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Translation and Commentary by Nina


	Dao De Jing Chapter 44 Fame or health - which do you hold most dear? Health or belongings - which would you rather increase? Gain or loss - which leads to illness? Obsession can only lead to great expenditures. Hoarding can only lead to much spoilage. Therefore, being content with what you have doesn't bring disgrace. Knowing when to stop doesn't bring calamity. You would be able to last for a long time without wearing yourself out. Commentary: 44 ~ Obsession People can obsess on a great variety of things. Obsession is an intense preoccupation with something - to the detriment of other aspects of life. This preoccupation is usually on something or someone that a person wishes to have, but can never feel they've been able to possess. They'll usually stay riveted on the object of their obsession until something else catches their fancy - then they can transfer their single-minded concentration to another object or person. A stalker is obsessed with the person he/she is stalking. A work-aholic can be obsessed with getting another rung higher on the ladder of success. A person might be obsessed with possessing something as simple as a particular car. When all else in life takes a back seat to what a person is single-mindedly intent on getting (at times even to the detriment of their own well-being), that can be considered to be an obsession. -Fame or health - which do you hold most dear? -Health or belongings - which would you rather increase? -Gain or loss - which leads to illness? Laozi poses the question as to whether it's really that important to get the object of your desire, if that compulsion could eventually lead to illness. Most people who find themselves with stress-related illnesses didn't have a clue that their obsessions might lead them to critical illness and possible death. It's only when they're facing by-pass surgery that they might take a step back and wonder what they were trying so intensely to gain. -Obsession can only lead to great expenditures. -Hoarding can only lead to much spoilage. Any obsession requires a great deal of expended energy. Every waking hour is spent in devising strategies to accomplish the desired goal. If a person gets what they've been obsessing on, they begin hoarding what they've gotten, trying to prevent it from ever leaving their clutches. What's been hoarded (kept within strict confines) becomes spoiled, decayed and rotten. Either it loses its initial allure, or it loses the essence of what it was and can't function as was originally intended. -Therefore, being content with what you have doesn't bring disgrace. -Knowing when to stop doesn't bring calamity. -You would be able to last for a long time without wearing yourself out. It kind of makes you wonder why anyone would become obsessed with something in the first place. If there's a sense of lack within you, then there'd always be a desire to possess something that you think could fulfill you in some way. It might be something you'd feel would give you more importance or status as a person. If you couldn't attain a goal or possess something you'd put so much energy into, would that make you feel inadequate? Society pressures us into believing that we have to work hard to get what's really important - if it comes easily then it's not something of value. People who are content with having very little are called "losers" or demeaned to the status of being a "disgrace." It's not a disgrace to be happy with the simple things in life. Maybe the real "disgrace" is being on a mission to get more and more - to be obsessed with something that you really don't need. Dao Is Open Site Map \| BY: Nina \| Guodian Laozi \| DDJ Concordance \| Comparisons \| From the DIO Forum \| BY: Bao Pu \| By: Joshua \| \| Return Home \| Laozi's Dao De Jing \| Your Dao De Jing \| Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) \| Links \| Meditation \| Dao (Tao) is Open Forum \| Book List \| Other Stuff \|