The useless tree, a story of Taoism wisdom by Zhuang Zi, followed by my interpretation.
"Shih the carpenter was on his way to the state of Chi. When he got to Chu Yuan, he saw an oak tree by the village shrine. The tree was large enough to shade several thousand oxen and was a hundred spans around. It towered above the hilltops with its lowest branches eighty feet from the ground. More than ten of its branches were big enough to be made into boats. There were crowds of people as in a marketplace. The master carpenter did not even turn his head but walked on without stopping.
His apprentice took a long look then ran after Shih the carpenter and said, "Since I took up my ax and followed you, master, I have never seen timber as beautiful as this. But you do not even bother to look at it and walk on without stopping. Why is this?"
Shih the carpenter replied, "Stop! Say no more! That tree is useless. A boat made from it would sink, a coffin would soon rot, a tool would split, a door would ooze sap, and a beam would have termites. It is worthless timber and is of no use. That is why it has reached such a ripe old age."
After Shih the carpenter had returned home, the sacred oak appeared to him in a dream, saying, "What are you comparing me with? Are you comparing me with useful trees? There are cherry, apple, pear, orange, citron, pomelo, and other fruit trees. As soon as the fruit is ripe, the trees are stripped and abused. Their large branches are split, and the smaller ones torn off. Their life is bitter because of their usefulness. That is why they do not live out their natural lives but are cut off in their prime. They attract the attentions of the common world. This is so for all things. As for me, I have been trying for a long time to be useless. I was almost destroyed several times. Finally I am useless, and this is very useful to me."
I interpret this story as being about how our greatest potential worth, as individuals, lies beyond the things we do, and is rather in what we are and the way we keep growing through our life. When you're willing and able to do something that's profitable for other humans, they will find ways to use and abuse you, depleting you of your time and vitality. I think the current model of the 40 hours work week is a good exemple of this, how can someone realize a significant part of his hopes and dreams when he gives most of his time and energy at work?
By contrast, the way to live a long content life, in physical and mental health, is to live in accord to one's true nature. It's to keep growing as an individual towards our greatest potential, avoiding compromising our values and hopes, to take little from the world and to give little in return. Although of course it's positive to offer ie. kindness and compassion, as the tree gave shade, when it doesn't affect us negatively.
Indeed this story is not promoting absolute selfishness. It's important to note that the tree was not really useless to the world, as it provided shade to very many life-forms on warm summer days, and the view of it delighted many travellers. This he could accomplish by remaining integrally himself, at no threat to the way of life that was in harmony with his inner nature, therefore he lost nothing of himself by doing so. In the same way, an artist or other "outsider" of society can contribute greatly to people's life, even though at first glance he might seem useless and indeed may have been wholly useless for quite a long time before that, just like the tree which needed hundreds of years of growth to be able to shade the weary travellers.
This story, and many others from the Taoist literature (ie. Lao Zi's Tao Te Ching), are great parables which teach how to live one's life to its best potential.
-aoi
This is an exceedingly useful parable. :) Thanks for sharing. It's a really unusual way to look at life and so you can learn so much from it. It's nothing you already know and think you know well.
To offer oneself as little as possible in the world is so alien to us modern people that this is exactly where beauty lies. It is true.
Rather, we are interested in being active in the world. We are interested in action and determinism, in progress and change. In this way we often achieve exactly the opposite: standstill. We block our human potential, we prevent plants from growing naturally, we prevent our dying. Our will to let ourselves be exploited and to plunder ourselves is very great. It is certainly because of our perceived inferiority that we make such great efforts to be seen and respected. To work for love.
You possibly know Wu-Wei, the art of moving between omission and action?
Exactly, it goes against all that we are taught, yet it's easy to see how this way of thinking leads to better peace of mind. And by living in this manner we discover that it's not necessary, and it's indeed harmful, to painfully strive towards our goals; it's easier to achieve them when we have a sense of detachment, acceptance and calm.
It reminds me of University, where other students were wrecking their health with the manner in which they studied: spending all night reading their paper trying to memorise everything. I could achieve at least as much as them with much less effort, not because I'm specially smart, but simply because I was wholly present in class and studied with calm and without putting weight on my shoulders by thinking that all my future dependend on my grades (stress greatly impedes the learning process).
Thanks for your insightful comment. Indeed the philosophy of progress for progress' sake is only harmful for us and for the world, and robs us of our higher human potential (which includes inner peace).
Yes Wu-Wei is an important part of my life, ever since I've discovered Jack Kerouac 10 years ago :)
So true! All that wasted time at school in not wanting to be interested in a topic. And then, in the end bulimia learning takes place. But students cannot be blamed for it. The whole set up is wrong as we all know. One can be lucky to have rescued some curiosity for life and the living after all.
You see, educated people are the worst. My mom, who only visited 4 years of school education (just primary school) was a very spontaneous person. She never had this self conscious Freudian concept of life and acted strong. Of course, she was often mistaken and ghastly but on the other hand she gave me the best laughs of my life! She was mischievous. I am not this type of mother/character. I had to unlearn to worry all the time and to give too much meaning on what others think of me (all this comparing stuff between peers and later working colleagues).
Still am in the process of maturing. Not finished yet. Probably never will.
For becoming a fearless person it requires much more inconvenience and other habits than which my society provides me with. Like seeing dead corpses, waking hours for the dead, seeing babies been born, facing blood, sweat and slime et cetera et cetera. ... Laughter! Sorry for that direct talk!
Glad, that you know Wu-Wei. So we don't have to get into this long explanation talk. Jack Kerouac I never was reading .. I just know the name. But of course, all the great people have their stuff from other great people. LOL
Indeed the education system, wholly focused on exams, is terrible at keeping people truly interested in the subjects. As always with society, only results matter... I long for the time of peripatetic teachers like that of ancient Greece!
Your mother seem like she was a great person. Education does not make one intelligent, although it may make one think that one is, which is very dangerous. And it also leads to overthinking things, which is a great source of anxiety for our modern world.
Of course we are always maturing and growing, I think it is the most important thing we can do with our time on Earth :)
Yes probably society impedes our growth, as you said by sheltering us from the hard realities such as death which is never seriously talked about anywhere.
"But of course, all the great people have their stuff from other great people." So very true! I often feel that my personnality is really just a mosaic of all the people (ie. authors, teachers, friends) who have influenced me, with the only unique thing about me being the manner this mosaic is put together.
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by a0i from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.
Thank you a0i! You've just received an upvote of 80% by @ArtTurtle!
Learn how I will upvote each and every one of your art and music posts
Please come visit me as I've updated my daily report with more information about my upvote value and how to get the best upvote from me.
Congratulations @a0i! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click here to view your Board of Honor
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDo not miss the last post from @steemitboard: