Tao Te Ching Verse 39: Making Peace with Ego

The Tao Te Ching for Everyday Living

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Tao Te Ching Verse 39

translated by Cheng Lin
Since antiquity the following may be said to have attained Truth:
Heaven, which by Truth is clear.
Earth, which by Truth is secure.
The gods, which by Truth are divine.
The valleys, which by Truth are full.
All animate creation, which by Truth are alive.
The rulers, which by Truth are capable of rectifying the Empire.
Conversely, the following inferences may be stated:
Without that which renders it clear, heaven stands the danger of disruption.
Without that which renders it secure, earth stands the danger of depression.
Without that which renders them divine, the gods stand the danger of impotence.
Without that which renders them full, the valleys stand the danger of desiccation.
Without that which renders them life, all animate creation stand the danger of
annihilation.Without that which renders them capable of rectification, the rulers stand the danger
of being overthrown.
Humility forms the basis of honour, just as the low ground forms the foundation of a
high elevation.
Wherefore, the sovereigns are content to call themselves "The Virtueless" and "The
Unworthy."
Does not this show that they regard humility as a matter of utmost importance?
Hence, the most praiseworthy are indifferent about praise.
It matters not to them whether they are admired as are beautiful jades, or despised as are rugged stones.

Photo by Alexander Aarao-Ward on Unsplash

Looking at the Tao as a magnet

I’d like us to imagine the Tao as a magnet. Despite the fact that there are two poles on the magnet, there is ever only one magnet. The north and south poles make up the same One magnet. And what happens where we cut the magnet in two pieces? Those two pieces become little complete magnets, each with its own north and south poles. Cut those in half and you have four little magnets. Cut them into however many pieces you like; all of those little pieces will have two poles on them no matter how small they are. And we can observe that norths attract souths, and they can all fit back together again to make a big magnet at any time.

So seeming opposites attract, no matter the scale at which we find them. Every magnet always has two poles. One condition always depends on the other to be whole.

Just like the Earth, Heaven, Spirituality, the Valley, and Life need the One in order to support humanity, so do the nobles - the sovereigns, to use Lao Tzu’s words - depend on others to ennoble them.

Let’s consider our leaders. Don’t they need us to be the leaders? Don’t they depend on us for their purposes as leaders? I would argue in every case, yes. Let’s also roll teachers into that - don’t teachers need, like really need the students in order to teach?

One step further, now: we established that we always find ourselves in the roles of leaders and teachers in our lives, at home, work, or with friends. We might say then that we depend on each other for our respective roles. We can see the north pole as the leader and the south pole as the follower. The north pole as the teacher and the south pole as the student. No matter how you look at it, we all need each other in our respective roles to be whole.