Laughing Ourselves To Death
41
When a superior man hears of the Tao,
he immediately begins to embody it.
When an average man hears of the Tao,
he half believes it, half doubts it.
When a foolish man hears of the Tao,
he laughs out loud.
If he didn’t laugh,
it wouldn’t be the Tao.
Thus it is said:
The path into the light seems dark,
the path forward seems to go back,
the direct path seems long,
true power seems weak,
true purity seems tarnished,
true steadfastness seems changeable,
true clarity seems obscure,
the greatest art seems unsophisticated,
the greatest love seems indifferent,
the greatest wisdom seems childish.
The Tao is nowhere to be found.
Yet it nourishes and completes all things.
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, trans. by Stephen Mitchell
It is is not for everyone.
Sensitivity to the Tao is not populist; impossible to mass-market, scale-up to commodify. No question there is an elitism about Way-making practice. Perhaps a genetically endowed disposition or due to fate and circumstance – only “the few” are oriented toward a Taoist sensibility.
Taoist reality evades the constraints of conventional meaning. In this world you cannot even be unorthodox. I dare say here, heresy alone makes sense!
A first principle that resists every label is anarchic. From anarchy all manner of opposing conditions arise in tension, oppositions develop to become defined. Such a beginning is the source for every stressor, every contemporary friction that rips us, personally and collectively.
The few who recognize the rich, chaotic, (unstable) resource which produces meaning and madness – then he/she settles into their work, the life-long project, becoming a “maker” to manifest a masterpiece, what can made of the one life they’ve been given.
The majority, the “average,” literate-to-some-extent-Joe, the man-on-the-street will respond to the Tao with a “meh,” caring enough not to care. He/she cares more about getting a ticket for the Bear’s game coming up.
Finally there’s the verbally reactive, laugh-out-loud-crowd. The very notion of creating meaning from infinite possibility – such strikes them as stupid. These are the subscribers to the religio-political ideologies that populate the blogosphere. Minds are already made up, certain about right and wrong, the good and evil – of others.
Self protection is a divine right, bedrock, 2nd Amendment of the Constitution, and white citizens ought to own, to carry on their person, at their discretion, any weapon of their choice, any where, at any time…
Oh, pay no attention to the slaughter of innocents entailed when such a “truth” is absolute, made universal. Those who already know will die laughing because minds-made-up are obscured from the Tao.
Vertigo, – I’m feeling somewhat disoriented. How about a song?! This one describes our illusions, the fetishes… She Talks To Angels by The Black Crowes.
2 thoughts on “Laughing Ourselves To Death”
The elements of dysfunctional populism seem embodied in your post. I agree with all that is said though I too may come across as the intellectual elitist. I often wonder if my propensity to identify with those who appear to be able to assess themselves in a supposedly clearer light is only a defensive mechanism. A shell from within which I can look out and feel superior to the average Joe. There is probably some truth to that analysis.
I then reverse the frame of reference and know with some assuredness that the “average Joe” I scoff at is looking back at me and thinking the same thing. That the so-called intellectual he sees in me is blind to the necessities of everyday life. That he/she is correct beyond reproach in their own understanding of how life should be lived.
So who is correct? We are all, for the most part, subjective creatures groping for some semblance of truth, each living in a bubble of our own making. Ultimately though, there is no right or wrong, no correct or incorrect way to live. Nature will take her course regardless of our personal desires or perspectives. As Homo sapiens flame out, another life form will fill the gap until our planet is swallowed by an over ripe sun. That is how it works. No harm, no foul.
Is it necessary that one or the other viewpoint be correct? Why not both? Each point of view has some weight of truth, even if incomplete… Yes, there are many ways to live, adaptations to circumstance which are always in flux. Why not recognize our kinship with nature, and thus with one another, no matter the difference between us? Difference does matter but so does kinship.
As to the heat death of our star, that is a very long way off by human scales of time.