Tor Matson, Contributor
Waking Times
When I first read the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, I didn’t understand it, and that bothered me, particularly when I read about the three types of men.The first type is the inferior man, and when he hears the Tao, he laughs, because he is a fool, and wisdom seems like foolishness to him. The second type is the mediocre man. When he hears the Tao, he is troubled, because he recognizes both the elusive wisdom of the Tao and his own incapacity to fully perceive it; he knows there’s something to it, and he knows he doesn’t fully understand, and so is troubled. The superior man, upon hearing the Tao, laughs like a fool but for a different reason; the superior man immediately recognizes the truth of what is being said, as well as appreciating the irony that the only people really able to hear wisdom are those already past any need of it. Laughter is the only possible response…
