Verse Thirty Six

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From: jimclatfelter
Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008

Verse Thirty Six
Witter Bynner, 1944

He who feels punctured
Must once have been a bubble,
He who feels unarmed
Must have carried arms,
He who feels belittled
Must have been consequential,
He who feel5 deprived
Must have had privilege,
Whereas a man with insight
Knows that to keep under is to endure.
What happens to a fish pulled out of a pond?
Or to an implement of state pulled out of a scabbard?
Unseen, they survive.

Verse Thirty Six
Arthur Waley, 1934

What is in the end to be shrunk
Must first be stretched.
Whatever is to be weakened
Must begin by being made strong.
What is to be overthrown
Must begin by being set up.
He who would be a taker
Must begin as a giver.
This is called €dimming€ one's light.
It is thus that the soft overcomes the hard
And the weak, the strong.
"It is best to leave the fish down in his pool;
Best to leave the State's sharpest weapons wherenone can see them."

Verse Thirty Six
Daodejingle, 2000

You cannot be diminished
Unless you've been inflated
You cannot be defeated
Unless you've been elated

You cannot be belittled
Unless you've been esteemed
Unless you're wholly missing
You cannot be redeemed

The soft and slow can overcome
The rigid and the hard and fast
Just see your inner emptiness
For nothing else is made to last

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From: jimclatfelter
Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008

One who feels punctured must once have been a bubble.

No one can take you down a notch unless you consider yourself in some way superior. If you see yourself to be the ultimate inferior and downcast €cast down below the bottom line€then you can't lose rank.

"Pride goeth before a fall." I suppose this expresses the same idea, but I like the humor in Bynner's words.

Jim

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From: simon
Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008

This verse does seem to come under the "embarrassingly obvious" category, but its flipside is interesting:
There is no need for - nor inevitability of - feeling small or punctured (like that one!)or unarmed...

The French have an expression "vivre cacher pour vivre heureux"
(Sort of submarine) 'live hidden to be happy', but it seems more fear based than

Quote: €dimming€ one's light.

Curious phrase, but quite exact!
Not (inventing a self to put forward) putting a face in front of someone else...

Anyway, happy bottom line!
Simon

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From: Janet
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008

hi jim and all,

i know i'm kind of working backwards in the verses. it like dyslexia. just bare with me, please.

imo, what it is 'not' may need to be experienced before seeing what it really is. how else can you describe 'no-thing', but otherwise saying things like, it can't be built up and it can't be broken down. the no-thing is neutral to both those attributes. those attributes can only be given to things.

thats how i see it.

love,
janet

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From: jimclatfelter
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008

Hi Janet,

It's always good to have your input. Comments are welcome on any of the verses at any time. Just because we are currently on a certain verse doesn't mean the previous verses are closed down.

If I understand you correctly, you are saying that the "is not" has to be experienced before you can even give it a name. I certainly agree with that. Words like emptiness, no-thing, and void refer to something that can be noticed and seen, yet many people throw those words around pretty loosely.

Jim

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