Eng. 101-TR
Assignment: Lao-tzu guide
February 14, 2013
Lao-tzu was a very inspiring old man and we have a lot we could gain from his readings. I believe he was actually the first to have a real view of spiritual reality. Along the past two thousand years, he has been misinterpreted and ridiculed for the idea of the Tao. This includes Plato’s Ideas to the clever expression of God which has been regarded as of the Tao. The Tao meant everything to Lao-tzu. He considered it essential basing it as a creative principle that had religious meaning carrying both truth and morality with it. Lao-tzu spent most of his lifetime working in the public service setting and went to retire later on into the West. The profession of preaching his philosophy caused him to stay low key and eventually vanish into the mountains forever. Lao-tzu asserts harmony and inner piece within the natural timeline of events should lead the world into the right path. To this day the thoughts from the Tao-te Ching remain very controversial.
Many people have concluded that the Tao-te Ching’s philosophy is similar to how the modern world is run today. For example, in the statement “Next best is a leader who is loved” (17), brings about the idea that the best leaders are those who are loved by the citizens of the government in control. Most likely Citizens will not respect a leader that they do not love. Without the love of the citizens toward those that lead them, things would be very difficult. The government will find it difficult to lead the citizens to their standards and expectations. Secondly, the statement “Weapons are the tools of fear; a decent man will avoid them” (31), suggests that anyone that uses a weapon will use in retaliation of fear and that a decent man will find a way to knowledgeably solve the issue. The recent school shootings in the past decade have been a model of this quote. We have seen several senseless acts committed because young students are under...