In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu wrote, “To know that you do not know is highest.
To not know but think you know is flawed.
Only when one recognizes the fault as a fault can one be without fault.
The sages are without fault.
Because they recognize the fault as a fault.
That is why they are without fault.”
So if I understood that correctly, wisdom lies in seeing our own faults, or in other
words, our own foolishness.
But how do we see our own foolishness?
As usual, I’m gonna explore this idea through a dialogue.
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The following is a conversation between a monk (M) and his student (S).
S: Teacher, how do I become wise?
M: Wisdom lies in seeing your own foolishness.
When you see your own foolishness as foolishness, you stop being a fool.
S: Then how do I see my own foolishness?
M: In the same way you see anything: by looking at it.
S: Well, it can’t be that easy.
I feel like I’m not seeing it.
Why am I not seeing it?
M: Do you know what foolishness looks like?
S: What do you mean?
M: If you don’t know what foolishness looks like, how will you see it?
S: If I were to make a guess, I’d say a fool is someone who makes a lot of errors.
M: Can you go through life without making a lot of errors?
S: Probably not.
M: So that definition is probably not very useful.
It’s normal to make lots of errors.
But if you see your errors as errors, you become less likely to repeat them, and by
doing so, you become more knowledgable over time.
Do you agree?
S: I agree.
M: So how about we say this: foolishness is being blind to your own errors—leading you
to repeat them and preventing you from becoming more knowledgeable?
S: I like that.
So you’re saying I’m blind to my own errors.
That’s the source of my foolishness, right?
M: Right.
S: Why can I not see my errors?
M: Try this.
Take one of your index fingers and hold it in front of your eyes.
Count the lines on your finger.
Now, bring it closer to your face and really focus on one of the lines.
Do you notice how everything but the finger blurs?
Do you notice how everything else becomes unclear?
Do you notice how you become less able to see anything but the finger?
And if you were in a busy place, things might happen in the periphery of your vision that
you do not notice because you are so fixated on your finger.
S: Yeah, I see all of that.
So what are you trying to say?
M: Desire, ambition, and obsession: these things lead to a partial blindness.
The more you fixate on your finger, the less attentive you become to everything else.
You visually ignore things so you can bring your finger into focus.
Everything else becomes distorted with respect to your fixation.
Tell me, while looking closely at your finger, can you see the rest of the world clearly?
S: Of course not.
M: Now drop your finger.
What has happened?
S: I see the world more clearly as a whole.
M: So you see, when desire, ambition, or obsession drop away, your perception opens up.
You are able to see the things you were previously blind to.
S: So are you saying my own desires will blind me to my errors?
M: Yes.
For example, if you really want to believe there is no such thing as green apples, you
will ignore any evidence that proves otherwise.
You will always have an excuse or a justification that allows you to dismiss the evidence.
So yes, your own desires will blind you to your errors.
But when desire drops away, you are able to see the things you were previously blind to.
When desire drops away, it’s like seeing a birds-eye view of an entire city.
You can see the entire flow of traffic, the different districts, the troubled areas, and
so on.
You can see the bigger picture.
S: But I lose the details, don’t I?
M: You do.
But from this higher point of view, you can properly decide where to re-direct your attention
and desire.
You can decide where to look more closely.
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In the Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu wrote, “The sages are without fault.
Because they recognize the fault as a fault,” and I explored this idea more fully through
a dialogue.
What prevents us from seeing our own foolishness?
I believe it’s strong desire, ambition, obsession, or fixation.
For example, when we look really closely at our hand, we become more blind to everything
else, to the bigger picture.
A strong desire, ambition, or fixation leads to a partial blindness.
For example, if we really want to believe there is no such thing as oranges, we’ll
ignore any evidence that proves otherwise.
We’ll always have an excuse or a justification that allows us to dismiss the evidence.
So desire blinds us to our errors.
But when desire drops away, our perception opens up, and we’re able to see the things
we were previously blind to.
We get a birds-eye view of our world, and from this view, we can see more clearly where
we would like to redirect our focus.
As always, this is just my opinion and understanding of Lao Tzu’s words, not advice.
Feel free to use this information however you like, and if you have a different take
on Lao Tzu’s words, I’d love to hear
your perspective in
the comments.