Harmfulness of Knowledge and Desire

老子

二

~What does Lao Tzu mean by the harmfulness of knowledge and desires? What does he mean by knowledge and desire? Why does he consider them harmful?

~Is his analysis convincing? Is it valid?

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Factual knowledge, according to Rosen (2000), is dependent upon the individual’s own sense perfection, noting that “sensory apparatus differs from species to species”. It would appear, on first impressions, that Lao Tzu appears to take knowledge as something that is not good. However, what exactly is knowledge for him? How did he perceive it to be, that it made him frown upon it? Some people believes that by knowledge, Lao Tzu meant tools, tools that can either be used to do good or bad depending on the person “wielding” the tool. In addition to this, the tool is also limited. Like the tool, with both its good use and bad use, most things come in pairs— synonyms and antonyms, friends and enemies, positive and negative, and so on and so forth. Further into this, our own attitude towards things is greatly influenced by how we attribute to it. If I see something that I deem beautiful then I see another thing, my impulse would be to compare the two and choose that which is what I deem beautiful and what not. But this is only because this is what I think. It is, for me, but it may not be this way to you. And really, who are we to judge? 

Now Lao Tzu warns us about the five colours, five tones, five flavours, and about racing and hurting. These three categories with five different things has been interpreted as symbolic— the five colours in the Chinese tradition, the five Classical tones in a Classical Chinese music scale, and the five flavours. And Lao Tzu meant good in his warning, otherwise this things will lead us astray. “Too little of something is bad”, is what we always hear, “too much of something is not good”. So moderation is the key. Eat too little and you starve. Eat to much and your body will suffer. Eat normally is what is natural. Each and everyday we are always challenged by this problem. There are a lot of pretty things in the world and like a dragon drawn to shiny things, we are easily tempted and we forget. We give in to our desires and we overwork ourselves. We go loca over something— we go mad. 

And if we give in to our desire, or should I say, if we allow our desires to corrupt us, then shame on us. This, at least for me, can be easily explained in the context of drug addiction. The first try will bring you to a whole new world, a world full of wonder and everything good. You will begin to feel wonderful for everything around you becomes pleasant, and this sense of high inside you makes it all the more better until the fall. So to stop this fall from seeping in, you will then take another and another and another and another until it all feels better. But you will never be satisfied. You will never be contended because with greed, nothing is always enough. The more you take it, the more you need to increase the dose but nobody warned you: the higher you fly up in the sky, the lower you’ll fall down in the pits of the earth. Letting your desire sweep you away like a current instead of letting the Tao guide you along the way has a huge difference. With the Tao, you know you are safe, you know you are you, you know that you are enough, and most especially, you know where you’ll be heading to. With your desire, well let’s just say that you’re in for a surprise. 

The Dog and His Bone, Aesop’s Fables

A hound dog found a bone and held it tightly in his mouth. He growled and scowled at anyone who attempted to take it away. Off into the woods he went to bury his prize.

When he came to a stream, he trotted over the footbridge and happened to glance into the water. He saw his own reflection. Thinking it was another dog with a bigger bone, he growled and scowled at it. The reflection growled and scowled back.

"I'll get THAT bone too," thought the greedy dog, and he snapped his sharp teeth at the image in the water.

Alas, his own big bone fell with a splash, out of sight, the moment he opened his mouth to bite!

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