Tao Te Ching Verse 33: Getting Comfortable with Immortality

The Tao Te Ching for Everyday Living

Tao Te Ching Verse 33:

translated by Cheng Lin
Those who know others are wise;
those who know themselves are enlightened.
Those who overcome others are powerful;
those who overcome themselves are strong.
Those who feel self-contentment are rich;
those who practice self-cultivation are resolute.
Those who abide by their original natures or centers endure;
those who follow Truth throughout life enjoy immortality.

Photo by Guillermo Ferla on Unsplash
Immortality

Let’s visualize our virtuous attributes.

Wisdom. Inner Strength. Contentment. Inner Being

Let’s consider how those attributes relate to this feeling of life we have right now. I think we can take relate to Lao Tzu and how he puts it in the next two lines:

Those who abide by their original natures [or centers] endure; those who follow Truth throughout life enjoy immortality.

The center he’s talking about is that center you feel when being present with the things in that circle. The center is our life force, that thing that never really goes away. Of course, we cover it up with stuff in the left circle we left in the background, things like perception of others, force, and other make-humans-do-stuff kinds of things. But when we can reconnect with that inner glow, it turns out, for me at least, that nothing else seems as important in that moment. My life force is the one thing that keeps me going. That allows me to endure, just like Lao Tzu says.

Now. If I can connect with that life force feeling - my center, my bagage wagons, my...essence, I may remember that that feeling is the feeling of the Tao within me. The Tao is inside me. And it’s inside of you. We are expressions of the Tao. So if the Tao is Infinite, always on, always moving, I would like to ask you: would that not apply to us, as well? If we can connect with that feeling of the Tao within us, and remember that we are integral to the infinite, always on, ever changing Tao, aren’t we also Tao? Aren’t we, dare I say, immortal, in a sense? In the last line, Lin Yutang translates Lao Tzu suggesting that [those of us who die yet remain have long life].

What is the death he’s talking about? It could be corporeal death, sure. For now, I like to think about it as the death of selfish desires, the death of ambition, the death of the importance of my will inflicted on the world. If I can pay more attention to the things that create the attributes of the right circle, the left circle fades way into the background and dies a kind of death back there, so that in my presence, the right circle things remain.

I like how this verse serves as a reminder to us - in the last few verses, we’ve been discussing mindsets and practices that help us stay in that right circle. This verse kind of tells us about how we can start recognizing the fruits of our labor. If we can stay close to center by practicing what we’ve learned, we can consciously connect with the Tao inside us. We may concentrate on what’s really important vs what only seems important. We won’t need to fight anyone or anything - we’ll automatically endure, without suffering, without resistance. For we will have allowed our selfish desires to fade away so that we can spend more time living in harmony with the Tao.