For Friday: Tao te Ching, Verses 22-47

Read the range of 22-47 for Friday's class, but remember, you don't have to read one poem after another like chapters in a novel. You can do that, or you can skip around, reading the first lines and waiting for one to capture you. Sometimes what I like to do is read the even poems, then go back later and read the odds. Just try to read a few poems very closely, even if you skip around a bit.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: As I mentioned in class, some versions break Verses 1-37 into "The Book of Tao," and Verses 36-81 into "The Book of Te." Do you see any obvious difference in poems 38-47 that would suggest that something has changed? Or do they seem to be variations of the same themes we've already encountered?

Q2: In Western culture, we have a famous adage that goes, "you can't love others until you love yourself." Do you think the Tao te Ching would agree with this? If so, why? What verse seems to explain why this is a more important step than simply loving and serving others?

Q3: In Verse 41, the poet seems to be talking about education itself--perhaps even our modern notion of college. How might this describe an experience you yourself have observed in a classroom? Why might some people take a great effort to know certain material while others simply mock it? Why does the poem suggest that this is a very "Tao" experience?  

Q4: It seems that one of the main purposes of the Tao te Ching is to lead the reader to a larger understanding of the world and their place within it. But so much of the advice says to ignore wisdom, avoid the sages, and speak as little as possible. So where does one find "the Way" if you can't walk it or speak of it? How DO you become enlightened with such a philosophy? Where do you find it? What do you study? Where do you go?