The Tao Te Ching for Everyday Living

Tao Te Ching Verse 71: Working Toward Conscious Awareness


Listen Later

Send us a text

Tao Te Ching Verse 71

translated by Hua-Ching Ni

One who regards one’s intellectual knowledge as ignorance has deep insight.
One who overrates one’s intellectual achievement as definite truth is deeply sick.
Only when one is sick of this sickness can one cease to be sick.
One who returns one’s mind to the simplicity of the subtle truth is not sick.
One knows to break through conceptual knowledge in order to directly reach the subtle
truth of the universe.
This is the foundation of one’s health!

Photo by Harry Cunningham on Unsplash

Break On Through to the Other Side

Jim Morrison’s song lyrics aren’t all that far off from this second part of the verse.  He starts out talking about the day destroying the night and night dividing the day.  Hmm, sounds kind of Yin and Yang to me.  Then there are the last couple verses in the song that talk about there being a side of life that is there and different from our immediate perceptions.

In this Tao Te Ching Verse, Lao Tzu says that because we recognize that our minds can’t think us into blissful enlightenment, just that recognition alone is what allows us to look in a different direction that unlocks the door to connection with the Tao.  

To me, this is clear only after I have taken some time to reflect how the Tao isn’t a concept; rather, it’s a thing we call that universal truth that we are always experiencing.  Some folks call it God, some call it the universe, some call it Allah, some call it the Buddha, nirvana, Shiva, Kali - while there are subtle differences in each of those personifications, the list of ways we refer to that universal truth are pretty much the same.  It is the spiritual energy that moves around and through us, of which we very much are a part.  

You can’t start a gasoline-engine car by getting in and willing it to turn on.  We can’t access the Tao just by enhancing our knowledge of it.  The car needs a key, a human to turn the key, and a bunch of other parts to work together.  We must open ourselves to the Tao, be willing to be vulnerable with it, allow it to show us things and do things for us.  We must feel the Tao to access it.

So not gonna lie, this seemed impossible for me in the beginning.  Mostly because I had no idea what I was supposed to do.  But, with a little patience and by practicing some of the other verses in this book, I was able to catch a clue, and as long as I continue to practice, I find that truth after truth is revealed as I progress. 


...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Tao Te Ching for Everyday LivingBy Dan Casas-Murray

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

100 ratings


More shows like The Tao Te Ching for Everyday Living

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,411 Listeners

Tara Brach by Tara Brach

Tara Brach

10,403 Listeners

Philosophize This! by Stephen West

Philosophize This!

15,034 Listeners

SLEEP MEDITATION with Lauren Ostrowski Fenton by Lauren Ostrowski Fenton

SLEEP MEDITATION with Lauren Ostrowski Fenton

1,116 Listeners

10% Happier with Dan Harris by 10% Happier

10% Happier with Dan Harris

12,522 Listeners

Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee by Dr Rangan Chatterjee: GP & Author

Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee

4,047 Listeners

Eckhart Tolle: Essential Teachings by Oprah and Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle: Essential Teachings

3,760 Listeners

Huberman Lab by Scicomm Media

Huberman Lab

28,326 Listeners

Learn Buddhism with Alan Peto by Alan Peto

Learn Buddhism with Alan Peto

208 Listeners

Alan Watts Being in the Way by Be Here Now Network / Love Serve Remember Foundation

Alan Watts Being in the Way

720 Listeners

The Way Out Is In by Plum Village

The Way Out Is In

1,228 Listeners

Tao Te Ching - Laozi by Laozi

Tao Te Ching - Laozi

0 Listeners

Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching

4 Listeners

Power for the Peaceful: A Course in Tao by Marc Mullinax

Power for the Peaceful: A Course in Tao

13 Listeners

AuDHD Flourishing by Mattia Mauree

AuDHD Flourishing

89 Listeners