A Simple Explanation of the Tao Te Ching -- Verse 18

Prior to reading this post, please acquaint yourself with "Start Here: A Simple Explanation--Basic Principles" in the column on the right side of the screen. The Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is an ancient Chinese collection of 81 wisdom verses. In the "Simple Explanation” model, the Tao spoken of by Lao Tzu refers to the metaversal information and principles of organization that have informed our universe since the moment before creation. Non-being refers to clearing your personal UC of earthly memes and karma. Non-action refers to allowing the original universal UC to direct your personal UC for the greater good. Here is the 18th verse of the Tao Te Ching, which I have translated directly into Simple Explanation terminology from an original verbatim translation by Jonathan Star.

Tao Te Ching, Verse 18

When metaversal principles are disregarded--

Doctrines of good deeds and self-righteousness emerge, along with clever, scheming minds and accumulations of memes.

This gives rise to a great deal of lying and hypocrisy. 

Consequently, relationships between UCs are no longer harmonious.

Preaching about "Duty and Devotion," "Family Values," and "Us Against Them" gives rise to discord and chaos.

Because of the breakdown of authentic cooperation with others, loyal servants appear.

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This verse of the Tao Te Ching shows how sadly misguided is the human condition. It all begins by not acknowledging, listening to, and enacting the metaversal plan. Once off the beam of truth, look what follows... lying, hypocrisy, discord, and chaos. And the need for a class of do-gooders hired to do what cannot otherwise be accomplished due to lack of cooperation.

It's interesting to note that the first efforts the individualized UCs enact on their own is filled with all good intentions. This is "me" doing my ideas of good deeds with all best intentions. But acting out of one's ego-centered point of view is what gives rise to self-righteousness, according to Verse 18. (I am being good! What is the matter with you!?)

Clever minds, self-promoting schemes, and the accumulation of "knowledge," i.e. your personal meme bundle, follow quickly on the heels of the good intentions.

Once the personalized UC becomes self-righteous and full of its own memes, lying and hypocrisy are the inevitable result. Why? Because we are all flawed, imperfect beings when operating out of ego rather than the leading of the universal UC. And who wants others to know how flawed and imperfect we are? Especially if we are holding ourselves out to be more righteous than they are. Verse 18 says it is, ironically, self-righteousness that drives lying and hypocrisy.

At this point in Verse 18, there is a breakdown of familial and tribal relations within one's own family and tribe. Rules of conduct are imposed rather than authentic. Preaching about tribal "isms" replaces real relations of harmony and cooperation. If there is a breakdown of the parent-child relationship, or between siblings, or husbands and wives, then there's a lot of talk about how important family values are and the importance of duty and shows of devotion. But these are now hollow, rule-bound memes rather than vibrant, living relations. Borders are erected around groups of UCs, labeling "Us" against "Them," because once your primary relationships are no longer distinguished by love, differences between "us" and "them" need to be noted and emphasized, elsewise how are "we" any different than "them"? 

Once true harmony and cooperation have ceased, loyal servants are needed to do the work. These servants can be government workers, social workers, household servants... any job that needs to be done that would not otherwise be done due to people following their own private ambitions rather than instantiating the metaversal plan. And note how Lao Tzu specified "loyal" servants... on the servant's part, disciplined loyalty and following someone else's orders has replaced spontaneous action in the here and now and the freedom to do what needs to be done.

All of these outcomes arise from not being in the here and now and instantiating the metaversal plan.

Meme Share: Reading

This meme-share was submitted as a "comment" under the article "Meme Share!"

Reading is one of my all time favorite hobbies. I find myself mostly reading both nonfiction or fiction books (verses magazines or the local newspaper) and find that reading is a great way to relax, learn something new, see the world through the eyes of someone else, experience another point of view, etc



Meme Share: How Can I Be of Service to You?

Here's a good meme that embodies the joyful duty of every UC:

"How can I be of service to you?"

"How can I be of service?" is a reaching out to others with help; "to you?" reminds us that it is really only here and now that we can effect any change, so the other, the "you," is someone who needs help standing right there in front of you, not halfway around the world.

Meme Share: Pay It Forward

Here's a meme-share that was left as a comment under the article "Meme Share!"

A meme I like is "Pay It Foward"; defined as doing a favor for another person without any expectation of being paid back.

It feels great to give/help others. By not expecting a favor of being paid back, one can fully enjoy that particular moment of giving to another person.

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"Pay it forward" can be seen in one of the basic principles of the Simple Explanation: reaching out to others with love and information (i.e. favors)

Meme Share: Sharing My Best With You

Here is a meme share from one of our regular readers: 

"Today I am sharing my best being with you"

my best service, my best effort, my best everything, especially when someone asks me for some favor.

I was looking for "what can I get?" instead of being my best for you.

I am going to make miracles appear if I decide to share my best with you Now, now in this moment. This way I prevent worrying about "How long will it take?" or "How will I do it?".

Meme Share: It Is What It Is

Here's a helpful meme for you:
 

It is what it is.

Realizing that "the way things are is the way things are" brings freedom from the burden of judgment and allows you to embrace reality.

Here and now there is only the situation in which you find yourself. Wishing you were somewhere else, doing something else, with someone else, is a recipe for discontent and poor outcomes.

Does this mean you have to like the way things are? No. Just let it be.

Does this mean that things have to stay the way they are? No, nothing ever stays the same. But, how can you "see the ball, move the ball" when your UC is blinded by unhelpful memes and disabling emotions?

Realizing that "it is what it is" allows you to be fully present. 

When you fully accept that "it is what it is," you see the situation clearly. When you are fully present, you are able to see what needs to be done here and now, and what your role in that is.

When you accept that it is what it is, you no longer stimulate negative emotions with thoughts of how it "should" be and how unfair it all is. When your mind is not trapped in memetic "shoulds", you are free to look around you at how things really are and how you can best help out.

First accept. Then act as the metaverse leads.

Here's how Eckhart Tolle shares this meme in his book, Stillness Speaks.

When you completely accept this moment, when you no longer argue with what is, the compulsion to think lessens and is replaced by an alert stillness. You are fully conscious, yet the mind is not labeling this moment in any way. This state of inner nonresistance opens you to the unconditioned consciousness that is infinitely greater than the human mind. This vast intelligence can then express itself through you and assist you, both from within and without. That is why, by letting go of inner resistance, you often find circumstances change for the better. (p.68)

A Simple Explanation of the Tao Te Ching -- Verse 51

Prior to reading this post, please acquaint yourself with "Start Here: A Simple Explanation--Basic Principles" in the column on the right side of the screen. The Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is an ancient Chinese collection of 81 wisdom verses. In the "Simple Explanation” model, the Tao spoken of by Lao Tzu refers to the metaversal information and principles of organization that have informed our universe since the moment before creation. Non-being refers to clearing your personal UC of earthly memes and karma. Non-action refers to allowing the original universal UC to direct your personal UC for the greater good. Here is the 51st verse of the Tao Te Ching, which I have translated directly into Simple Explanation terminology from an original verbatim translation by Jonathan Star.

Tao Te Ching, Verse 51

The Metaverse gives life to all things;

the Universal UC nourishes and protects them.

Every one of them materializes the form that best suits their nature, 

and challenging circumstances bring them to maturity and perfection.

Because of this, there is not a single UC that does not worship the Metaverse and treasure the Universal UC.

The Metaverse, honored.

The Universal UC, held dear. Truly, without it being demanded.
Yet constantly they come, each UC of its own accord.

This is why the Metaverse gives life to all things.

The Universal UC nourishes and protects them. 

Raises and ripens them,

nurtures them and educates them.

Shelters them. 

Matures them.

Sustains them and breaks them down.

Gives birth and yet does not claim possession of them.

Helps without expecting payment in return.

Fosters growth yet does not exercise authority.

Called secret, profound, obscure, mysterious, this Universal UC.

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The translation above is based upon the cosmology explored in the Simple Explanation. Star's verbatim translation of "te" is "virtue" or "power." I have translated "te" as "principles of perfection" and "vitality," known as "chit" and "ananda" in Yogic philosophy. In identifying "te" as the Universal UC, I had the womb-like toroidal shape of the Universal UC in mind. Here we can see the undifferentiated unity of the metaverse separated out from the womb of creation where all things become manifest.

from the Simple Explanation article "Diagramming the Ineffable"

Notice that all things arise from this male/female creation principle, where the metaverse (male) supplies the spark of consciousness and organizational principles and the universal UC (female) contains, sustains, and nurtures the offspring.

Furthermore, Verse 51 makes clear that all things are "alive," not only the life forms we recognize. This is why the Simple Explanation treats every thing equally. Every thing is a fractal replication of the original Unit of Consciousness--the Universal UC. Therefore, every thing is an equally conscious being--a UC. The Simple Explanation suggests that what distinguishes one UC from another is its particular expression, which includes such variables as its material localization in time and space (i.e. point of view), its hierarchical organizational level, and its unique meme bundle and karmic record.

from the Simple Explanation article Nested Hierarchies

The depiction of the Divine given in Verse 51 is lovely. Far from being any kind of tyrant forcing mishaps and unfair destinies upon its unwilling subjects, this is a generational force that includes both male and female archetypes, providing every sort of nurturing care to its offspring. Despite its ability to command honor, respect, and devotion as the Great Creator and Sustainer, all UCs are free to honor their Creator spontaneously, in their own way, and free to construct their own destinies.

"I" am not my Ego

My Ego is not really "me," even though that's who I usually think I am.

We think of the mind and ego as ourselves, but this is the delusion. Yes, the "me" package reflects our personalities, but "I" am much more than the meme bundles and karma of this personality.

Nor am "I" my mind. My mind is a tuning device that scans for and locks onto "my" meme bundle. The Ego feeds on the memes tuned in by my mind. My mind is directed toward its preferred memes by my karmic record. Ego is not a conscious entity. Ego is only a construction--a garment cast over; a vessel containing; the shadow outlining, "my" self's Unit of Consciousness (UC).

Underneath the garment of "me" resides a perfect fractal of the originating unit of consciousness, my Self. "I" am a Unit of Consciousness, identical to the universal UC.

"I" have the choice at every moment of time to either identify with "me" and my bundle of memes, or to identify with the universal unit of consciousness and the bigger picture that transcends personal identity.

• The Egoic "Me" is selfish, competitive, single-minded, short-sighted, meme-bound;
• Transcending Ego, "I" reach out to others with love, help, and information for the betterment of all.



Here is a more detailed definition of "I" from my article 9, "Who Am I?" 

For most people, the answer to "who am I?" is that I am my self-aware sense of "me" encased in this body of mine. This Simple Explanation theory says we are that, but also we are the things we love and hate, plus the record of our actions in this world, overlaid upon our UC. Think of a UC as a perfect echo or wave form "shaped" exactly like God's mind. You might say our universe is populated by exact echoes of God's primordial UC. The UCs are all identical--they're all reflections of the God UC. What makes "me" different from "you" is the pattern of my meme bundles and karma that overlay or filter out my UC.

The Self UC is a perfect reflection of the God UC. But "I" (the subjective sense of "me") am not that perfect, because of my meme attachments and karma.

 

Reality or Virtual Reality?

"Virtual reality" refers to our ability to use computer-mediated telepresence, either in real life or in fiction.

In real life, for example, virtual reality helps pilots train in flight simulators, and it's what makes it possible for pilots on the ground to monitor the flight of drones.

In fiction, virtual reality goes further, usually blurring the user's ability to tell where they really are and what they are really doing. In the Matrix, for example, the people immersed in virtual reality (VR) believe themselves to be living ordinary lives much like our own, when in reality they are lying in cocoons and dreaming electronically-stimulated, immaterial lives.

In Avatar, VR users have manufactured meat-bodies that they operate through computer-mediated telepresence, like drones. These 3-D meat avatars go about in the material world while the operator's actual body sleeps.

In the Star Trek universe, the VR holodeck provides a closed stage upon which the user's 3-D presence is "clothed" in VR. In that form of VR, the user is awake and present, but they cannot believe their eyes.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice that these VR stories are metaphors of the ancient puzzle concerning material vs. immaterial existence. If we, as the ancients say, are nothing more than units of consciousness truly existing on the immaterial plane, and these lives of ours are nothing more than projections of maya with no inherent existence outside of pure consciousness, then this "material" plane of ours is virtual reality.

To carry this metaphor further, our minds are the computers that mediate our pure consciousness and project them onto the virtually real stage of the world.

Small wonder writers all over the planet are now turning out VR stories--VR is a spiritual uber-meme. Yours truly is one of those authors. My novel, Reality Crash, written with my friend, Lou Grantt, is a fast-paced, near-future tale of a man awakening to the virtual reality nature of his world. I'd like to encourage you to buy and read my novel. You can buy it at any online bookstore, but Lou and I make the most money if you buy it at our lulu.com storefront. It comes in paperback or pdf. Reality Crash is also available for only 99 cents on Kindle.

 




To Purchase Reality Crash, please click here



Process Note: Interpreting the Tao Te Ching

Reading sacred texts often leaves one puzzled. This puzzlement arises two ways--either the reader is not sufficiently spiritually evolved just yet to understand the writing, or the translator has not quite understood the text and translated it erroneously.

Every morning, prior to meditating, my husband and I sit together and read aloud from a variety of sacred manuscripts. These manuscripts always include three different versions of the Tao Te Ching. It is interesting to see how the different translators interpret Lao Tsu so differently.

Oftentimes, some lines in a verse will not make sense to me as translated. Looking to a different translation often clears up the confusion. Now that I have my hands on "The Definitive Edition" of the Tao Te Ching translated by Jonathan Star, I can look up the original pictograms and the multiplicity of possible meanings, and then write out for myself a translation that makes sense to me. I have been progressing thusly through the Tao Te Ching for several years now.

Since coming up with the "Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything" a year ago, the Tao Te Ching has become much less mysterious to me. This explanatory power proves to me the spiritual utility of the Simple Explanation's cosmological model.

 Here's how I go about translating the Tao Te Ching:  

For every verse in the Tao Te Ching, Star's Verbatim Translation provides the Chinese character, the number of the character's radical, an English transliteration of the character using the Wade-Giles system, and most importantly for my purposes, a list of English equivalents for each character.

So, for example, the first character of Verse 21, k'ung, is translated as "Vast/all-embracing/high[est]/ great/grand/empty/ >surname of Confucius: K'ung Fu Tzu". The second character of Verse 21 is te, "Te/virtue/power }}highest virtue/a man of great virtue/"the natural expression of Power"(Wing)"

Reading the entire stanza of 8 characters for context helped me to choose "Highest virtue" as the Simple Explanation's translation. I used this process for all 71 characters of Verse 21 to come up with the Simple Explanation of the Tao Te Ching, Verse 21.

Here's a picture of two pages of Verse 27 from the verbatim section:



if you click on the image, you can make it bigger