A Good Man is Like Water.

This quote can be translated, `A good man is like water. Water benefits all without competing.' This illustration includes a man with a hose, a dog biting the hose, and a cactus. My first thought upon reading this section of the Dao De Jing for the first time in college was about title waves and hurricanes. Those are examples of water that can cause damage or harm. My analytical western mind has been trained to find flaws and exceptions. The point of the passage, that being a good person should be done without ego and ostentation, is always something I ponder. It is hard to do good and not expect something in return. If I had that level of selflessness, I wouldn't be divorced. I would have good relations with everyone.

Recognize Beauty and Create Ugliness

`The world recognizes beauty as beauty. Ugliness is created from this.' That's my translation of the second line of the second section of the Laozi's Dao De Jing. There are literally dozens of English translations of the Dao De Jing. Like many sections of the Dao De Jing this quote challenges the dualistic view of the world that is pervasive in the West. In the Dao De Jing all things are relative and thus somewhat futile to try and define absolutely. If you grew up on an island where everyone was ugly, let's say warts on their face, overweight, with a blotchy purple rash covering their bodies, and had never seen a person that didn't look like that, would you consider them ugly? I don't think so. In fact, the islander with a few less warts might look absolutely beautiful to you. I remember summering in Cape Breton Island as a teen. My brothers and I shared the initial impression at the beginning of the summer that the girls were quite homely. By the end of the summer they looked a lot better.