{"id":10231,"date":"2026-05-25T00:02:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T07:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vairtere.com\/spill\/?p=10231"},"modified":"2026-05-24T12:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T19:02:15","slug":"chapter-18-tao-te-ching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vairtere.com\/spill\/2026\/05\/25\/chapter-18-tao-te-ching\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 18, Tao Te Ching"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>When humankind strayed from the natural way of life<\/strong>,<br \/>\nRelative social disciplines began to appear.<br \/>\nWhen intelligence and cleverness of mind are admired,<br \/>\nGreat hypocrisy is born.<br \/>\n&#8230;<br \/>\nLet all people return to their true nature.<br \/>\nLove, kindness, wisdom, family harmony, and loyalty<br \/>\nShould not be taught one by one,<br \/>\nSeparately from an honest life.<br \/>\nThen, once again,<br \/>\nPeople will regain the natural virtue of wholeness.<br \/>\nThe world will be naturally ordered.<br \/>\nThere will be no one who singly and cunningly<br \/>\nWorks for personal interest alone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>To say it differently:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When people try to improve upon, and thus deviate from, the way Nature itself naturally functions,<br \/>\nthey develop artificial codes of right and wrong.<br \/>\nWhen knowledge becomes highly abstract, men are deceived by mistaking abstractions for realities.<br \/>\nWhen instinctive family sympathies are replaced by rules for proper conduct then parents<br \/>\nbecome &#8220;responsible&#8221; and children become &#8220;dutiful&#8221;.<br \/>\nWhen corruption replaces genuine benevolence in government,<br \/>\nthen loyalty oaths are demanded of officials.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Again:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When the way of the Tao is forgotten,<br \/>\nmorality and ethics need to be stressed.<br \/>\nWhen the body&#8217;s innate intelligence is not heeded,<br \/>\ndeception becomes routine, and men learn to pretend to be wise and good.<br \/>\nWhen genuine peace among people is not regarded;<br \/>\nfilial piety and compassion are made apparent.<br \/>\nWhen a nation falls into chaos; loyalty and patriotism are renewed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>Once upon a time, I took a Nature Writing course.<\/p>\n<p>The oldest example of nature writing in the textbook was about a hundred years before Thoreau. <\/p>\n<p>In other words, there wasn&#8217;t any need to meditate upon &#8220;Nature&#8221;, until the natural world was starting to permanently disappear from our daily lives. <\/p>\n<p>It is the same, with kindness. <\/p>\n<p>Justice. <\/p>\n<p>And so on. <\/p>\n<p>Feel free to preach noble virtues like these to me. <\/p>\n<p>So long as you remember why you <em>have<\/em> to. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;When humankind strayed from the natural way of life, Relative social disciplines began to appear. When intelligence and cleverness of mind are admired, Great hypocrisy is born. &#8230; Let all people return to their true nature. Love, kindness, wisdom, family harmony, and loyalty Should not be taught one by one, Separately from an honest life. 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