#61 Lao Tzu – Tao Te Ching

Man versus Ideas prides itself on finding misreported proverbs. You remember ‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’? Every time you hear it quoted it’s meant to encourage you to take that first step. But in the Tao, it’s the other way round.

“It is easy to deal with a situation before symptoms develop

It is easy to break a thing when it is still brittle

It is easy to dissolve a thing when it is yet minute

[…]

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”

He who is truly wise can achieve all he wants without ever having to take action. The smallest intervention at the start renders all that follows irrelevant. In that sense, Back to the Future can be seen as a Taoist classic.

The Tao believes in doing things quietly. Harmony is key; and activity is a sign of that harmony being disturbed. The greatest achievement imaginable is to do nothing, but to achieve all of one’s goals regardless.

Therefore the sage knows without having to stir

Identifies without having to see

Accomplishes without having to act.”

Avoiding an argument is better than winning an argument; rejecting strength is a way to be strong. Taoism is about quiet, and peace, and above all it is about balance. The balance is there already, and our job is to return to it.

‘But what is the balance?’, I hear you wonder. Lao Tse is a little less forthcoming on that point. Which, now I reflect, is actually the right answer. If one’s pursuit is balance, how can one ever give direct instructions on how to reach it? It would be like trying to give the path to the centre of a map by saying ‘go east’. Even if that was the right path from where we stand right now, the person who followed it most truly would ultimately go far wrong.

The Tao is also profoundly reactionary. There is no promise of salvation, or of working to make things better. Devotees are told in the strongest terms not to innovate, but to follow the well-worn routes. The only happiness is to come through balance and a return to simplicity. There’s a lot of encouragement to emulate the uncarved block, which is as simple as it comes.

“The nameless uncarved block

Is but freedom from desire

And if I cease to desire and be still

The empire will be at peace of its own accord”

This doesn’t really match with the western tradition, and even less with the way we think in modern, industrial society. Our victories have all been won over the uncarved blocks of the world, and we rightly think that a consequence of our power is an ability to do good. For us, inaction is the handmaiden of failure.*  Taken on a social level, I think we’re right on that one. Thinking more personally, though, there’s a truth in the Tao.

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* An analogy that Lao Tse would appreciate – one of his recurring tropes is about one thing taking the submissive position and the other the dominant position. Which is one way to get disciples, I guess.