Number Eighteen Non-Alignment
18
the army triumphant
the politician victorious
the Tao is lost.
Lesson # 18
When our connection with the Tao
is lost, the great pretense begins.
We create lists of what is good and bad,
what we should and shouldn’t do,
what is right and what is wrong.
We obey our elders,
serve our masters,
obey out of loyalty and fear,
and kill our earth.
From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching
Number Eighteen: Non-Alignment
When one has lost an alignment
with the natural unfoldment of the universe
one is lost
The great pretense begins
We invent morality and define what is and is not goodness and kindness
We attempt to replace natural alignment with intelligence and manners
and in the end we get tripped up by our own hypocrisy
Families become autocratic
with elders demanding obedience
Whole countries become confused and disoriented
and fervent unthinking patriotism is born
NUMBER EIGHTEEN
Great Tao lost,
There came the duty to man and right conduct.
Wisdom and shrewdness appearing,
There came great hypocrisy.
The six relationships inharmonious,
There came filial piety deep, deep in the heart.
Kingdoms, families, and clans at war,
There came loyal Ministers.
Isabella Mears, The Tao Teh King, A Tentative Translation from the Chinese, William McLellan, Glascow, 1916.
Number Eighteen (commentary) What is your life like in this Age of Chaos?
All around us we are witnessing the collapse of family systems, political structures, institutions of justice, educational curriculum. All these are under attack, and all are swerving out of control.
Our grandparents would be shocked to see what we accept as normal: school shootings; super-hurricanes and year-long droughts; billionaires racing to Mars, while their workers don’t have enough money to eat or to see a doctor; religion and opinion taking the place of science; violent rebellions; terrorist bombings; incessant war.
We have forgotten how simple it could be if we lived with a deep love of nature and with compassion towards each other.
Tangent and Tool #18, Keeping kindness local: (Reflective exercise) We have three paths ahead of us.
One, we can decide that we understand the working of the universe and ‘mansplain’, parading our knowledge, wisdom and moral beliefs for all to benefit from.
Two, our awareness of the loss and suffering around us can become so painful that we need to resort to escape into numbness, addiction, diversion and hopeless immobility. It is so easy to let our awareness of all the challenges before us become an immense burden.
Or three, we can take little actions. The best antidote to both arrogance and despair is to make one other person’s life a little better. We are the most communal pack-animal on the planet, and we are hard-wired to serve. What other animal can be found in “hives” of over a million individuals around the globe?
Generosity leads to increased happiness. Brain scan research has confirmed this. But you need to confirm this for yourself. Perform this experiment. On a day when you feel sort of blah (or worse), note the date and time. Now take a walk or do an errand out of the house, and on that trip do something nice for someone. It can be face-to-face or just an anonymous act of kindness. Do that all day. Now note and write about your mood and how (or if) it has shifted. This is a good experiment to repeat on a regular basis.