Category: Uncategorized

This Tuesday I had the amazing opportunity to volunteer at my ICR site for the first time. I am volunteering on Tuesday mornings this semester at the IPS Newcomer school. This school is for students in the Indianapolis community who are experiencing their first year in the United States. Almost all of children are refugees or immigrants. I am helping out is Mrs. Latta’s art room for the semester.

I helped the kids with their art projects on pointillism for this unit. I spoke to kids from many different countries with many different cultural backgrounds. Many of the students speak little to no English so being in an art room with them is great because art is a language in itself. I was speaking Spanish with a few of the students, and mind you I am not very good at Spanish, when I must have messed up a phrase and a group of them laughed at me. Initially I was embarrassed, but then I realized that they must feel like I did every single day while trying to learn English. In that moment I could sense the children getting more comfortable with me and that mutual failures can bring people closer together.

In Tao Te Ching, I interpreted text 33 as you need to understand yourself before you can begin to understand and help others. I think this text is directly related to the somewhat embarrassing experience I had with the language barrier. Before I could even begin to understand what some of these kids have been through, I need to understand myself first and be able to make some connections to them.

This experience helped me gain an understanding of probably the most diverse community that I have ever worked with a little bit better. This community is diverse in terms of culture, childhood trauma, and places of origin. Even on the first day of class I improved upon my listening skills as a girl told me all about her picture she drew that represented strength for her using as many words as should could in English. We were able to use art through images to combat our cross cultural differences. I am looking forward to seeing the kids smiling faces next Tuesday morning.

In the Tao Te Ching poem book a quote that stood out to me was, “Accept country’s filth and and become master of its sacred soil” (Addiss, Lombardo). I interpreted this quote by understanding that one may view something in a completely different opinion than someone else. In this example the author is claiming that some may view soil as filthy and some may view it as sacred (showing that an opinion may be subject to change as well).

In my own life I have seen this in a variety of ways. My least favorite food is muscles as the texture look has always made me queasy. Every Christmas Eve this dish is a staple in my family as my great aunt always cooks it as a special meal. As I cringe in disgust my family devours the muscles, savoring every bite. Even though I have always said I will never try this dish, I might feel differently about the dish after trying it.

Another life example that comes to mind is my love for country music. Even though I am a fan of much music, many people tend to dislike this genre that I enjoy. While eating dinner with my roommate tonight she said, “Country music sounds like nails on a chalkboard.” Besides country music, many have various opinions on music showing no one has the exact same liking of things. The books quote stands true in all aspects of life, proving we must be accepting of everyones differences.

My version of the Daodejing is a different translation than the text many used in class, and this led me to become curious on how the translation has changed over time. Some of the classes favorite poems have an entirely different version when comparing different texts. #67 changes from translation to translation which can be seen in the difference between Gia-Fu Feng’s translation created in 1972 and Agnieska Solska’s version in 2005. Feng says, “I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion,” while Solska says, “I have three treasures which I hold and keep safe. The first is compassion. The second economy. The third not daring to take the lead.” Each of these versions completely change the meaning of these ideals. Solska moves the first lesson to compassion giving it greater emphasis and changes simplicity to economy which has a very different meaning. Economy transforms the meaning from something that could be applied to many aspects of life such as relationships, but economy’s meaning refers to resources. She also changes patience to not daring to take the lead. This once again changes the meaning and creates the idea that someone who follows the way must always follow and never lead while patience can mean many other things. Two other versions by J. H. McDonald in 1988 and Jim Clatfelter in 1996 also give different meanings to these verses. McDonald states, “There are three jewels that I cherish: compassion, moderation, and humility,” while Clatfelter says, “I have three treasures that I keep. The first is friendliness. The second is to stay behind. The third is wanting less.” These translations show how the message of the Daodejing can change over time and be molded to fit different applications. However, with all of these translations it is difficult to tell the true meaning of the text, and how it should be translated. This is a very interesting exercise that has taught me to look further into books with translations and be sure to see which liberties the translator has taken that might change the original meaning.

In the documentary we watched for class, something that stuck out to me was that women are not mentioned in Confucius’s thinking. This was something I wanted to investigate further especially after seeing that in the documentary there were girls attending the Confucius Institute. According to “Women Existing for Men: Confucianism and Social Injustice against Women in China” by Xiongya Gao, there was inequality for women before Confucius, but his teachings made things worse for women. Gao details the idea of yin and yang, and the woman being synonymous with dark and passive, but still, an important part of society. Gao suggests that by leaving out women Confucius is intentionally teaching the reader that women should be silent and forgotten. The idea that women should obey their father first, then their husband, and then their son, also known as “The Three Obediences and Four Virtues,” is certainly something that Confucius would have agreed with in the idea of filial piety. One of his loyal disciples, also endorsed these ideas. Later, Confucian scholars made widows remarrying illegal, and a woman ending her life after her husband’s death was seen as honorable. While all of this information does not necessarily point to Confucius himself believing women were below men, he certainly did not give them a place within Confucianism which later led to their being mistreated in the name of the philosophy.

When going through the poems on pages 40 through 80 I think that this one stuck out to me the most, and I thought it had some very interesting relations to the government and the state of our nation today. I thought that the first half of the poem especially stood out. The poem is a very simple one, but I think its very important one for people to read. It starts being giving good traits that certain people should strive to have. It says the accomplished person is not aggressive, the god soldier is not hot tempered, the best conqueror does not engage the enemy, the most effective leader takes the lowest place. I think that this is a great couple of lines for anyone in a position of authority to read. This especially relates to many of the actions taking place throughout our government and different positions of authority. I think that the good soldier can be taken into consideration not just be soldiers, but especially by most police. Obviously the most effective leader needs to be seen by most people in government, but I think its a good mind set for anyone to have. All of these relate a lot to the question posed in class today on whether Confucianism or Taoism is more relevant today, as I think a lot of the passages in this book are still very much relatable today.

As seen in the diagram, both Confucianism and Taoism have revolved around China and created their values and society for centuries. However, there are differences as they signify two differentiating philosophies. Confucianism represents more of a social balance that is achieved through rules and citizens, or older and younger siblings, or ancestors and non-ancestors. It is about social order as the older person is wiser therefore they must give the orders to the younger or less privileged people. Not only must there be social order but obedience as well to superiors. Taoism or Daoism is to achieve a balance, not with social order and obedience but a balance in life. A good example of a balance in life is the Yin Yang symbol which represents opposite forces of the spectrum like good and bad or right and wrong becoming interconnected. There is a level and equal balance in that life as one may give rise to another to better the other half. It is seen as more equal rather than obedience by a superior. Both a healthy for a society, but having too much of either Confucianism or Taoism can result in a social failure or collapse. I believe this is why both are compared as somewhat opposites. Both Confucianism and Taoism can be examples of Yin Yang as one can give rise to the other.

This story starts off with people respecting him since he became rich as they were disgusted by him when he was a criminal and poor. One passage he said when he got arrested for profiteering, “our names appeared in newspapers; our pictures were posted on the streets.” That was one of the matters I learned while I was in China as they took crime seriously and a form of punishment was public humiliation. Liu went through much adversity with rejection from people, work, and school, but he found a way to get rich. It’s interesting to point out that money “can change your personality” because it has been known that money helps brings out your true self, whether it’s good or bad. It also makes people think differently about you. Money can be used for power, but it all depends on how the individual uses the power. Power to other people can turn into attraction. Such an attraction that no matter what that person in power does, the other person is still attracted to them. For instance, when Liu slaps the mother-in-law, but she does nothing to combat it or tell her daughter. Money can be a scary issue at times if abused, but it is all about self-control.

When I was in China two years ago for the Butler in Asia program, I experience a huge culture change with the way the Chinese conducted its business. I worked for a subsidiary of Microsoft called Wicresoft, and I had to get accustomed to the way they get to and from work as well as how they worked. They way they get to work is very similar to the United States as they take trains and buses, but the difference I noticed was the aggressiveness people would do to get on the train. People would shove and be very physical at one another just to get on the train, even though there was another one coming about four minutes later. I then noticed how people in China work. Where I worked, the employees did not talk to one another as they all worked independently. In the workplace, it’s way more strict than in America, but one thing that surprised me was the way Chinese employees interact outside of work. It is very common, in China, to meet for dinner or drinks after work. They would also all take naps around the same time at their desk right after lunch before they started working again. Another difference I had to work with was the internet situation. The Chinese government banned and censored google and other internet browsers as well as social media. In order to get on the internet and conduct business. I was assigned a VPN to use in order to complete the research and work for my internship. Occasionally, the VPN would be very hazy as it would stop working for some short and long periods of time. It wasn’t very difficult to use, but it was very different. It was very fascinating to see how the average worker there compared to the average worker in the U.S.

When I was in China two years ago for the Butler in Asia program, I experience a huge culture change with the way citizens in China live compared to the United States. China’s cost of living is much lower than the United States as its currency exchange is about a 7-1 ratio to the US dollar. I figured that most authentic Chinese restaurants and shops are not very aware of the currency exchange rate, and may not realize that when Westerners spend money at these establishments, they are not spending as much as they normally would back home. I ate at this restaurant almost every day to get soup dumplings and scallion noodles, and it would be a total of 23 yuan, the Chinese currency. However, this really cost me $3 here, and back home, this would cost at least $25. Now, there were certain areas where Westerners live and open up restaurants and shops that sell Western food and brands. They did take advantage of the cost of living. For example, I went to a burger place and the burger cost 85 yuan which is about $12. These establishments were in more modern and expensive areas than the authentic restaurants. I never understood why the Chinese kept their prices so low until I learned that they were could not drink their own water since it would make them sick, so they couldn’t cook at their own house. People only eat out at restaurants as restaurants have to make their prices affordable for the average citizen. Overall, this trip was one of the most fascinating experiences of my life, and it opened my eyes to a completely different culture.

“Best to be like water,

Which benefits the ten thousand things

And does not contend.

It pools where humans distain to dwell,

Close to the TAO.”

The above is an excerpt from the eighth section of the “Tao-Te Ching.” There can be no argument against the benefits of water, but as an analogy for behavior, it can be even more profound. It provides life to the earth by flowing to areas of need, and stabilizing environments. There are no organisms that can live without it. However, the main thing that struck me from this passage is that it says water “does not contend.” What does it mean to contend? To say that it simply means to strongly assert an opinion, seems to miss the meaning. Water can indeed be very forceful, when it has pressure to move, so how can there be a claim against its behavior of contention?

A passage from “Siddhartha” by Herman Hesse was brought to mind, as I was pondering this. It goes:

“The river is everywhere at once – at its source, at its mouth, by the waterfall, by the ferry crossing, in the rapids, in the sea, in the mountains – everywhere at the same time. And that for it there is only the present, not the shadow called the past, not the shadow called the future… Nothing was, nothing will be; everything is, everything has its being and is present.”

So maybe, by saying water does not contend, the passage from the “Tao-Te Ching” is saying that it is living in a state of being ever present. If one were to say that the past and the future are two sides of the yin-yang symbol, then in order to achieve balance, one must focus on living in the present. I do not claim to have nailed the author’s intended meaning, but thinking through this has provided a helpful reminder in the practical benefits of living in the moment, or being like water.