For me the fascinating thing about the Tao Te Ching is that it's not a work of philosophy, it's more like Cliff's Notes for the self-evident structure of the Universe.
(The story is that Lao Tzu (which just means "wise old man") was leaving the city never to return and a gate guard stopped him and begged him to leave behind some written wisdom. The result is the Tao Te Ching.)
For example:
Every victory is a funeral for kin.
This is literally true: we are all related, we are all kin.
Or again, the passage on leaders:
With the best kind of leader
When the work is finished
The people all say
"We did it ourselves."
Obviously, there is a universe of wisdom on leadership compressed here into a handful of characters. All conventional ideas on leadership were summarized in the previous few verses, then completely destroyed and transcended in this verse.
And the whole book is like that. Chapter after chapter, the most intense wisdom condensed into the most evocative and inspiring verse.
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In re: thinking it's true, Like I said above, it's not describing propositions that may or may not be true, like a philosophy or a religion. There's no story in it to believe or disbelieve. There is nothing like "God is Love" or "The Force is 42". There is no "Sky Daddy" in it. It's almost like a manual in Logic, like something Smullyan would write. E.g. "The Tao that can be talked about is not the real Tao." is straight outta Gödel, eh?
Precisely. Also all the other works (philosphy/religion) have elaborate contraptions to describe what it/God/ is. TTC is the only one that starts out with it cannot be told.
Its a pity that you feel it is some made-up nonsense and doesn't reflect the world in some way. Helps us give a different perspective on how or what things are. But that is alright, different things appeal to different people.
It doesn't matter one bit to the things/ideas whether we believe in them or not. It matters to us what we believe in.
(The story is that Lao Tzu (which just means "wise old man") was leaving the city never to return and a gate guard stopped him and begged him to leave behind some written wisdom. The result is the Tao Te Ching.)
For example:
This is literally true: we are all related, we are all kin.Or again, the passage on leaders:
Obviously, there is a universe of wisdom on leadership compressed here into a handful of characters. All conventional ideas on leadership were summarized in the previous few verses, then completely destroyed and transcended in this verse.And the whole book is like that. Chapter after chapter, the most intense wisdom condensed into the most evocative and inspiring verse.
- - - -
In re: thinking it's true, Like I said above, it's not describing propositions that may or may not be true, like a philosophy or a religion. There's no story in it to believe or disbelieve. There is nothing like "God is Love" or "The Force is 42". There is no "Sky Daddy" in it. It's almost like a manual in Logic, like something Smullyan would write. E.g. "The Tao that can be talked about is not the real Tao." is straight outta Gödel, eh?