BOOK REVIEWS

I’ve been studying the ancient wisdom of the Tao Te Ching since 1997 when I was 24-years old. This period is shortly after graduating from Georgia Tech and preparing for the manic working world. With the complexities my next journey was to bring, I required balance and simplicity to overcome. The work of Lao Tzu, which consists of five thousand pictograms (dubbed Text of Five Thousand Signs by the Chinese), would become my life scrolls instilling esoteric acumen, prudence, and judgment within. The scripts still resonate today and constitute both philosophical and religious Taoism dating back to the sixth century B.C. They patiently await any pupil with the ear of understanding and sight of reversal awareness (R.A.). Te can be translated as “virtue” or “strength” and lies within Tao, meaning “natural law” – signifying “Simply be.”

          Kimatni D. Rawlins

Evolved individuals know that people who are not intuitive can be dangerous to work with since they are guided solely by the current appearance of things that are, in reality, changing. Unintuitive actions and decisions lack dimension, and what is worse they may interfere insensitively with the natural process of change and cause dangerous counter reactions. Evolved individuals seek out others who have intuition and vision – a form of intelligence that comes from cultivating the instincts, observing the direction of change, and apprehending the evolution of ideas. 

Lao Tsu-

Twenty-Two

Yield and overcome;

Bend and be straight;

Empty and be full;

Wear out and be new;

Have little and gain;

Have much and be confused.

Therefore wise men embrace the one

And set an example to all.

No putting on a display,

They shine forth.

Not justifying themselves,

They are distinguished.

Not boasting.

They receive recognition.

Not bragging.

They never falter.

They do not quarrel.

So no one quarrels with them.

Therefore the ancients say, “Yield and overcome.”

Is that an empty saying?

Be really whole,

And all things will come to you. 

A truly good man is not aware of his goodness,

And is therefore good. 

A foolish man tries to be good,

And is therefore not good. 

A truly good man does nothing,

Yet leaves nothing undone.

A foolish man is always doing,

Yet much remains to be done. 

When a truly kind man does something, he leaves nothing undone.

When a just man does something, he leaves a great deal to be done.

When a disciplinarian does something and no one responds,

He rolls up his sleeves in an attempt to enforce order.

Therefore when Tao is lost, there is goodness.

When goodness is lost, there is kindness,

When kindness is lost, there is justice.

When justice is lost, there is ritual, 

Now ritual is the husk of faith and loyalty, the beginning of confusion.

Knowledge of the future is only a flowery trapping of Tao.

It is the beginning of folly. 

Therefore the truly great man dwells on what is real

and not what is on the surface.

On the fruit and not the flower.

Therefore accept the one and reject the other. 

Tao is the source of ten thousand things.

It is the treasure of the good man, and the refuge of the bad.

Sweet words can buy honor;

Good deeds can gain respect.

If a man is bad, do not abandon him.

Therefore, on the day the emperor is crowned,

Or the three officers of state installed,

Do not send a gift of jade and a team of four horses,

But remain still and offer the Tao.

Why does everyone like the Tao so much at first?

Isn’t it because you find what you seek and are forgiven when you sin?

Therefore this is the greatest treasure of the universe. 

Truthful words are not beautiful.

Beautiful words are not truthful.

Good men do not argue.

Those who argue are not good.

Those who know are not learned.

The learned do not know.

The sage never tries to store things up.

The more he does for others, the more he has. 

The more he gives to others, the greater his abundance.

The Tao of heaven is pointed but does not harm.

The Tao of the sage is work without effort.