Wrestling wth Lao Tzu

Despite the irony, I think wrestling is the correct metaphor as contrary as that is to the message of the work. Perhaps my understanding of the work will have arrived when I am not wrestling with it anymore.

I have always been intrigued with the Tao Te Ching. In college I discovered the Tao of Pooh. Informal? Yes. Fun? Yes. It inspired me seek out the original work, after all, and that is a good thing (Pooh). Then, much more recently, came the lectures on the work in the Teaching Company Course on the Axial Age by Mark Muesse. He really captures in his lectures what it is like to try to read this work: wonderful, yet wonderfully frustrating. Also, I stumbled upon a radio interview (which I can't find anywhere) by Ursula K Le Guin. I was not familar with her, despite her fame, so I didn't know that she has been a life long reader of the work. Her version is not a literal translation, but her love of the Tao Te Ching was obvious in the interview.

In notes ending the book she mentions a 1898 text, describing it physically, reminiscing its impact. I decided I had to have it. 19th century books are usually not that terribly difficult to find, but this one was. I had to settle for a reprint, and along the way I got a similar obscure title by the same author that actually was 100 years old. That will be sitting on the shelf for while, awaiting its day. Paul Carus was the author, and it included the complete original Chinese script with transliteration, not just translation. A publisher in India, Pranava, produced a reprint, and my copy the book eventually arrived from overseas. It is a two volume paperback, lacking the beauty of Le Guin's copy physically, but it a wonderful puzzle inviting full attention, with the Chinese volume on one end of the desk, and the transliteration volume on the other.

I got two more copies, and like others before me, I don't seem likely to stop there. Comparing the copies are just too fascinating. I have given a try to: Feng and English, as well as Addiss and Lombardo. Both are good in there own way. The former in a large format has the complete Chinese on the page opposite the translation. However, it is virtually impossible to connect the two - it becomes decoration, albeit nice decoration. The later takes an interesting approach. It takes a key phrase from each chapter and offers it up in a couple of different ways: calligraphy, printed Chinese characters, and a translation in western alphabet. In addition the full section is provided in English.


Here is a short example of a phrase from the third 'chapter'. (The chapters are usually less than a page).

Le Guin: "Not looking at the desirable keeps the mind quiet"
Feng and English: "Not seeing desirable things prevents confusion of the heart"
Addiss and Lombardo: "Don't display what people desire, And their hearts will not be disturbed"

Clearly the same phrase, but imagine doing this for the whole work!

I hope that those of you that are destined to wrestle with the Tao Te Ching find this helpful, and that those of you that would find the process frustrating are cautioned to wait until you are inspired to join the fun.

The joys of synergy between multiple courses

I am watching Harl’s Byzantium this week. I struggled with the audio version of Rome and the Barbarians, but now I am hitting my stride with the DVD version of Byzantium.  When it becomes available, I will get the video download of Rome and the Barbarians.

I always enjoy when one course overlaps, just a little, with another. This course seems to have the perfect amount of overlap. When Harl was talking about Constantine I could hear echo’s of Erhman’s Early Christian History, but from a very different perspective. When Byzantine “arts and letters” lead to a short discussion of architecture, I thought of my unopened 24 lecture Cathedral course. The Early Medieval course follows a similar timeline, but focusing on the west. Harl’s own Asia Minor course covers some of the same ground, albeit quicker, so that it can focus on geography over a longer period of time.

I went to an engineering school. History was always a favorite in high school, but I actually did not take a single history course in college. Not one. Nothing could be further from my work or my studies, but when it all starts to make sense, it is actually fun. All of these cross references have that effect for me. I even grabbed my intimidating 8 volume copy of Gibbon, sitting lonely since I got it from the Folio Society years ago. I didn't make much progress, but I didn't realize until today that it covers almost exactly the same years as the Harl course.

What next? I don’t think I can go wrong. The Crusades, or maybe Islam? Or I could take it in a completely different direction with Differential Equations, newly downloaded, awaiting me on my iPad.

Recommend Video for Harl's Courses

My first TTC course by Kenneth Harl was "Rome and the Barbarians". I would listen to it in the car during my occasional 5 hour drive to Washington, DC. When the CD finished two lectures, I remember letting it repeat because I couldn't focus and would lose the track of all of the Latin proper names. I could tell he was extremely knowledgeable, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as on Audio as other choices. Think Greenberg.

This past week I have been watching "Byzantium" on DVD. The material is similar, but it is all making more sense on video. In fact, where the two courses overlap the CDs make more sense. I will upgrade to Video Download when it becomes available on the older course.

Now the glowing reviews make more sense to me.