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Lao Tzu Analysis

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In life, we all live for different reasons, but not many of us will live according to wisdom. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” In “Tao Te Ching” by Lao Tzu, Tzu teaches us to incorporate wisdom into our lives. Lao Tzu’s wisdom can help us to cope with the obstacles of today’s society.
To begin with, Lao Tau helps us see that by overcoming the urge to compare ourselves to others, we can defeat the most common issue in contemporary society: the struggle to accept ourselves. Tzu states that by not comparing we can achieve respect: “When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you” (938). The race to compare never ends, which causes many to feel hopelessly insufficient. True, a comparison can also be a booster, making someone feel better about themselves. However, constant comparison accomplishes nothing; only by overcoming the feeling of envy can a person be able to see the world in a clearer perspective. In addition, the poem states, “Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world” (938). The ability to accept ourselves and transcend ill …show more content…

As a result, people do not choose what they want in life. But Lao Tzu advises, “In work do what you enjoy” (938). We tend to do things we have no interest in for multiple reasons. Some of us want to earn large amounts of money and we choose a job we have no passion in. This directs us to work with miserable hearts. When we enjoy something we put more effort, time, and heart to it. He also guides us, “In thinking, keep to the simple” (937). Sometimes we have a hard time deciding for ourselves because we think too much about the outcome of the choices we make. We have to trust our decisions and what leads us to happiness because that is how we live a life we are grateful

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The narrator within the poem perceives himself as superior to the subjects that he observes, and recognizes that they behave as savages due to the absence of rules and boundaries. They fail to acknowledge the error in their destructive behavior and continue to act with free will, which portrays human nature as wicked and unruly. One of them glanced at the narrator and insinuated that they were equals, which implies that the narrator also indulges in sinful behavior with the rest of them. Despite the narrator’s feeling of superiority, their actions reflect the same manner as those they view as beneath them. There exists a domino effect that causes the behavior of others to influence the nature of those surrounding them.

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Confucius, Aristotle, and Lao-Tzu—all incredibly influential thinkers—did not always agree on how one ought to live; where Aristotle believed that thought or study led to virtue, Lao-Tzu placed focus on inaction, and Confucius taught that rituals paved the way to the best life. A few ideas, however, tie Confucius closer to Aristotle than to Lao-Tzu. Because Aristotle also placed importance on names, emphasized the need to find a mean of behavior, and believed that rulers should most critically be moral, Confucius would have preferred Aristotle to Lao-Tzu. Names—Aristotle utilizes them, even though he recognizes the difference between what exists in reality and the form represented by its name, while Lao-Tzu, on the other hand, maintains that names only serve to put limits on the named, and, in fact run the risk of creating opposites. According to Lao-Tzu, “Recognize beauty and ugliness is born.

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