This poem is very ironic in the sense that it begins by telling the reader to be indifferent toward the ups and downs in life “do not be concerned with loss or gain”, and to see the very existence of life as a form of catastrophe “misfortune comes from having a body”; however, at the very end it teaches the reader that the only way to lead a happy life is to do the opposite of what was written in the beginning of the poem. This contrast can be seen by the apparent difference in line two and the last line of the poem, where line two suggest the reader to accept life as misfortune and the last line advises the reader to learn to love his or her own self even when its existence happens to be a misfortune “love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things”. In conclusion, it may be true that misfortune arises from having a vessel for our soul in this world but that is not all there is to life; once we learn the method to counter it then perhaps we can give meanings to life other than misfortune.
2 Responses to Tao Te Ching (#13)
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I agree with what you wrote because the poem is quit confusing. If the author believes ‘misfortune comes from having a body’ and then ‘love the world as your own self…’ How can one love the world like they would themselves, if the first thing they think of is ‘misfortune’ when thinking of themselves. ‘Accepting misfortune as a human condition’ means something entirely different from ‘misfortune comes from the human condition.’
Acceptance is agreeing that life has its ups and downs, but the other lines just means the only reason you have misfortunes is because you’re alive, there really isn’t anything good you can take from that.
So I agree with your point.
Hi!
I agree with your post! This is definitely very iconic and does contradict itself at the ending, which made it a little confusing for me to understand the poem completely at first. I also felt when the author stated, “do not be concerned with loss or gain” he was referring to a very content way of living. It shows how you should only be concerned with yourself and not others. When you compare yourself to others constantly you will live a very unhappy life. I also agree how you stated that the world is filled with misfortune, I believe that author also shows this through the line, “Misfortune comes from having a body” which shows how everyone is only human; to be human we make mistakes, but it is never the end of the world.