Death to Ego! Long Live Your True Self! (Tao Te Ching Chapter 7)
“Le Creux” by Augustine Mallinson (AKA Fraug, @fraugstein), created on the eve of the pandemic.
7.
Heaven and earth
are long-lasting
They go on and on
because they do not
exist for themselves.
So they endure forever.
Likewise, the sage
puts herself last
yet comes out ahead.
She dies to her ego
yet she finds life.
See how this makes her selfless?
And this is how she becomes
her true self.
Earth doesn’t hoard its minerals. The sky doesn’t hoard the falling rain. Yet they are always replenished. So it is with all the best things in life. Love creates more love. Faith cultivates faithfulness in others. Hope inspires hope in the hearts of our fellow travelers in this life.
Lao Tzu teaches that by reflecting on nature, we find that our human desire to hoard and cling to temporary things is counterproductive. By following the way of nature, a sage can stop trying to claw toward the front of a line, or the top of a pyramid. This doesn’t make her a pushover. It is by no means a call to neglecting one’s own needs and safety. Instead, it’s about realizing what really matters and where our true abundance lies.
We tinkered with the second stanza of this translation for a while. It is incredibly important, yet we worry it can be easily misunderstood. Too often, self-denial or humility is what the oppressive powers preach to people who are already forced to deny themselves or humble themselves before those in control of society. That’s not what’s going on here. Rather, by ignoring the illusory treasures of life, we are free to focus on the real priceless stuff. By not worrying about the false values of a hectic world, we can cultivate transcendent value. The key word play in this chapter is about the difference between what we are rendering ego and the part that is the self. The Tao Te Ching teaches the wise person to take care of self, to let it grow and flourish, but to stand aside from ego, the false self that we concoct for others to love.
The good news here is that by letting go of false desires, we find ultimate fulfillment. This resonates with what Jesus said in Matthew 20:16: “The last shall be first, and the first shall be last.” And in Luke 17:33: “Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.” Both Lao Tzu and Jesus encourage us not to ignore our true selves, but rather to get the ego out of the way so our true and love-enlivened selves can shine forth. From death to life! From fear to love!