Tao te Ching

Identity

Accolades can usher in
Great trouble for your body,
Censure can herald misery.

Why can favor and disfavor
Both be harmful?

Because both accolades and censure,
When filtered through self as ego,
Always place us in jeopardy.

But when the universe becomes your self,
When you love the world as yourself,
All reality becomes your haven,
Reinventing you as your own heaven.

Only then, will you transcend tense
To fully be here now.
Only then, no harm
Will the universe proffer
Nor you to her,
Nor you will be
Not you but she
And both – the universal Great Integrity.

Translator; Ralph Alan Dale
Verse 13

Another Version from Wayne Dyer
Living the Wisdom of the Tao..

Favor and disgrace seem alarming
High status greatly afflicts your person.

Why are favor and disgrace alarming?
Seeking favor is degrading;
Alarming when it is gotten,
Alarming when it is lost.

Why does high status greatly afflict your person?
The reason we have a lot of trouble
Is that we have selves
If we had no selves,
What trouble would we have?

Man’s true self is eternal,
Yet he thinks, I am this body and will soon die.
If we have no body, what calamities can we have?
One who sees himself as everything
Is fit to be guardian of the world.
One who loves himself as everyone
Is fit to be teacher of the world.

Photo; Planetary Nebula NGC 7009