Mystical identity

A random chapter of the Tao Te Ching for this sunny and breezy afternoon in early May.

I'm presenting it in four versions: the first from the Stephen Mitchell interpretation maintained by Brooklyn College-CUNY; the second, the Jane English and Gia-fu Feng version; the third by the translator Red Pine; and the fourth by Taoist scholar Ellen M. Chen.

You'll notice that each interpretation refers to the subject matter in different terms. Mitchell calls it primal identity, English calls it primal union, while Red Pine says "dark union"; "dark" perhaps being a reference to the feminine, receptive, and/or that which is not easily perceived using our ordinary senses and intellectual processes.

Chen's reference to "mystical identity" pulls all of the interpretations together. While at first glance the differences seem confusing and contradictory, in fact that's what mysticism is all about ... union, the interconnectedness of all things, which is our primal characteristic. ("Primal" in its meaning of first importance or fundamental.)

As this chapter demonstrates, popular misconceptions notwithstanding, mystical can also be quite practical.

56

Those who know don't talk.
Those who talk don't know.

Close your mouth,
block off your senses,
blunt your sharpness,
untie your knots,
soften your glare,
settle your dust.
This is the primal identity.

Be like the Tao.
It can't be approached or withdrawn from,
benefited or harmed,
honored or brought into disgrace.
It gives itself up continually.
That is why it endures.

56

Those who know do not talk.
Those who talk do not know.

Keep your mouth closed.
Guard your senses.
Temper your sharpness.
Simplify your problems.
Mask your brightness.
Be at one with the dust of the earth.
This is primal union.

He who has achieved this state
Is unconcerned with friends and enemies,
With good and harm, with honour and disgrace.
This therefore is the highest state of man.

56

Those who know don't talk
those who talk don't know
seal the opening
close the gate
dull the edge
untie the tangle
soften the light
join the dust
this is called the Dark Union
it can't be embraced
it can't be abandoned
it can't be helped
it can't be harmed
it can't be exalted
it can't be debased
thus does the world exalt it.

56

One who knows does not speak.
One who speaks does not know.

Stop the apertures,
Close the door;
Blunt the sharp,
Untie the entangled;
Harmonize the bright,
Make identical the dust
This is called the mystical identity.

Therefore with this person you cannot
    get intimate.
Cannot get distant,
Cannot benefit,
Cannot harm,
Cannot exalt,
Cannot humiliate.
Therefore such person is the exalted
    of the world.

Comments

[Cindy L]

Being an incessant talker who's trying to overcome it, I found all of these translations helpful and beautiful.

We can say so much more with silence sometimes, and it isn't always necessary to "have our say." I need to remember that, but it's tough in a world that seems to thrive on confessional writing, blogging, memoir, and more! :-)

[Kitty]

For a writer, it can be dog-goned challenging. :D