18      Pretense

When the great Tao is abandoned, benevolence and righteousness arise.

When wisdom and knowledge appear, great pretense arises.

When family ties are disturbed, devoted children arise.

When the people is unsettled, loyal ministers arise.

Pretense

Tao is the Way of the universe. If we just follow it, there is no risk of going wrong. But when we deviate from it, we are sure to make mistakes, no matter how noble our intentions are. Following Tao is doing what is natural. Anything else is a mistake, leading to complications, shortcomings, and confusion.

            Benevolence and righteousness are fine qualities, but they are no guarantee of doing the right thing. If our loss of the Way is substituted by ever so good intentions, they are still just substitutes. Using them as compasses for our actions is bound to lead us even more astray. Our good deeds turn out to have bad consequences, because they lack the understanding of how things work at length in this world.

            Lao Tzu was no friend of knowledge and wisdom. He saw them as meager substitutes for a true understanding of Tao and sincere acceptance of its terms. At the Chinese emperor’s court, he had seen wise men use their wisdom for their own advancement. They played their roles with cunning and cleverness, but rarely used their mental resources for the benefit of all.

            Even when used with the best intentions, knowledge is a poor guide, compared to awareness of Tao. It creates a false understanding of the world, therefore it leads to false conclusions. Anyone wise enough to recognize this has the choice of either throwing it all away in search of Tao, or insisting on all that knowledge being a perfectly reliable substitute for Tao.

            There is pretense in claiming that wisdom finds the Way, and there is pretense in claiming that knowledge penetrates Tao. They are insufficient substitutes, no matter how pompously they present themselves.

            The family ties are sacred in China, as well as in most societies in the world. The Confucian tradition describes those ties as duties. Lao Tzu implies that they are natural, as is shown among animals. There is no debate involved in it, nor should rules be at all necessary. But when Tao is lost, so are the natural family ties.

            If the children remain devoted to their parents, there seems to be no need for complaint, but this devotion is odd and flawed. There are conditions, from the children towards the parents, as well as the other way around, even when the bonds seem unconditional. Parents have expectations on their children, and children have demands on their parents. Devotion is a contract that usually contains a lot of fine print.

            In that way it devotion can be compared to pretense.

            Another kind of pretense is that of loyal ministers. Their loyalty is always conditional – mainly in the sense that it is given to the one in power at the moment. A ruler who loses power will instantly lose the loyalty of the ministers, who move on to praise whoever sits on the throne next.

            When the people is unsettled, changes in government are more likely to take place. That makes the ministers more eager to demonstrate their loyalty, in order to keep their own positions in the turmoil, but also that loyalty is actually less trustworthy in such a situation. Those ministers who proclaim their loyalty the loudest are the most likely to shift it the moment that’s to their benefit.

            If the people is unsettled, it means that the country is in some kind of turmoil, where the former order of things is no longer the case, at least not to the extent that people can rely on it. This is indeed a country far from Tao he natural order of things.

            When Tao rules, there no struggle over leadership. That starts the moment the country loses its calm. Then ministers and other officials will suddenly appear all over the palace, assuring the ruler how loyal they are. This is nothing but a sign of unrest, and the ruler who doesn’t meet such loyalty with utmost suspicion and wariness will not stay in power for long.

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