"When the people of the world all know beauty as beauty,
There arises the recognition of ugliness.
When they all know the good as good,
There arises the recognition of evil."
Tao Te Ching, 2
When one starts to define what is to be sexy, then rises the acknowledgement of what is to be not-sexy; to become too fat or too skinny. When a person comprehends what is to become knowledgeable and intelligent, then comes the identification of what is to become stupid and ignorant. And when there comes a knowledge of what is good and kind, it will really be accompanied by that of what is bad and appalling.
These danger of knowledge, as emphasized by Lao Tzu, is definitely to be associated to that of what we refer as the "Law of Opposites", a.k.a. "Law of Polarity". This law suggests that everything has opposites in them; whether it is bad and good, right and wrong, success and failure and so on, and it's up to the individual which of the two opposites is he/she is going to take note on. For example, Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, failed 999 times (according to the popular belief) when he was creating the light bulb. During an interview, someone asked him what it felt like failing that many times. Edison then confidently replied: "I did not fail--- I actually learned 999 ways on how not to make a light bulb". This way, we can suggest that Edison somehow understand what is the law of opposites; for instead of looking at the one (failing) side, he actually perceived the other (learning/succeeding) side of the said scenario. The point is that, whenever a description comes, it's opposite will also appear. If there is beautiful, there would also be ugly. If there is good, there would also be evil. Try to think of it, how can you know what is then beautiful without having any idea of what is ugly? Is there any possible ways of describing what is good without having known what is bad and wicked? What is right without wrong?
Therefore, what this concept of knowledge is trying to address to us is for us to notice that we have the choice. If we see how ugly we are, that is our choice. If we see that we are unlucky for not passing our subjects, that is our choice. If we see that what happened to us is bad, it is indeed our choice. But no matter what, the other side is always there, and it is our job to look at it whenever we want to. You are unsuccessful/ wretched/ hapless/ unfortunate/ tragic/ luckless? Com'on, try to think of it again; Maybe you just don't see yourself as lucky/ fortunate/ blessed/ fluky/ auspicious/ providential/ propitious/ timely/ jammy in a way. Well it's your choice, IT'S. OUR. CHOICE.
(See what I did there? It looks like this "dangerous" knowledge is actually "beneficial" in such a way.)
These danger of knowledge, as emphasized by Lao Tzu, is definitely to be associated to that of what we refer as the "Law of Opposites", a.k.a. "Law of Polarity". This law suggests that everything has opposites in them; whether it is bad and good, right and wrong, success and failure and so on, and it's up to the individual which of the two opposites is he/she is going to take note on. For example, Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, failed 999 times (according to the popular belief) when he was creating the light bulb. During an interview, someone asked him what it felt like failing that many times. Edison then confidently replied: "I did not fail--- I actually learned 999 ways on how not to make a light bulb". This way, we can suggest that Edison somehow understand what is the law of opposites; for instead of looking at the one (failing) side, he actually perceived the other (learning/succeeding) side of the said scenario. The point is that, whenever a description comes, it's opposite will also appear. If there is beautiful, there would also be ugly. If there is good, there would also be evil. Try to think of it, how can you know what is then beautiful without having any idea of what is ugly? Is there any possible ways of describing what is good without having known what is bad and wicked? What is right without wrong?
Therefore, what this concept of knowledge is trying to address to us is for us to notice that we have the choice. If we see how ugly we are, that is our choice. If we see that we are unlucky for not passing our subjects, that is our choice. If we see that what happened to us is bad, it is indeed our choice. But no matter what, the other side is always there, and it is our job to look at it whenever we want to. You are unsuccessful/ wretched/ hapless/ unfortunate/ tragic/ luckless? Com'on, try to think of it again; Maybe you just don't see yourself as lucky/ fortunate/ blessed/ fluky/ auspicious/ providential/ propitious/ timely/ jammy in a way. Well it's your choice, IT'S. OUR. CHOICE.
(See what I did there? It looks like this "dangerous" knowledge is actually "beneficial" in such a way.)
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