Aiming for Confident Humility

Before meditating today I read this:

[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), page 151, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]

24.
Those who stand on tiptoe are not steady.
Those who stride forward do not go.
Those who show themselves are not luminous.
Those who justify themselves are not prominent.
Those who boast of themselves are not given credit.
Those who brag do not endure for long.
From the point of view of Tao, these are like remnants of food and tumors of action,
Which all creatures detest.
Therefore those who possess Tao turn away from them.

Some thoughts:

Being sure of ourselves - seems like a good thing. And yet humility in the face of the world opens up the universe to us.

In a culture that seems to be attracted to brash displays of confidence over modest avenues of inquiry, it seems like we have a lot of repair to do in this realm.

Personally, balancing confidence and humility is a constant aim.

This balance is fundamental to Jewish mystical thinking, encapsulated by the teaching of Rabbi Simcha Bunim, and early Hasidic thinking, who was famously known to have taught:

Everyone must have two pockets, with a note in each pocket, so that they can reach into the one or the other, depending on the need. When feeling lowly and depressed, discouraged or disconsolate, one should reach into the right pocket, and, there, find the words: "For my sake was the world created." But when feeling high and mighty one should reach into the left pocket, and find the words: "I am but dust and ashes."

Wishing everyone a good day.

Do less harm

Shabbat Shalom.

Before meditating today I read this:

[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), page 149, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]

19.
Abandon sageness and discard wisdom;
Then the people will benefit a hundredfold.
Abandon humanity and discard righteousness;
Then the people will return to filial piety and deep love.
Abandon skill and discard profit;
Then there will be no thieves or robbers.
However, these three things are ornament and not adequate.
Therefore let people hold on to these:
Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.

My thoughts:

Adam Grant’s latest book, Think Again, has a lot of good things to say about not getting too attached to one way of doing things. This passage may be saying something similar. Grant offers us the idea that we should be confidently humble - having faith in our abilities to make a path forward and humble about knowing what that path might be.

Intellect and knowledge, integrity and humanity, skills and abilities, we often think these might be enough. And yet, without the plainness, simplicity, and less self-centered approaches, they may not serve us all that well.

In an interview with Ezra Klein, George Saunders noted that kindness started with “doing less harm”.

Wishing everyone a good weekend and Shabbat Shalom.