics of any sort!

Favor and disfavor have been called equal worries,

Success and failure have been called equal ailments

How can favor and disfavor be called equal worries?

Because winning favor burdens a man

Wth the fear of losing it,

How can success and failure be called equal ailments?

Because a man thinks of the personal body as self.

When he no longer thinks of the personal body as self

Neither failure nor success can ail him.

One who knows his lot to be the lot of all other men

Is a safe man to guide them,

One who recognizes all men as members of his own body

Is a sound man to guard them.

interpretation.

“IT TAKE ONE TO KNOW ONE”  –  an empty stomach knows how an empty stomach feels!

The reason why beings are not all “human” –  empathy is the key! knowing means “empathy” – uinknowingness is not only “ignorance” but “arrogance”

“to be or not to be is the question”  – to be what?  and ego or a soul?  the heart or the mind which? “linear or non linear”?

The choice is ours  of course – which would you choose?

# 14

What we look for beyond seeing

And call the unseen,

Listen for beyond hearing

And calll the withheld

Merge beyond understanding

In a Oneness

Which does not merely rise and give light

Does not merely set and leave darkeness,

But forever sends forth a succession of living things as

        , mysterious

As the unbegotten existence to which they return

That is why men have called them empty phenomena

Meaningless images,

In a mirage

With no face to meet,

No back to follow.

Yet one who is anciently aware of existence

Is master of every moment.

.Feels no break since time beyond time

In the way life flow

Long ago the land was ruled  with a wisdom

Too fine, too deep, to be fully understood

And, since it was beyond men’s full understnading

Only some of it has come down to us, as in these sayinags.

The key to this stanza is:”How can man’s life keep its course”

If he will NOT LET IT FLOW?

Like my exwife who “couldnt know the difference, the difference of what is, and what isnt ” to make a difference,one must “know”  the difference.

Its obvious that ManKind “does not know the difference” my wife was “not the exception but the rule”

To the message of this stanza is “know the difference”!!!!

Stanza 16

Be utterly humble

And you shall hold to the foundation of peace

Be as one with all these living things which have arisen and flourished,

return to the quiet whence they came,

Like the healthy growth of vegetation

Falling back upon the root,

Acceptance of the return to the root has been called””quietism”

Acceptance of quietism has been condemned as “fatalism”

But fatalsm is acceptance destiny.

And to accept destiny is to face life with open eyes.

Whereas not to accept destiny is to face death blindfolded

He who is open-eyed is open minded.,

He who is open minded is open hearted ,

Who is openhearted is kingly..

Who is kingly is godly,

Who is godly is useful,

He who is useful, is infinite,

He who is inffinet is immune,

He who is immune is immortal.

interpretatio.

The key to this stanza is the word “peace” also “quiet” “root” also the word destiny, also open-eyed, open minded, open hearted

The world/people today lack the above “virtues” dont even know they “exist” never mind even “attempt to their realizations”

People today are living “in the last days””as predicted by great seers of the past

stanza 17

A leader is best

When people barely know that he exist.

Not so good when people obey and acclaim him

Worst when they despise him

Fail to honor people

They fail to honor you

But of a good leader, who talks little

When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,

The will all say, “We did this ourselves”

interpretation:

 none needed; its self explanatory

Stama 18

When people lost sight of the way to live

Came codes of love and honesty,

Learning came, charity came,

Hypocrisy took charge;

When differences weakened famlly ties

Came benevolent fathers and dutiful sons

And when lands were disrupted and misgoverned

Came ministers commended as loyal.

interpretations:

What does he mean by codes of love and honesty?

What does he mean “learning came, charity came

hypocrisy to charge.?

I SEE ALL THIS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IN OUR

COUNTRY – government run by educators, hypocrites

all over the place, ministers – all misgoverned of course!

Wow! this guy living in a little hut years and years ago,

knew more about life than we here today –

interpretation:

stanza (1)   existence is beyond the “power of words

To define

Terms may be used

But none of them Absolute/

In the beginning of heaven and earth there we no words

Words came out of the womb of matter

and whether a man dispassionately

Sees to the core of life

or passionately

Sees the surface,

the core and the surface

Are essentially the same,

Words making them seem different.

Only to  Express appearance.

If name be needed, wonder names them both

From wonder into wonder

Existence opens.

My channels translation –  in a nutshell- whaat ALao Tzu is saying basically speaking – without equivecation is simply:

What is just is! regardless and what he/she sees is a world of maya, illusion – its all “appearamce jas no “essence” its “all made up” again

its a world of maya/illusion

next stanza.

People through finding something beautiful

Think something else unbeautiful

Through finding one man fit

Judge another unfit.

life and death, thoiugh stemming from each other

seem to conflict as stages of change

Difficult and easy as phases of achievement

Long and short as measures of contrast,

High and low as degree of relation;

But, since the varying of tones gives music to a voice

And what is is the was the of what shall be,

The sanest man

Sets up no deed,

Lays down no law,

Takes everything that happens at it comes,

As something to animate, not to appropriate,

to earn, not to own,

To accept naturally withouit self importance;\:

If you never assume importance

You never lose.

intepretation: #@.

We mus always keep in ind “the way of life” as seen by LaoTZU

in this particular stanza –

What this stanza is saying  – judging depends on duality contrasts-

Sane people do not deal with dualities – no win, no lose – what is, IS’

third stanza.

It is better not to make merit` a matter of reward

Lest people will conspire and contend

Not to pile up rich belongings

Lest they rob,

Not to excite by display

Lest they covert,

A sound leaders aim

Is to open people’s heart

Fill their stomachs,

Calm their wills

Brace their bones

And so to clarifytheir thoughts and cleanse their needs

That no cunning meddler could touch them:

Without being forced, withouit strain or constraint,

Good government comes of iself.

interpretaton:  simply said – dont allow the ego to rule your life –  dont let greed, envy etc. determine how you conduct your life.  Dont let power, money “be the boss of you”

Stanza 4

Existence, by nothing bred

Breeds everything.

Parent of the Universe

It smooths rough  edges

Unties hard knots,

Tempers the sharp sun,

Lays blowing dust,

Its image in the wellspring never fails

But how was it conceived?–this image

Of no other sire

interpretation”

Existence what is it?  creates everything, does everything, this God of sorts?

Stanza 5

Nature immune to as a sacrifice of straw dogs,

Faces the decay of its fruits,

A sound man, immune as to a sacrifice of straw dogs,                      t

,

will continue later on

Nature, immune as to a sacrifice  of straw dogs,

Faces the decay of its fruits

A sound man, immune as to a sacrifice of straw dogs

Faces the passing human generations,

The universe, like a bellows,

is always emptying, always full

The more it yields, the more it holds,

Men come to their wit’s end arguing about it

And had better meet it at the marrow

Interpretation

The key to this paragraph is the “sound man” is “aware” of what’s

happening; the “unsound man” is in “maya/illusion/mind/ego/linear,intellect,reason,logic – not “knowing the difference”  to make a difference, one must “know/out of maya illusion,”

that there “is” a difference, egos do not of course, egos are maya, illusion, mind.  That is the lower mind as in Astrology Gemini is the lower mind, Sagitarioius is the higher mind, there is a “difference” of course!

#6

The breach of life moves through a deathless valley

Of mysterious motherhood

Which conceives and bears the universal seed.

The seeming of a world never to end,

Breath for men to draw from as they will,

And the more they take of it, the more remains.

interpretation:

Simply said, humanKind receives “life from a Source of LIfe” the unfathomable which we refer to as God AlMighty. Nothing can exist without it, it is “life Itself”

#7:

The universe is deathless,

Is deathless because, having no finite self,

It stays infinite.

A sound man by not advancing himself

Stays the further ahead of himself,

By not confining himself to himself

Sustains himself outside himself:

By never being an end in himself

He endlessly becomes himself.

interpretation:

Simply said – the universe has “no beginning, no end its deathless-stays infinite..  Likewise without an “ego” retains the “nature of who he really is”

“a soul, not an ego” puffed up character of “worth” never forgets “who he really is”

stanza #8

Man at his best, like water,

Serves as he goes along:

Like water he seeks his own level,

The common level of life,

Loves living close to the earth,

Living clear down in his heart,

Loves kinship with his neighbors.

The pick of words that tell the truth,

The even tenor of a well-run state,

The fair profit of able dealing,

The right timing of useful deeds,

And for blocking no one’s way

No one blames him.

interpretation:

Truth is the key to this passage – being honest with oneself at all times, means being one with all.  “be unto others as you wish them to be with you.

Stanza #9

Keep stretching a bow

You repent of the pull

A whetted saw

Goes thin and dull

Surrounded with treasure

You lie ill  at ease

Proud beyond measure

You come to your knees:

Do enough, without vieing

Be living, not dieing

interpretation:

BE GRATEFUL, NOT PROUD -be humble

Can you hold the door of your tent

Wide to the firmament?

Can you, with the simple stature

Of a child, breaathing nature,

Become, not withstanding,

A man?

With no prejudice,no ban?

Can you, mating with heaven,

Serve as the female part?

Can you learned head take heaven

From the wisdom of your heart?

If youcan bear issue and nourish its growing,

If you can guide without claim or strife,

If you can stay in the lead of men without

knowing.

You are at the core of life.

interpretation:

Again, Lao Tzu is stressing the importance of humility, oneness with

all humanity, oneness with the heavens, oneness with “everything meaningful where the “heart rules the head” a truly egoless non linear approach to “what its all about”

#11

Thirty spokes are made one by holes, in a huib

By vacancies joining them for a wheel’s use,

The use of clay in moulding pitchers

Comes from the hollow of its absence;

Doors, windows, in a house,

Are used for their emptiness:

Thus we are helped by what is not

To use what is.

interpretation:

What is isnt?  its a supposed contradiction but then contradictions in general have a purpose of course as another saying; to make a positive,a negative is needed –  every three(3) needs a two, posiitive/negative

#12

The five colors can blind,

The five tones deafen,

The five tastes cloyh,

The race, the hunt, can drive men mad’

And their booty leave them no peace.

Therefore a sensible man

Prefers the inner to the outer eyes

He has his yes,—he has his nos.

interpretation:

Beware of what your intellect, reason,logic, physical eyes, ears tell you; they are the illusory systems, the maya system that rules your external life.

Rid of formalized wisdom and learning

People would be a hundredfold happier

Rid of conventionalized duty and honor

Rid of legalized profiteering

People would have no thieves no fear.

These methods of life have failed, all three,

Here is the way, it seems to me:

Here is the way, it seems to me:

Set people free,As deep in their hearts they would like to be,

From private  greeds

and wanton needs

Interpretation

Simple people , living simple lives, are free liberated people.

again unlike what is happening today.

Lao Tzu even doing his time, –  berated conventionality, and the

educational system of his times. Ego reigned supreme during his time also.

Stanza 20

Leave off fine learning! End the nuisance

of saying yes to this and perhaps to that

distinction with how little difference!

categorical this,categorical that

What slightest use are they?!

If one man leads, another must follow,

How silly that is, and how false!

Yet conventional men lead an easy life

With all their days feast-days.

A constant spring visit to the to the Tall Tower

While I am a simpleton, a do-nothing,

Not big enough yet to raise a hand,

Not grown enough  to  smile

A homeless, worthless waif,

Men of the world have a surplus of goods,

While I am left out, owning nothing.

 What a booby I must be

Not to know my way around,

What a fool!

The average man is so crisp and so confident

That I should be miserable

Going on and on like the sea,

Drifting nowhere.

All these people are making their mark in the world.

While I pig-headed, awkward,

Different from the rest,Am only a glorious infant

still nursing at the breast.

interpretation:

Again Lao Tzu lambasts “conventionality of all sorts; disrespects all kinds

of learnings  Reminds me of what my son Richard after he visited my exwife; what she said to him. “what did your father accomplish in all of the years we have not been together; now forty years.

She did not know I had the same disdain that Lao Tzu had; that he and I have always been “on the same wavelength.  Our disdain of the “ego” provs that of course!  He berates himself when he compares his “uselessness” in this depraved world.  I have been considered a “simpleton” by proven authentic “simpletons called egos” –  proof: one of my brothers, very successful- endorsed that view bigtime!

The way of life is to do nothing through acting

The way to use life is to do everything through being,

When a leader knows this,,

His land naturally goes straight

And the world’s passion to stray from straightness

Is checked at the core.

By the simple unnamable cleanness

Through which men cease from coveting

And to a land where men cease from coveting

Peace comes of course

interpretation”

The key to this stanza is the difference between “acting and being”

what constitutes “acting” – acting is the opposite of “being”  acting basically speaking is “behaving a certain way that is appropriate to what is ostensibly happening, its manufactured behavior.  Being has absolutely nothing to do with “acting” – none whatsoever.  Being is “being” what you truly are! the Real Person, not the Acting person, one is INNATE BEHAVIOR – the other ego behavior, one is honest; other dishonest.

Human beings do not act: beings act since they are not “in touch” with who they really are.l  Non acting “rulers” know how to rule, others do not of course!,,

#36

He who feel punctured

Must once has been a bubble

He who feel unarmed

Must have carried arms;

He who feels belittled

Must have been consequential,,,,

He who feels deprived

Must have had privilege

Whereas a man with insight

Knows that to keep under is to endure

What happens to a fish pulled out of a pond?

Or to an implement of state pulled out of a scabbard,

Unseen, they survive.

interpretation:

” it takes “one” to “know one”!

positive and negative “must function together” everything has its opposites, its called “polarity”; the whole world operates on “polarity”  there is a lesson to learn, that apparently has not been learned for centuries, why?

The reason for “the Way of Life” and my channels interpretation; people “dont have it “upstairs”; they are living with “low consciousness” and according to LaoTzu that includes “educated people” he indictes them more than he does the lowly peasant, why?  they in his opinion “sold out” the lowly peasant, did not, still clings to “truisms given to him my his ancestors etc”, not so for the knowledge seekers.

A man of sure fitness, without making a point of his

           fitness

Stays fit;

A man of unsure fitness, assuming an appearance of

            fitness,

Becomes unfit.

The man of sure fitness never makes an act of it

And considers what it may profit him.

However a man with a kind heart proceed,

He forgets what it may profit him;

However a man with a just mind proceed,

He remembers what it may profit him;

However a man of conventional conduct proceed, if he

              be not complied with

Out goes his fist to enforce compliance,

Here is what happens:

Losing the way of life, men rely first on  their fitness;

Losing fitness, they turn to kindness;

Losing kindness, they turn to justness;

Losing justness, they turn to convention.

Conventions are fealty and honesty gone to waste,

They are the entrance of disorder.

False teachers of life use flowery words

And start nonsense.

The man of stamina stays with the root

Below the tapering.
Stays with the fruit

Beyond the flowering:

He has his no and he has his yes.

interpretation:

Those who know, know that they know; those that dont know, pretend

that they know

Its basically ego verses none ego; the ones that know, are egoless.value oriented rather than $$$$ oriented.

The key to this stanza is “just mind” -ego-ful minds cannot be “just”

What is conventiality? we know what convention implies, what if it isnt “complied” what happens?

Complexities arise: the usual “remedies i.e. fitness, kindness, justness doesnt work, what to do?

The answer is “convention.  According to Lao Tzu, conventions/people

in general are the worst possible methods possible; morality, truth etc.does not cannot happen dealing with conventialities, ” he calls it, “the entrance of disorder”.  “”false teachers arise; false rethoric arise, pure “nonsense”  “stay with the root” dont mess with nonsense. “flowery language”. “Stay with the fruit, the substance”  The answer is within!

#39

The wholeness of life has, from of old,made manifest in its parts,

Clarity has been made manifest in heaven

Firmness in earth

Purity in the spirit,

In the valley conception

In the river procreation;

And so in a leader are the people made manifest

For wholeness of use.

But for clarity heaven would be veiled,

But for firmness earth would have crumbled,

But for purity spirit would have fumbled,,

But for conception the valley would have failed,

But for procreation the river have run dry;

So, save for the people, a leader shall die;

Always the low carry the high

On a root for growing by,

What can stand lofty with no low foundation?

No wonder leadrs of a land profess

Their stature and their station

To be servitude and lowliness!

If rim and spoke and hub were not,

Where would be the chariot?

Who will prefer the jingle of jade pendants if

He once has heard stone growing in a cliff!

interpretation:

This is quite a stanza, “says it “as it is” of course

The first sentence “says it all”!

Can there be a “whole without the parts”?

And what is the meaning of the word “whole”?

Can there be mountains without valleys? of course not!

Can there be an earth without the Heavens?  of course not!

Can there be a body without “a spirit” embodiment? of course not!

This “holographic principle” is a living, proving “fact”

Lao TZU describes it as “wholeness” which is “Oneness of course”!

He uses “a river with its precreation as evidence of wholeness

All vegetation needs roots – the essence of life – human beings

also need roots –

leaders of people, wise leaders humble themselves before their subjects

since the people is their roots; they are to serve the people, not themselves. Good example is the spoke and hub of a wheel of course,

the wheel is the whole; without the root/parts there is nothing!

“to make a difference, one must”know” the difference

#40

Life on its way returns into a mist

Its quickness is its quietness again;

Existence of this world of things and men

Renews their never needing to exist.

interpretation:

What is life?  here today; gone tomorrow. (mist)

starts again/renewal process – its all mysterious of course!

Its a true paradox  – king today, peasant tomorrow

so whats it all about?  illusion? maya?  of course!

#41

Men of stamina, knowing the way of life,

Steadily keep to it;

Unstable men, knowing the way of life,

Keep to it or not according to occasion;

Stupid men, knowing the way of life

And having once laughed at it, laugh again the louder,

If you need to be sure which way is right, you can tell

       by their laughing at it,

They fling the old charges:

A wick without oil,

“For every step forward a step or two back.”

“To such laughers a level road looks steep,