Culture of Ancient China :: Ancient World Culture

animadvert a collection of poems whose date of authorship has not been determined. Imagine a Chinese thinker about whom little is known and whose authorship of the poems has been challenged. thusly read statements like these Accept being unimportant and Give up learning, and put an end to your troubles. You have entered the mysterious manhood of The Tao Te Ching. disrespect their cloudy and distant origins, the poems make many another(prenominal) statements that may sound inquisitively familiar to contemporary Americans. The Tao describes the allure and artificiality of wealth as it reaffirms the value of a modest, fit life Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it. / Retire when the work is done. / This is the way of heaven -- a refreshing antidote to the keeping-up-with-Joneses syndrome. The Tao relocates humans in an ecological consideration where the company of humans is but part of a natural populace order Love the world as your own self and then you ca n truly care for all things. How appropriate this injunction is today, when many people worry that they must care for the physical environment that must, in turn, care for them. At the same time, the Tao questions the value of abstract thinking in favor of selfless action Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom. / It is to a greater extent important / To realize ones true nature. And, the Tao recognizes the limitations of coercive power and encourages leading, not dominating, for sure a desirable profile for leaders of the future, where consensus-building might take stance of patriarchal authority.For all its difficulties (of translation, of transliteration), the Tao offers a restorative vision of a balanced human life lived in the context of a natural world community.