Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
Sure, there's wisdom here. But much of it sounds like Aristotle and Aquinas' bumpkin cousin. You'll find "natural law" and even an unmoved mover here. You'll find dislike of what is new, and what feels to me like a constrained, joyless golden mean as well.
Underwhelmed. I love Le Guin and appreciate that for her and many, this book is a wellspring. I'm sorry; I haven't found much water here.
Underwhelmed. I love Le Guin and appreciate that for her and many, this book is a wellspring. I'm sorry; I haven't found much water here.
A beautiful translation with a wonderfully illustrated explanations. Everyone ought read The Tao once.
Fazla kapalı bir dil kullanılmasına rağmen kitabın derinliği hissedilebiliyor.
It is difficult for me to describe it in just a few words. It is ambiguous, yet very clear. It would argue that its principles are interesting, to say the least.
"Because he believes in himself, he doesn’t try to convince others. Because he is content with himself, he doesn’t need others’ approval. Because he accepts himself, the whole world accepts him." (p.55)
"Since all things vanish into it and it alone endures, it can be called great. It isn’t aware of its greatness; thus it is truly great." (p.60)
"If you keep your mind from judging and aren’t led by the senses, your heart will find peace." (p.83)
"When they lose their sense of awe, people turn to religion. When they no longer trust themselves, they begin to depend upon authority." (p.106)
"When taxes are too high, people go hungry. When the government is too intrusive, people lose their spirit." (p.109)
"Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it." (p.113)
("Tao Te Ching"-A New English Version, with Foreword and Notes, by Stephen Mitchell; 2004, Harper-Collins e-books)
"Because he believes in himself, he doesn’t try to convince others. Because he is content with himself, he doesn’t need others’ approval. Because he accepts himself, the whole world accepts him." (p.55)
"Since all things vanish into it and it alone endures, it can be called great. It isn’t aware of its greatness; thus it is truly great." (p.60)
"If you keep your mind from judging and aren’t led by the senses, your heart will find peace." (p.83)
"When they lose their sense of awe, people turn to religion. When they no longer trust themselves, they begin to depend upon authority." (p.106)
"When taxes are too high, people go hungry. When the government is too intrusive, people lose their spirit." (p.109)
"Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it." (p.113)
("Tao Te Ching"-A New English Version, with Foreword and Notes, by Stephen Mitchell; 2004, Harper-Collins e-books)
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
The translation definitely matters and if this is your first encounter with this text, this is the wrong translation
medium-paced
Rip Lao Tzu, you would've loved Twitter. 3.5/5.
In all seriousness, I do get the appeal. This serves as a good reminder about many trivial things that we often tend to forget in life. Overall, I think I (fundamentally) lack the seriousness this book requires for me to enjoy it unironically—I kept reading parts of this in a white guy podcast voice (I know I am the problem, but oh well, I digress).
I'd recommend this only if you're into philosophy.
In all seriousness, I do get the appeal. This serves as a good reminder about many trivial things that we often tend to forget in life. Overall, I think I (fundamentally) lack the seriousness this book requires for me to enjoy it unironically—I kept reading parts of this in a white guy podcast voice (I know I am the problem, but oh well, I digress).
I'd recommend this only if you're into philosophy.
inspiring
reflective
Those who think to win the world
by doing something to it,
I see them come to grief.
As an introduction to the Tao Te Ching Ursula K. Le Guin's interpretation satisfies the layman. It breathes, it persuades. It is likely rather inaccurate in places. This didn't matter much to me. I could also imitate Lao Tzu --
The scholars who thought
they could understand the Way
by being faithful to it
were the first to drift off-course.
Taoism evokes something Beckettian inside me. The silence is perfect and adding my voice to it only hides the thing itself. Never within one's grasp. I cannot earnestly say whether any of this means anything at all -- is Taoism nothing but clever paradox and rhetoric?
My words are so easy to understand,
so easy to follow,
and yet nobody in the world
understands or follows them.
I don't believe it is meaningless. Just don't ask me to interpret anything at all. Let me say no more.
Thoughtful people hear about the Way
and try hard to follow it.
Ordinary people hear about the Way
and wander onto it and off it.
Thoughtless people hear about the Way
and make jokes about it.
It wouldn't be the Way
if there weren't jokes about it.
by doing something to it,
I see them come to grief.
As an introduction to the Tao Te Ching Ursula K. Le Guin's interpretation satisfies the layman. It breathes, it persuades. It is likely rather inaccurate in places. This didn't matter much to me. I could also imitate Lao Tzu --
The scholars who thought
they could understand the Way
by being faithful to it
were the first to drift off-course.
Taoism evokes something Beckettian inside me. The silence is perfect and adding my voice to it only hides the thing itself. Never within one's grasp. I cannot earnestly say whether any of this means anything at all -- is Taoism nothing but clever paradox and rhetoric?
My words are so easy to understand,
so easy to follow,
and yet nobody in the world
understands or follows them.
I don't believe it is meaningless. Just don't ask me to interpret anything at all. Let me say no more.
Thoughtful people hear about the Way
and try hard to follow it.
Ordinary people hear about the Way
and wander onto it and off it.
Thoughtless people hear about the Way
and make jokes about it.
It wouldn't be the Way
if there weren't jokes about it.
I’m hoping to read more philosophy and ethics this year and thought I’d start off with this breezy read. It felt extremely idealistic almost to the point of parody, but there’s something so compelling about that. It presents a worldview of acceptance, emptiness, returning to nature, being yielding and working without credit. It presents the “good” we should strive for as something without acclaim or praise, but rather for the benefit of others. It’s an optimistic, kind, and rather beautiful world view and I think I’m better for reading it, but it also feels very far from being practical in today’s age, at least following it as prescribed. But viewing it as a guide, a suggestion to empty myself and not hold so tightly to possessions, ideas, beliefs, I think it’s a lesson I could really use.