Chuang-Tzu, the Taoist philosopher is credited with these words:
- Unawareness of one’s feet is the mark of a pair of shoes that fits.
- Unawareness of the waist is the sign of a belt that fits.
- Unawareness of right and wrong is a sign of a mind at ease.
When I last taught the above quote at the high school where I taught, my students easily integrated the first two parts of the quote – that we only pay attention to the things that annoy us – like when our shoes or belt aren’t comfortable.
We discussed how irksome the intermittent buzzing of the school intercom was and how, one day, probably a week after it ended, we noticed that it had stopped. We had been great at noticing it when it was bothering us, but we didn’t notice when it stopped because it wasn’t annoying us anymore.
The third part of the quote “unawareness of right and wrong is a sign of a mind at ease” is a concept that is a little more difficult to grasp.
To re-phrase it: the more we pay attention to ideas of right and wrong, the less happy we will be.
If we think “the intercom oughtn’t buzz,” we set ourselves up against reality – a situation in which “the intercom does buzz.” The Sufi mystic Hafiz says this suffering we experience is rooted in our belief that we know better than God. The more we think “this is right” and “this is wrong,” the further we are from accepting the world as it is.
Deep discomfort
There is a famous quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet in which the eponymous protagonist says, “…for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Lao-Tzu echoes that thought when he says, “Stop thinking, and end your problems.”
When we think that “it” is good or bad, we cause discomfort.
We all have a hard time accepting life as it is. Sometimes more so than others.
I just had this experience checking in for an American Airlines flight. I had opened a Citibank credit card that offered free checked bags, but when I got to the airport, I got charged. (I booked on American Airlines and used my American Airlines credit card, but as the first leg of the trip was on an Alaska Airlines plane, the baggage fee wasn’t waived.) “This isn’t right,” I thought and expressed that sentiment to the airline representatives. I was certain I was right and that I had been wronged. But, really, it’s just how it is. My being “right” didn’t change anything except my level of annoyance. (Actually, a nice supervisor at Citibank customer service later did give me a statement credit because she, too, thought it seemed “wrong.”)
The Bible records God saying, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” That is, the text records exactly what I am saying, with perhaps a little Biblical hyperbole – knowing good from evil is spiritual death. Notions of right and wrong lead to metaphorical death, an end of innocence.
Don’t think. Be.
I’m suggesting that we can get ourselves into trouble – and we can get ourselves out of trouble – by minding how strongly we hold to the notions of “right” and “wrong.”
You might have a strong reaction to what I’m writing. And, that’s fine. I’m just suggesting that the more heated your reaction is, the worse you might be making it for yourself. It’s like the bamboo finger traps or quicksand where the more you struggle, the worse it is.
Stop your thinking. Be in life.
This week’s #wisdom_biscuit: Relax.
