Verse Thirty Three

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From: jimclatfelter
Posted: Sat May 17, 2008

Verse Thirty Three
Herman Ould, 1946

To know others is to be clever;
To know oneself is to be enlightened.
He who conquers others has strength,
But he who conquers himself has strength and courage indeed.
To know when one has enough is to be rich.
He who pursues a course with energy may attain his goal;
But to remain in one's proper place is to endure;
And he who dies yet does not cease to be
Achieves the blessing of true longevity.

Verse Thirty Three
Stephen Mitchell, 1988

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.

If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.
If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.

Verse Thirty Three
Daodejingle, 2000

It may be said that you are wise
To see yourself as others do
But you are wiser still to see
From your own central point of view

Then you see you have it all
With riches now and here
And in your view completely
Whenever vision's clear

Living in the present
It's long you will endure
And though you die you linger
Where all remain secure

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From: jimclatfelter
Posted: Sat May 17, 2008

To know when one has enough is to be rich. Herman Ould, 1946
If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich. Stephen Mitchell, 1988

Riches lie in the outward view.

If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.
Stephen Mitchell, 1988

Security lies in the inward view.

In Seeing lie both riches and security.

Jim

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From: Steve Palmer
Posted: Sat May 17, 2008

Hi Jim

It's nice to see your translation of the Tao Te Ching given in the examples.
I have enjoyed it since first stumbling apon it.Thanks you.

I just heard the song version at soundclick.com "All in All "by Headless Tao and KC.
I enjoyed it and wondered have you put out an audio reading of The Headless Tao...?

On The Text:

The lines " Knowing yourself is true wisdom " rings true and seems to be the work of a lifetime....

Though maybe it's to know there is an essential mystery ( unknowing ) about the boundless unchanging space ............... amid the ever changing details of a life.

Steve

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From: jimclatfelter
Posted: Sun May 18, 2008

Hi Steve,

Imagine that! I didn't even know about the song. I'm glad you told me about it. I like what he did with it. He has a nice voice, and he plays the guitar very well. I haven updated the Geocities website in years. I don't even know how to do it anymore. I suppose I should try to update my email address on the Headless Tao page. I haven't had that address in many years. It was nice he put my name along with his as author and copyright holder. I didn't put a copyright on the verses. As a consequence of that, I get a beautiful song out of it. I'm going to contact him, if I can, to express my appreciation.

I have been working on a revision of the original. I will have more time for that soon. I am retiring completely and moving to Palm Springs in the California desert on June 8. I'll post the new website when the revision is further along. The verse that I posted is a revision of the original. Now that I know how the tune goes, I can sing this verse too.

Jim

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From: simon
Posted: Tue May 20, 2008

Quote:
And he who dies yet does not cease to be
Achieves the blessing of true longevity.

This sounds - if considered from 3rd person point of view - really mystical and magical and rather improbable.
Yet - from present evidence , here & now, zero distance 'point of view' - what could be more simple and plain?
And, of course, free from any 'advantage over others': for what is left here to claim advantage or benefit?
Just our "un-birthright", space, wonder and - greeting every impression that arises - love.

Jesus is quoted as saying much the same, and I dare guess this is known by as many as allow it to rest uncovered

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From: jimclatfelter
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008

Hello Steve, Simon, and All,

I have a tape of a radio interview Douglas gave in San Francisco. The interviewer was names Will. I can't remember his last name, and all my tapes and books are packed in boxes ready for a move on June 8, so I can't look it up. Anyway, Will mentioned this verse, quoting the opening lines about knowing oneself being wisdom. Douglas replied that, with all due respect to Lao Tzu, that he doesn't know himself; he sees himself. And there is a big difference between the two statements. One doesn't know the essence and mystery. One sees it and lives it. That's one of the reasons I change knowing to seeing in the Daodejingle.

Know Nothing Jim

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From: Steve Palmer
Posted: Sun May 25, 2008

Hi Jim

Re: Seeing and Knowing in The DaodeJingle

I had a conversation with Anne Seward about Seeing and she mentioned the phrase " only don't know "

Something clicked into place ...... how much I don't know anything about the mystery........ and at the same time you can notice you are built wide open.
Douglas would say" wide open for Love"

It just occured to me that maybe " Know Thy Self "
should be " See Thy Self "
or even

" See the Wide Open Mystery of Thy Self that contains All "
Not very poetic ....and in need of Douglas's pointing experiment.

A Finger Pointing at the Moon of Headless Conscious Space and the Unknowable.

I look forward to reading the revised " Headless Tao"
All the best for the move on June the 8th.

Wide Open Mystery Steve

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From: jimclatfelter
Posted: Sun May 25, 2008

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the good wishes on the impending move.

I'm with you (and Anne) on this one. It all hinges on seeing. I don't need (or want) a theory or an explanation of what I am seeing. Complete presence is in the seeing itself. That's enough for me, satisfying in itself. Wanting an explanation is likely to spoil the seeing. There are so many possible theories of what seeing means. So many people have a pet theory or spiritual tradition they think gets to the bottom of things. It could be said that Seers see the bottom of things. Everyone sees it, but Seers notice it. If seeing is any kind of knowledge, it's direct and immediate. It's not in words or names, as Lao Tzu says repeatedly.

No Clue Jim

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