TAO TE CHING.. Verses 16-20

16. GROUNDING AND SPONTANEITY

Go to the limit of emptiness;

Maintain a quiet steadiness and

The 10,000 natural kinds will rise together.

I use this to view these reactions:

Generally, natural kinds flourish and

Each returns to it's root.

Returning to the root, call it "quietude".

This I call responding to fate.

Responding to fate, call it "fixed".

Knowing what is fixed, call it "discerning".

Not to know what is fixed is wantonly taking risks.

Know to fix on "encompassing";

"Encompassing" leads to "fair";

"Fair" leads to "kingly";

"Kingly" leads to "natural";

"Natural" leads to "ways";

"Ways" leads to "enduring";

They don't end with burial.

What does this mean to me? There are some things in this world that we cannot change. Things like the way nature dies and regenerates in it's own peaceful way. These things are "fixed", unable to be changed, or inevitable. This verse says we can save ourselves from a lot of unwise risk if we can notice these things in life that we cannot change and focus on the things that we can. Being at one with, and working with nature, will make us better leaders, and good leadership lives on long after the leader is dead and buried.

17. IDEAL LEADERSHIP

The best leadership is when those below know it is present.

After that

Is one that, feeling kin to, you extol.

After that

Is one you dread.

After that

Is one you despise.

When accuracy is inadequate in it

There will be inaccuracy in it.

Reflectively - His valuing of discourse!

Success takes form; dealings follow on one another

And the people all say "we did this ourselves".

What does this mean to me? This is a very straight-forward verse. It's easy to understand. I really like the last two lines. It's so true. If we just plant the seed of an idea in people, it will grow and take form, and they will take it as their own.

18. IMPERIAL MORALITY

When the Great Way is cast aside we have "humanism" and "morality".

When intuitive wisdom emerges we have "great artifice".

When great kinships do not blend, we have "filiality" and "affection".

When states and great families become deranged and disordered, we have "loyal ministers".

What does this mean to me? I think this verse is saying, that for every bad thing in life, there is always good things to be found. With any negative comes a positive. It could also be explaining a timeline of human consciousness, in an abstract way.

19. SOCIAL VALUES

Terminate "sageliness", junk "wisdom",

Your subjects will benefit a hundredfold.

Terminate "humanity", junk "morality",

Your subjects will respond with filiality and affection.

Terminate "artistry", junk "benefit",

There will be no thieves and robbers.

These three,

Treated as slogans are not enough.

So now consider to what they belong:

Express simplicity and embrace uncarved wood.

Lessen "self-focus" and diminish "desire".

What does this mean to me? In my opinion the advice from this verse is summed up very nicely by it's very last line. Without worldly desires and selfishness, this world would be a lot better place. When uncarved wood is mentioned, I believe it means something natural, unaffected by humanity, like a blank canvas. 

20. UNLEARNING LEARNING

Terminate learning and have no worries.

"Uh huh" and "Huh uh"?

How much mutually separates them?

"Masterly" and "Clumsy"?

What's the mutual separation between them like?

What humans fear

Cannot be feared.

Futile... Not focused yet.

The human crowd is radiant

Like joining in a celebration

Or a spring procession up on a terrace.

I alone am placid... It indicates nothing to me yet.

Like an infant not yet a baby.

Languorous.

Like having no base.

The human crowd all have a surplus

Yet I alone seem at a loss.

Mine is indeed the mind of a stupid human.

Indiscriminate.

Ordinary humans are lustrous,

I alone am dull.

Ordinary humans are critically discerning.

I alone obfuscate.

Bland... It's like the ocean.

Drifting... Like I have no place to stop.

The human crowd all have means-ends.

And I alone am dallying and wanton.

I alone am different to other humans,

And value nursing at mother's breast.

What does this mean to me? This verse is written quite differently than the rest. It's nearly like an entry in a diary. Throughout the Tao it reminds us to live our own lives. It reminds us to just go with it and live spontaneously. This verse is saying exactly that, and saying that we should live differently to most. We have to remember that we absorb our peers behavior into our own attitudes, so is it better to live like a hermit? The Tao says our goal is to recover our natural spontaneity, and to do that we have to remove all the distinctions that come from group behavior.