Translation by Sifu John A. Fey
1 treat yourself with respect as you cultivate the tao
way of life
2 authentic wisdom as revealed knowledge can become overpowering and make you afraid because its implications are profound and far-reaching
3 the force of revealed knowledge
can sometimes make you feel small and insignificant push you to austerity and make you feel undeserving
4 the sage wise man is not afraid and is content to be overpowered
5 know that you are vast and significant deserving of all the good things that life has to offer and life will always be at your fingertips
1 MIND and BODY: This is a very important concept.
Even in Lao-tzu's time, many people engaged in self-negating spiritual pursuits that focused on the inherent evil in men and the corruption and hardships of normal existence. Taoism, the antithesis of that thinking, saw mankind as naturally divine and day-to-day existence as a continuing opportunity to more fully realize that divinity. It follows then that man, inherently good, should live life with joy and gusto.
2-5 MIND: Because we are unaccustomed to listening to it, we can become unsettled when the soul speaks to us. Invariably, it tells us that to gain new ground we must give up the comfort of preconceptions. Yet, we must learn to invest in loss and become comfortable with the idea. The Taoist Mystic learns to enjoy the poverty of illusion because he knows that as an expression of the Tao Source it he gives up what he has, he is only making room for something more wondrous to come in. Indeed, wonder is his birthright.