But somewhere in that soup of hormones and Ramones, Ayn Rand's wild black eyes tore through the growing hearts of our fair libbo-bloggers and poured the liquid gold of Objectivism into their cold insides, searing the heroism of rational ethics and moral egoism upon their unwitting bones. Needless to say, these acolytes of Rand (just general followers; not her actual acolytes, who all suffered under the Randian cult) cut their teeth on libertarian theory through her novels and perhaps even the Objectivist newsletter. This sparked an interest in laissez-faire capitalism, which leapfrogged onto the Ludwig Von Mises organization promoting the Austrian School of Economics, which is devoted to promoting the most boring and difficult subject in the humanities (economics) as also the subject most necessary for saving both the academic world and the greater world at large. By the time these libbo-veterans got to Daily Reckoning or LewRockwell.com, they were past masters in the art of libbo-blogging, knowing all the backstories, buzzwords, and (hopefully) masterworks that ensured a lifetime of sublime bravado on the blogging circuits.
I, however, have a well-worn copy of the Tao Te Ching on my nightstand, where it has sat, only to be replaced sporadically by Harry Potter and the New Testament, for the last eight years. The Tao Te Ching has been a moral comfort for me since before I knew the definition of libertarianism, and it remains untouched only while I leaf through a copy of Rand's "Philosophy: Who Needs It" (a wonderful Christmas gift that I assiduously ignored during my own lamentable social-democrat hippie phase). To say that the Tao Te Ching forms the basis of my moral, aesthetic, and political value system is an understatement--I have, to date, found more wisdom in the tiny 81-poem volume than in the combined wisdom of all the other religious, moral, and philosophical texts I have digested in my short time on this earth.
However, I must admit my failings: I use the Gia-Fu Feng/Jane English translation, sometimes offset with the Ellen Chen translation or anything else I can get my hands on, because I simply can't read Chinese. All props to those who can, but I'm short in that department, so I must rely on whatever approximations to the original that these translators can achieve. But even in my current studies of Rand's Objectivism in her short essays, I find more parallels to Lao Tzu's work every day. It boggles my mind that such a simple little text can keep opening up new ideas for me, wholly without the gobbledygook of religious moralizing and sin-baiting.
But what really makes me happy about the TTC is that it contains ALL the dimensions of inquiry you could want: questions about God, the universe, and man's place in it; questions about men and women, sex, birth and death; and questions about man's role in the government and the government's role in the universe at large. Yet these are not questions to be answered by rote repetition of dogma, to which most religious philosophers ultimately accede; instead these questions serve as keys to unlock those parts of the mind that are crippled by self-doubt, fear of success or failure, and a false understanding of the world. The book provides no easy answers--just a lot of food for thought, which is surprisingly calming at the end of the day.
Greater minds than I have already written on the libertarian underpinnings of Lao Tzu's little book. Murray Rothbard's article about Lao Tzu on the Mises.org website (http://www.mises.org/story/1967) made me very happy, knowing that I wasn't completely off my rocker for seeing the connections between libertarian philosophy and the TTC. It also jibes very well with my irreligious views, because the TTC in no way resembles the many versions of Taoism in ancient China, populated (as religions often are) by pantheons of gods, ancestor and authority-worship, and a host of wacky folk traditions (astrology, alchemy, etc.). The same can be said about the philosophy that Jeshua bin Nazaret spread and the cult of Iesu Christ that sprang up after his death, but I won't stoop to denigrating the practice of religion just yet (I'll save that for a later post... :)).
I also won't put any quotes from the book up on here, because it cheapens the effect of each amazing little poem to be showcased like a sideshow freak in some noob's blog. But I do enjoy this site:
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html#63
You can also check out the version I keep by my bed at Amazon.com:
http://tinyurl.com/qvopug
Just consider putting this book (or printing off an online copy) on your nightstand for a week, reading a few poems before bed, and seeing what kinds of things they can unlock inside your mind. I've found more philosophical understanding in the TTC than reading any psalm, sura, or treatise, and it has even been a help to me when I was at my most naively and proselytizing collectivist. Just as those who promote Atlas Shrugged will explain until the cows come home how that book helped open their minds to libertarian thought, I hope you receive the same consistent fulfillment from the Tao Te Ching as I continue to do.
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