I would like to quote the 38th verse of the Tao.
“A truly good man is not aware of his goodness
and is therefore good.
A foolish man tries to be good
and is therefore not good
The master does nothing,
yet he leaves nothing undone.
The ordinary man is always doing things,
yet many more are left to be done.
The highest virtue is to act without a sense of self.
The highest kind is to give without condition.
The highest justice is to see without preference.
When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is morality.
When morality is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith,
the beginning of chaos.
The great master follows his own nature and is the trappings of life.
It is has been said:
“He stays with the fruit and not the fluff.”
“He stays with the firm and not the flimsy”
“He stays with the true and not the false””
The first part of this is speaking about one’s own true nature. Nature is naturally good without knowing. Living with one’s self-true nature is to live with oneness. When you know that something is good you introduce the complexity of right and wrong or good vs bad. The introduction of these things causes you to loose your true connection to source (Tao). I will reference the Tao as one’s true source.
So if you are not or can’t be bee good then you will be moral… Right? So what then is morality? I morality the the difference between right and wrong? Something the you uphold to your standards? Lao-Tzu who wrote the Tao, implys to be saying that Source is oneness and has no standards to follow. Source leaves nothing undone and yet is not doing anything. Morality? There is none! Only is the one is not with source. There is no right or wrong; there is no fair or unfair… Only pure nature, one’s true self-nature, encouraged to be ones self.
Source is infinite and excludes no one. Rituals will divide you and disconnect your from Truth. You will loose trying them, creating chaos for yourself. The Source (Tao) is is one with true nature. True natrue has no rules or laws. There is not right or wrong. There is no goodness or morality. The Tao suggest to give yourself without condition, without trying to bee moral or good. Just give yourself.
The 38th verse is said to be written in response and in contradiction to Confucious who laid out specifics of conduct, morality and codes of educate. Alternatively, this verse seems to be saying to live and trust in you true self-nature. Live by your true Source (God) guided nature and oneness.
Reject artificial principals and live in the true nature
These artificial principals are:
- goodness
- fairness
- rites
- laws
Fake goodness is to try to live by not being “bad”, allowing others to judge where you are on the “goodness” scale. Fairness is artificial and does not exist with Source. There just is.. You are here as a translation of energy form, a perspective of vibration, and will return to oneness regardless of self-opinion. Be open with a generous heart without the expectation to be treated fairly.