A major theme that seems to be emerging in the poem “Ten” is dichotomy. Dichotomy is a contrast between two things that are represented as entirely unalike; it can be good and be bad at the same time. By Tao’s use dichotomies one can understand that viewing life in clear cut options with no grey area can be the cause of problems. The poem then ends with “This is primal virtue” I immediately think as this as the middle ground or the grey area that talks about in every line. For example, “Attending fully and becoming supple, can you be as a newborn babe ?”, when someone attends fully they are being there or in the moment. Whereas when being supple you are simply letting go. Tao then describes the grey area or primal virtue as a baby. A baby is a perfect analogy because a baby is able to pay a great amount of attention but is so pure and unburden that it’s easy for it to detach.
Tao Te Ching, 10
February 2, 2017 Written by j.guzman3 | 1 Comment
Categories: Uncategorized
1 response so far ↓
j.yatcha // Feb 2nd 2017 at 9:01 pm
There is definitely a great deal in this poem about dichotomy. Tao distinguishes between brith and nourishing, bearing and possessing, working and not taking credit, and leading and not dominating. Tao ends off by saying “This is the Primal Virtue”, Tao is expressing the great value in being able to distinguish both sides of a dichotomy at the same time. This is not an easy task and person who trains themselves to be able to do such a thing is to be admired.
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