What is meant by “the true man”?

The true man of ancient times did not protest against poverty,
did not boast of plenty and
did not calculate the effects.
If he made mistakes
he did not regret,
and if he was successful
he did not become complacent

Being like this he could ascend the heights
without fear;
he could go into the water
without becoming wet,
and into the fire
without being burnt.

This is the knowledge by which
he can ascend to the Tao.

Zhuangzi by Zhuang Zhou, trans. by Hyun Hochsmann and Yang Guorong, The Great and Honored Teacher

Since the beginnings of recorded history thoughtful individuals have proposed a variety of things that distinguish humans within our habitat, the context of nature. These proposals are necessary, I think for a language enabled mammal. Language, symbol making ability is the proclivity for making distinctions. The inheritance of language is a great asset.  Language is a survival value, as well as the leverage to multiply pleasure. Who does not desire to find in common the pleasure of a good meal, or of a good poem with someone else? Conversation always multiplies one’s sensation of delight.

Language and knowledge go together. There is a fundamental problem however. Knowledge is what is meant by the “thing” silently present, in the dark backstage, – of our use of words. That something pointed to is: the real. Language is not “made up out of whole cloth”. Lest we forget, that’s what is meant by a lie. Still, “the real” is uncertain is it not? Language is a pointer to the uncertain.

These lines are nothing less than a thought-experiment. The Taoist Zhuang Zhou, like every thoughtful human tells a story of an idealized original human, a “true man/woman” whose link with “the real” is unaffected by surface change which always is the nature of life in the world.

I was reminded of another intellectual tradition that offers a similar thought experiment/story of idealized humanity, a fantastical origin story. Check out the Second Adam statement found in I Corinthians authored by the Apostle Paul. The on-the-table-offer, the dissonance presently experienced by you and I, is about to be remedied. This life is a “mulligan” and you can have a do-over.

It is a provocative, even an attractive story. When fire no longer burns nor water leaves you wet. Or better, be resurrected with an immortal body.

As for me, I’ll be satisfied to remain with the uncertainty.