title: Tao Te Ching 13 - Success Appreciation Ego
Stephen Mitchell Translation
Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear1.
What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure? Whether you go up the ladder or down it, your position is shaky. When you stand with your two feet on the ground, you will always keep your balance.
What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear? Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. When we don’t see the self as self2, what do we have to fear?
See the world as your self. Have faith in the way things are3. Love the world as your self; then you can care for all things.
1: Hope is as hollow as fear 2: What is the Self 3: the Universe is unfolding exactly as it should
Other translations I like
Favour and disgrace are like fear. Honour and distress are like the self. What does this mean? Favour debases us. Afraid when we get it, Afraid when we lose it. The self embodies distress. No self, No distress. Respect the world as your self: The world can be your lodging. Love the world as your self: The world can be your trust. Stephen Addiss & Stanley Lombardo
Favor and disgrace make one fearful The greatest misfortune is the self
What does “favor and disgrace make one fearful” mean? Favor is high; disgrace is low Having it makes one fearful Losing it makes one fearful This is “favor and disgrace make one fearful”
What does “the greatest misfortune is the self” mean? The reason I have great misfortune Is that I have the self If I have no self What misfortune do I have?
So one who values the self as the world Can be given the world One who loves the self as the world Can be entrusted with the world Derek Lin