The Way of Heaven

Favoritism

By ‘favoritism’ is meant the perquisites the world gives to the rich and powerful.

Tao Te Ching 79

The Purpose of the Center Tao Commentaries by Carl Abbott:

The commentaries here are not intended to explain what the Tao Te Ching ‘truly’ says. Rather, the commentary portrays the Tao Te Ching as seen though ‘my’ and ‘your’ mind. This offers us a conversation, of sorts—an interaction between ‘my’ understanding or puzzlement and ‘your’ understanding or puzzlement. We find this back and forth interpretive sharing very helpful in getting to see more of the whole elephant.

It is the way of heaven to show no favoritism.
It is for ever on the side of the good man.

A good example of favoritism is nepotism. The exchanging of favor isn’t based in merit, but in need—desire. It seems much of human interaction stems from this. We are only upset by it when such favoritism is not going our way.

Favoritism serves as an important glue of social interactions—tribalism. I find that as I leave tribal affiliations behind, I’m more able to know and become one with the way of heaven. It is like leaving a smaller club to join a larger, cosmic one. I give up some emotional intimacy for deeper spiritual connection.

Favoritism comes from wanting to ‘stack the deck’ in a particular direction. The way of heaven is omni-directional—it owns the deck, it is the deck.

Forever on the side of the good man brings to mind the Christian concept ‘as you sow, so shall you reap’. Heaven is neutral and simply upholds the law of consequences. If I live a destructive life I’m more likely to be destroyed; it’s nothing personal from heaven’s point of view. It’s just carrying on the business of the universe.

Isn’t paying attention the foundation of the good man. When I’m not watchful, I suffer natural consequences; have accidents, eat too much pizza, put my foot in my mouth, and so on… When I’m aware, life goes pretty smoothly—the way of heaven is on my side. The same goes for us all. For example, when the mouse is alert, it escapes the cat. When the mouse’s attention lapses, the cat eats, as long as it’s paying attention and times its attack well.

How I approach life determines what I get out of it. It’s not what I do, it’s how I do it, that decides how good I feel. This reminds me of a quote from Blake: ‘If you would do good, you must do it in minute particulars’.

Good deeds are a natural out flow of a good inner world. Likewise, evil action reflects inner chaos. When I’m in a bad mood, I tend to act badly—and visa versa. The bad deeds that we seek to exact punishment for are in truth only symptoms of a punishing inner world. This is so obvious, and yet we so easily clamor for exaction. This, likewise, must be a result of our own inner misery.

This parallels Christ’s teaching: ‘judge not least thee be judged’. More to the point, it seems that when I judge, I’m in the same position as the one I’m judging; I can’t judge without being a hypocrite!

–[Center Tao Website (See Attribution and Resources)]