The Heights of Harmony (Tao Te Ching 55)

55.

He who’s full of Te is like a baby.

Scorpions don’t sting him.

Ferocious beasts don’t eat him.

Eagles don’t carry him off. 

His bones are supple.

His muscles are soft.

But his grip is tight. 

He doesn’t know what sex is yet,

but he gets erections.

That’s how much vitality is in him.

He can wail all day 

without losing his voice.

He knows the heights of harmony.

Knowing harmony is called high fidelity.

Knowing fidelity is called clarity.

Fretting about longevity is unfortunate.

It taxes the mind and heart, 

needlessly wasting vital energy.

When folks think that it’s important

to be rigid in order 

to be a responsible adult, 

they go against the Tao.

Whatever goes against the Tao

will end in ruin.

Written Reflection

When our late son Auggie was four years old, I took him fishing on the Schuylkill river. I don’t think we caught anything. Not sure exactly what we would have been after. It was a long time ago. But I remember we had a great time. At one point, Auggie spotted a flock of birds and ran into their midst. As they flew off, he kept running with them for as long as he could. Once they left him, he dropped his shoulders and trudged back to me.

I asked him what was wrong.

Holding back tears, he said, “I’m too heavy.”

It seems he thought he was meant to be a being unbound by gravity. The Neoplatonists of old might have said this was his memory of some previous connection to a transcendent realm. Hindus might suggest his spirit once animated a bird. Whatever the case, children have the gift of seeing the material world in its purity and wonder. They haven’t learned to assume they could control the flow of the world. They are open to it. They seek to understand it.

Over time, we learn that some things are not possible. We also learn that we can work to make small changes in our world through effort. As much as this helps us navigate day to day existence, it also holds us back from possibilities that yet exist. Adults too often think it’s important to be rigid and avoid getting duped. They forget the joy of being supple like a baby. Perhaps this is what Jesus was after when he said that it is impossible to enter the kingdom of heaven without becoming like little children. (Matthew 18:2-4)

—Jeff