One on tip-toe cannot stand.
One astride cannot walk.
One who displays himself does not shine.
One that justifies himself has no glory.
One who boasts of his own ability has no merit.
One who parades his own success will not endure.
In Tao these things are called ‘unwanted food and extraneous growths,’
Which are loathed by all things.
Hence, a man of Tao does not set his heart upon them.
The image we have here is of a man trying to make himself
appear taller and better, by standing on the tips of his toes. As we know, such a position can’t be
maintained for long, we sway and totter about, eventually our strained muscles
rebel, and we are forced to return to the height nature made us.
Not only are we then lowered in the estimation of our fellows,
but the attempt to be something more than we are brings shame and
ridicule.
Deep down, we all know that it is weak of us to resort to ‘standing
on tip-toes’ but we are so desperate to have others think well of us that
sometimes the temptation is irresistible.
One who displays himself does not shine.
A photo is taken and the man thinks the image becomes him –
he decides to post it on Facebook. He is
displaying himself it is because he needs some kind of recognition. He is a vulnerable person who, by lacking in intrinsic
self-regard, must try and obtain it on the outside. Maybe he gets the regard he seeks, but the
moment the warm feeling has passed, it becomes nothing more than a memory, growing
more hazy with every moment…
It occurs to him that he needs the regard of others to be
more effusive next time, and to be ‘liked’ by more people. His efforts must be doubled! But as he tries harder and harder, as he works
on himself to become more and more dazzling, his spirit is made weary by the
effort. Doubts start to creep in. What if this doesn’t work? But he labours on regardless, looking more
and more desperate in the process…
The truth is, we all deep down understand what true human
value is. And we recognise when people
are trying to acquire a sense of value through unintelligent means. This is why the self-displayer doesn’t shine
for us. Whether we are conscious of it or
not, we only pity and perhaps despise those who are weak enough to resort to this.
One that justifies himself has no glory.
If you’re justifying yourself, you are tacitly admitting
that what you are doing is not so special.
Clearly you think that the people can’t see your grandeur for themselves,
and need to have it pointed out.
But the people know grandeur when they see it!
Like the vain man from the previous line, an erroneous and
quite patronising belief has crept in.
The people, it seems, aren’t able to judge for themselves. But once they have your grandeur pointed out
to them, then they will see it well enough.
Or will they?
One who boasts of his own ability has no merit.
It is a psychological truth that the need to boast is itself the absence of merit. And we all know this from experience. When we
are doing something that is truly of value, we have this deep belief in its
worth – we know it will find its
audience of its own accord.
Not only does this make us feel that boasting is
unnecessary, the experience of expressing true talent actually makes us more
humble. The sensation of high expertise
is simultaneously the sensation of another power helping us out. We feel that the results exceed even our own
expectation, and it feels wrong to take all the credit.
Only when this deep faith is absent, do we attempt to create
it artificially by persuading our fellows to tell us of our worth.
One who parades his own success will not endure.
There are lots of reasons why. Primarily it is because parading your success
goes hand in hand with a product that is second rate, and of doubtful appeal to
the people. Secondly, parading your
success aggravates the people, and makes them vindictive, which is nature’s way
of restoring the false person to their natural stature. Finally, the people will ultimately recognise
that the need to parade is a sure-fire advertisement for inferiority and will
avoid what you offer on that account.
In Tao these things are called ‘unwanted food and extraneous growths,’
Which are loathed by all things.
Hence, a man of Tao does not set his heart upon them.
Even the most wholesome dish of fruit, vegetables and grains
is only wholesome as long as the appetite exists. If you continue to eat beyond
satiety, then even this food will make you ill.
It will nauseate you to think back on it.
The person who must boast, parade and display is certainly offering
something counterfeit, something that we have hardly any appetite for. It is likely to be a sham, a parody of
something that is actually wholesome, and so therefore might appeal temporarily
whose discernment is not good.
The man of Tao is the one of great discernment. He sees immediately the sham product, even
while all his less insightful fellows are enraptured. The sage is therefore unable to participate
in much that preoccupies the others. All
that can be seen is that, in time, his judgement shall prove to have been sound.
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