Tao Te Ching, Weasel Words, and Japanese Manholes

Hello intersectional thinkers 👋

Greetings from Sydney!

If cities are like people¹ then Sydney is my mesmerizing fling:

• Intoxicating scent: saltwater 🌊 mixed with nutty espresso-style coffees ☕ and sweet sweet surf wax 🏄‍♀️

• Unique colour of this patch of the Pacific Ocean

• General gorgeousness

Golden hour looks extra aesthetically pleasing down here…

But we can’t commit. Not yet anyway.

This week’s line up:

🛣 Tao Te Ching
💬 Russell's conjugation aka weasel words
🇯🇵 Japanese manholes

1 unexpected intersection

If you can talk about it,
it ain’t Tao.
If it has a name,
it’s just another thing.

Tao doesn’t have a name.
Names are for ordinary things.

Stop wanting stuff;
it keeps you from seeing what’s real.
When you want stuff,
all you see are things.

Those two sentences
mean the same thing.
Figure them out,
and you’ve got it made.

-Ron Hogan’s modern translation of Laozi’s Tao Te Ching, inspired by the styles of Quentin Tarantino and David Mamet.

Rik pointed me to this sensational take on the 3,500+ year old Taoism text.

» The question is:

What’s more useful?
A more “accessible” translation, or a more “accurate” one?

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.

-Gia-Fu Feng

Which translation² do you prefer?

1 paradox

Russell's conjugation: a synonym (1) does not mean nearly the same as another word, and (2) can in fact alter the meaning of the sentence because of the underlying emotions attached to the word.

Bertrand Russell gave an example on the BBC Radio programme The Brains Trust:

I am firm, you are obstinate, he is a pig-headed fool. 

I am righteously indignant, you are annoyed, he is making a fuss over nothing.

Sounds like the gist of every political ad to me.

1 visual Zettelkasten

Manholes are sparking some interesting conversations :)

vicky zhao 🚢 @beeamp_vicky

Daily Visual Zettelkasten: on manholes Why are manholes round? #draw30for30

Have a great week!

Vicky

PS: Bonus unexpected intersection:

🥝 Zespri kiwis dancing to Japanese shamisen for New Zealand PM’s recent visit to Japan

henry cooke @henrycooke

This is the greatest day of my life

Zespri is the more underrated creative company in the world in my humble opinion. I deep dove into their hilarious and effective ads in Japan, China, and Korea on YouTube:

1. Adapted from Matthew McConaughy’s Greenlights:

“Places are like people. They each have a particular identity… If a place and a people move me, I’ll write them a love letter.”

One of his love letters was to New Orleans.

2. More side by side Tao Te Ching translations here