Knowing

During the past couple of weeks we have been reviewing Tao Te Ching and it has been a struggle for me. I had never heard of taoism before, so there was a lot of background knowledge I needed to study before I could find some meaning to the poems.

This website was a really useful source in assisting me understand Tao Te Ching :


http://www.phenster.com/lot-archive/Archive-Stories/Tao-Te-Ching.html

Finding that information and more on Tao Te Ching makes me feel confident in analyzing one of the poems on my blog. So reflecting on the way I see Taoism, I hope you are able to relate and make sense of my analyzation! The poem I will analyze is knowing.

Without taking a step outdoors
You know the whole world;
Without taking a peep out the window
You know the color of the sky

The more you experience,
The less you know.
The sage wanders without knowing,
Sees without looking,
Accomplishes without acting.

My analyzation:

Taoist principles stemmed from Confucius, Tao means way. The main focus was balance, in order to have balance, you must lead a happy humble life. Tao Te Ching used opposites to reflect an understanding, for example, the more you experience the less you knokw. These opposites make a fuller meaning, experience brings about change and excitement to ones life, you never know what will come, these experiences can bring changes or activities you will never understand, but have done.

Another example "without taking a peep out the window, you know the color of the sky." This relates to the Taoist idea that we are always focused on what we don't have rather than what we have. We don't value the sky for the clouds, the sun, sunsets; we just know it is there, never taking the time to study it or be thankful it is there everyday and night. This poem could also relate on the fact we need emptiness to make us whole. If we didn't go through trials and tribulations, we wouldn't be thankful for the good times when we have them. The line "The sage wanders without knowing," makes me think of the way in Taoism, there is no right or wrong in the way, so it is possible for the sage to wander without knowing. The line "sees without looking and accomplishes without acting." brings me to the understanding of how we reach our "humble" life. As said before Taoism relates to opposites and how they integrate with one another, the point is to not necessarily find but live a balanced, peaceful, humble life.