What is the meaning of "if you are clumsy, if you argue" in Laozi's book? What is your wisdom in dealing with the world?

"A clumsy person is eloquent" is a sentence in Chapter 45 of Laozi. Literally, this sentence tells us that really smart people often look clumsy, while really talkative people often behave a little "slow" and don't like to talk much.

Many friends may find it a bit impossible to understand this sentence of Taoist Laozi literally. How can a clumsy and inarticulate person become a wise man with great wisdom and glib tongue? Combining the Taoist thought of "inaction", we may be able to better understand the humble "defensive wisdom" in Taoism's "great wisdom is clumsy and great debate is embarrassing"

1, Taoism's "inaction" thought: subjective "inaction" and objective "inaction" To understand this sentence, we must first understand Taoism's "inaction" thought.

As we know, "inaction" is the essence of Taoist thought, which runs through the whole Taoist ideological system, and many remarks of Taoist Laozi are based on it. If we interpret Taoist thought without "inaction", then Taoist thought may be a joke madness for us.

Get down to business. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, Taoist Laozi's "inaction" emphasizes more subjective "inaction" and then shows objective "inaction".

What does this mean? The so-called "subjective inaction" refers to the "deliberate" of human subjective thinking. There is eccentricity under "deliberate", and there is a position under eccentricity. Because of your own position, you will reject the opposite position. Here, under the "deliberate" egoism and exclusion, people may go against the "natural way" of things and act according to their own wishes. In the long run, go against the way of nature and harm others and yourself.

The best development state of everything is to develop and change in an orderly way along the natural way, such as "pushing the boat with the current". Here, people are not subjectively born in the "calculation" of "private", but foreign things have developed to the most suitable state under the "natural way", which is not only the subjective "inaction" but also the objective "all-encompassing".

2. The wisdom of "being clumsy" in "being clumsy and arguing clumsy", through the above interpretation, understands the Taoist thought of "inaction", and "being clumsy and arguing clumsy" is much easier to understand. In this sentence, in fact, the wisdom of Taoism is hidden.

In the mind of Taoist Laozi, the true "great wisdom" is not the so-called "superior wisdom" of "people are superior", after all, "heaven and earth are merciless" and "Tao is impartial"

The so-called "sense of superiority" is nothing more than people's vanity and comparison, and people's comparison and vanity is to limit people's development and make people deviate from the Tao.

Therefore, people with great wisdom are "quiet" ideologically and have no intention of deliberately expressing themselves and making themselves look "smarter" than anyone else. Here, their inner "detachment" cultivation, because they don't keep up with others, seems awkward in utilitarian competition, and then it is the objective expression of Taoist thought.

Similarly, the so-called "slow debate" refers to people who are really good at speaking and full of wisdom, and may seem a bit "slow". This "wood" is not that they can't talk, but that they don't talk much. They often speak at the most appropriate time, not to "show off" or "show off their skills", but to "speak" when they need to make their own suggestions, which is a bit clumsy when they flatter. The grounding point to describe the "blandness" of this great wisdom may be a combination of "hitting the nail on the head" and "making a blockbuster without saying it", which is relatively close.

3. Warning from Laozi: Modesty in the wisdom of "clumsy" To sum up, we know that the Taoist saying "clumsy is clever, clumsy is argumentative" refers to "cleverness" and "eloquence" under the condition of being competitive, but it is just the performance of people falling into the competition of "seeking fame and profit", not the embodiment of "Tao", but the truth. It is not that they are "incompetent", but that they are "really humble".

Here, we can also draw a conclusion that the sentence "If you are clumsy, you will be clumsy, if you argue, you will argue" by Taoist Laozi may be more telling those who strive for fame and gain, to calm down, cultivate their minds with "wisdom" and guard their hearts with humility.