Vicious Circle
77
As it acts in the world, the Tao
is like the bending of a bow.
The top is bent downward;
the bottom is bent up.
It adjusts excess and deficiency
so that there is perfect balance.
It takes from what is too much
and gives to what isn’t enough.
Those who try to control,
who use force to protect their power,
go against the direction of the Tao.
They take from those who don’t have enough
and give to those who have far too much.
The Master can keep giving
because there is no end to her wealth.
She acts without expectation,
succeeds without taking credit,
and doesn’t think that she is better
than anyone else.
Tao Te Ching by Lao-tsu, trans. by Stephen Mitchell
Verse 77 contrasts the way-of-heaven (tien) with a typical human pattern of conducting affairs.
Using force to protect one’s power…
From time to time I have encountered someone, or perhaps a company policy, that is a naked, unconcealed effort to extract advantage. Sometimes it is the archetype school-yard bully who demands your lunch. On occasion it’s a customer that uses a verbal threat to coerce advantage. Or the fine print of a warranty, which you discover provides a way out, and the promise of help is worthless. Nowadays the dark-slight-of-hand is the circus like political campaign rally. Never mind the politico is eroding freedom of speech and the rule-of-law by the day.
Have I said enough?
One thought on “Vicious Circle”
As most of us are well aware, those who bully, who usurp, whose hunger is insatiable, whose greed for power is bottomless, are those who feel empty. They sense a void within themselves and believe that the only way to fill that space is through the subjugation of others. And yet it never works. Their emptiness is not created by anything outside of themselves, but they continue regardless. A part the issue is that they do feel fulfilled momentarily when the take from others, but that feeling dissipates almost instantly and so they need to find another person to bully, another pocket to rob, another human to belittle.
I wish I could tell you that somewhere inside of each of these people is a spark of redemptive light that can change someone into an empathetic individual who can erase the destructive nature of their past life. Unfortunately I don’t believe that’s possible. Even though there is a potential of understanding the error of one’s way, the vast majority of the people who find pleasure in the pain of others have no desire to change. Their only goal in this life is to expand their holdings and feel power over others. It is a profound sickness, for it goes against the grain of human nature, which is to improve the species through learning, survival, growth, and procreation. It is indeed an unfathomable conundrum.