Protect Your Noggin

18.

When men lose touch with the Tao, they focus on legalism and charitable giving. This leads to scheming; then great hypocrisy ensues. Genuine love breaks down in a family; then relatives start to insist on family obligations. The nation falls into chaos, then people insist on partisan loyalty. 

17.

The best leader goes unnoticed.
Second best is the one who’s loved.
Third best is the leader who’s feared.
The worst is the leader who’s loathed.

If you don’t trust people,
there’ll be a lack of trust all around.

Great leaders
choose their words artfully.
Then, when they 
achieve something great,
everyone owns the endeavor
as if it were their idea from the start.

Bournes is a poet, hip hop artist & singer. He discusses his experiences in Long Beach public schools and later a conservative Bible college, laments some of the important elements that were lacking, and offers provocative but timely reflections on ways to reimagine education and other systems of society. This was recorded in front of a limited group of Micah at the Honors Living-Learning community at CUI. Micah has just released a book of poetry called Here Comes This Dreamer and is about to release a pop album with the artist Lucee. He reads two poems from his book and discusses a recent hip hop track which is included in this episode. For more about this compelling artist check out https://www.micahbournes.com.  [Apologies for the mic gain being too high at first but it smooths out after the first couple minutes]

The galaxies blast out from the center of the universe; wait for their fall back to the center.

How internalizing virtue, and cultivating virtue in cultures is better than legalism, and how transcending legalism helps us to surf the Tao and evade religious and ideological manipulators. The three chapters we focus on for this lesson are 18, 27, and 38.

This chapter offers a vivid picture of what it looks like to surf the Tao. This isn’t about mere appearances, façades, or false egos. It’s about the way in which a person of integrity acts as if he or she is being witnessed.The way we treat a delicate flower or helpless baby bird who’s fallen out of a nest, or our neighbor’s lawn when we walk our dog says something about our alignment with goodness, truth and beauty. It says something to ourselves, even when no one else can know.

Look, but you can’t see it: it’s vague. Listen, but you can’t hear it: it’s silent. Reach, but you can’t grasp it: it’s intangible.  Yet these three longings to perceive lead back to the One. There’s no heaven more wondrous than this. There’s no shadowy world darker than this. It’s everlasting and nameless. Wave upon wave, threads of energy spool out from it.Then everything drifts back into the void.

It is the shape of the shapeless. The portrait of the invisible. It’s incomprehensible. Greet it, and you’ll see it has no face. Chase after it, and you’ll find it has no backside.

Master the ancient art of being present; recognize the timeless source of all existence: follow this ancient thread and you’ll discover the secret to surfing the Tao.

The ancient Taosurfers were cool cats. They had poise. They demonstrated balance. They exuded integrity and compassion. But today, Taosurfers seem like bums to some. They seem not to be players. But maybe they’re playing a different game altogether. We discuss chapters 15, 20, and 67 of the Tao Te Ching. Jeff discusses how some racists in his world led him to lose his cool; Stacie applies Lao Tzu to the situation in order to explore more effective ways of being an antidote to a toxic situation instead of internalizing the poison of hate.

What does it mean that praise and shame invite anxiety and fear? Praise puffs you up; shame tears you down. Trying to stay on top brings fear that you will fall. Fear of failure keeps you from rising up.

12.

Focusing on flashy things 

blinds eyes to beauty. 

Listening to a cacophony of voices

makes it hard to hear the truth.

Too many spices will dull your taste buds.

Lust for luxury will drive you mad.

Riches entice men to evil deeds.

Therefore, the Sage

attends to essential nourishment

instead of mind-numbing diversions.

She selects healthy food,

ignoring empty calories.

Reflection

This chapter is especially relevant to our marriage. My (Jeff here) personality type is such that I love constant stimulation, spicy foods, loud music, and extroverted experiences. These can be fine for a time, but they definitely can overstimulate Stacie. Moreover, this chapter teaches that despite my penchant for overstimulation, I’m at my healthiest when I focus. It’s not that I need to lose flavor. Lao Tzu is saying that my problem might be that I’m failing to focus on the simple but deep flavors all around me. This can be understood in an emotional, professional, or spiritual way. But it is also literally true. I sometimes put too much seasoning in food, and the result is that it’s hard to appreciate the distinct flavors that were in the dish. I need to constantly remind myself to focus on good quality ingredients, with great flavors, but let two or three flavors work together to create a culinary experience. 

The original Chinese of this chapter actually speaks about three sets of five. We chose not to relate that original way of speaking because we think it’s better to carry forward the core concept and meaning than the clever but foreign idioms from ancient China. That said, the original approach is fascinating for reflection.

First, there are the “five colors” which dazzles the eyes or distracts. Think not about a color palate here, but rather colors that represent five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water). Often, rulers would choose a color to represent the character of their reign. Interestingly, in the I Ching, the “color” black is associated with water (an important element in the Tao Te Ching of course) but also Heaven. Think the “dark mother” or “profound mystery” mentioned here and there throughout Lao Tzu’s work. The point for this chapter is that we can become distracted when we chase after too many things in this world. Trying to chase everything, we sometimes end up with nothing in our grasp.  

Second, there are “five sounds” which could be thought of perhaps as notes. But again, the main point here is that there are voices, like siren songs, that can lead us astray. We need to stay focused on the true voice, or rather: the voice of truth, and ignore false voices like unjust criticism from enemies, negative self-talk, flattery, or even the rhetoric of cults. This chapter invites us to quiet the noise a bit so we can really discern what’s up in this raucous world. 

Third, there are “five flavors” which could relate to sour, sweet, bitter, etc., but once again, the main point is the self-defeating path of gourmandizing. In other words, people who chase after too many sensual experiences find themselves numb. This is true especially of the super wealthy who lose zest for life, since they’ve become bored by luxurious pleasures. It is also true, however, for drug users who have chased addictions but ended up with a tolerance for the substance of choice. They consume more and more of the drug with fewer and fewer payoffs. 

In all this, we have an opportunity in our day. Until recently, things were getting way too noisy. Too many of us were super busy but failed to really be present for our families. We might have been racing from event