Taoism and Lao Tzu
After studying Eastern philosophy for over thirty years, I’ve tried to understand the following phrase in context. The title “Contending for the middle” suggests there are often two sides to an issue, and points to how the I Ching’s idea of “complementary opposites” can apply.
When multiple sides are eager to add their own “two cents,” how does virtue prevail? Decisions often stem from competing thoughts pulling us in directions we can’t always define. While there’s a certain flow to life that we are meant to naturally grow into. What we choose to focus our minds on is what ultimately shapes who we are.
That’s why connecting with the universal flow of our true selves becomes so important. It’s how our virtue works. What we think we can do we usually can do. Unrealized traits just waiting to be exposed to light so that they and we can shine through.
In reality, though, there may be many nuances, differences, or subtle distinctions in expression, each perceived differently by every individual. Two or more people can witness the same thing and come to very different conclusions as to what just happened.
History tells us in Chapter/Verse of the Tao Te Ching number forty-one that:
“When a great person hears of the Way, he follows it with diligence and devotion and when an average person hears of the Way he doesn’t know if it’s real or worthy of retaining or not, and when a small person hears of the Way he laughs out loud. If he didn’t laugh it wouldn’t be regarded as the Way.”
In many ways, finding the truth often begins by recognizing its opposite, allowing us to see how things unfold toward the best possible outcome, even when the ideal results aren’t immediately clear. Language serves as our teacher though, showing us that to understand the right way, we must first witness it in action—or more importantly, learn how to live in alignment with what we know in our heart and mind to be true… and to be the first to change our opinion when necessary.
It’s like the old Missouri saying, when U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1897 to 1903 said… “I come from a state that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.”
That’s exactly the timeless purpose behind Lao Tzu’s words—to demonstrate and embody their meaning in such a way that the words are to emulate, remind, or become us. It’s like getting the ultimate wake-up call, saying, “Okay, you’ve messed around long enough—now get to work on what you’re here to do.”
That we are what we do and are to remember what came before us. To the point that what may first appear to be true can more often than not actually be false as Lao Tzu tells us:
“That the brightest path seems dark, and the quickest path seems slow. The smoothest path seems rough, the highest virtue low, the whitest white patch black.
The greatest virtue wanting and the staunchest virtue timid, the truest truth uncertain and that the perfect square lacks corners. The perfect tool does nothing, the perfect sound is hushed, and the perfect form is shapeless.
The Tao is hidden and has no name but because it is the Tao it knows how to start and how to finish.”
What all this is meant to tell us that there can be more than two sides to everything found in nature and that what appears as opposites may in fact be meant to co-exist in nature as the “complimentary opposite”. Tossing coins or yarrow stalks, interpreting the balance of yin and yang, and reading the outcome is meant to put all possibilities in view. It’s our natural, unfiltered reaction that reveals the story already living within us simply waiting to be told.
Verse 41 – Contending for the middle.
How is it that some can hear of the correct way and follow it with devotion, while others when hearing of it are content to argue whether it is real or not? And still others cannot seem to keep from laughing at such folly. However, if the latter did not laugh it wouldn’t be the Way.
For contentment to find its middle both extremes must be shown. The brightest path to some seems dark, the quickest path seems slow.
The smoothest path remains rough. The highest virtue low. The whitest white seems pitch black. The greatest virtue wanting while the staunchest virtue timid. The truest truth remains uncertain. The perfect square will seem to lack corners as the perfect tool remains idle and does nothing. The perfect sound is hushed and quiet, as the perfect form remains shapeless.
It is through these opposites that the two sides of everything become clear.
Once clear, the Tao remains hidden from view, except to those who can truly see. Remaining hidden from view himself, the sage can easily find beginnings and endings and know when to start and how to finish as he already knows having seen both sides many times before.
41. 提倡中庸
为何有些人能够领悟道，并虔诚地遵循道，有些人却怀疑道的真假，而有些人只是在那里傻笑？但是，如果后者不笑，那就不是道了。
为了找到道的中间，首先必须找到两个极端。最光明的道是最黑暗的道。最快捷的道是最缓慢的道。
最平坦的道是最崎岖的道。最崇高的德是最低贱的德。最纯洁的白色是沥青的黑色。最大的德是失去的德。最忠诚的德是最胆怯的德。最真实的真理是最不确定的真理。最完美的方形看起来没有边角。最有效的工具废弃不用。最优美的声音是安宁寂静。最理想的形状是无形。
正是通过这些对立比较，事物的两个方面都变得清楚明白。
一旦让大众明白这个道理，道即隐身而去。但有些人依然能够看见道。不愿意暴露在大庭广众之下，圣人能够轻易地看到事情的始末。知道何时开始和如何结束。圣人对对立两面已经习以为常。
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