Als ik mijn wijze vriend Lao Tze even het word mag geven.
(Helaas heeft hij de Nederlandse taal nog niet onder de knie)
Ik denk dat dit stuk wel passend is in dit gesprek:
2. LETTING GO OF OPPOSITES.
It is the nature of the ordinary person, the person who is not yet at one with the Tao,
to compare the manifestations of the natural qualities possessed by things. Such a
person tries to learn of such qualities by distinguishing between their manifestations,
and so learns only of their comparative manifestations.
So it is that the ordinary person might consider one thing beautiful when compared
with another which he considers to be ugly; one thing skillfully made compared with
another which he considers badly made. He knows of what he has as a result of
knowing what he does not have, and of that which he considers easy through that
which he considers difficult. He considers one thing long by comparing it with another
thing which he considers short; one thing high and another low. He knows of noise
through silence and of silence through noise, and learns of that which leads through
that which follows.
When such comparisons are made by a sage, that is a person who is in harmony with
the Tao, that person is aware of making a judgement, and that judgements are relative
to the person who makes them, and to the situation in which they are made, as much
as they are relative to that which is judged.
Through the experience and knowledge through which he has gained his wisdom, the
sage is aware that all things change, and that a judgement which is right in one
situation might easily be wrong in another situation. He is therefore aware that he who
seems to lead does not always lead, and that he who seems to follow does not always
follow.
Because of this awareness, the sage frequently seems neither to lead nor follow, and
often seems to do nothing, for that which he does is done without guile; it is done
naturally, being neither easy nor difficult, not big or small. Because he accomplishes
his task and then lets go of it without seeking credit, he cannot be discredited. Thus,
his teaching lasts for ever, and he is held in high esteem.
|