Chapter 81

Chapter 81

True words do not sound beautiful;
beautiful sounding words are not true.
Wise men don’t need to debate;
men who need to debate are not wise.

Wise men are not scholars,
and scholars are not wise.
The Master desires no possessions.
Since the things she does are for the people,
she has more than she needs.
The more she gives to others,
the more she has for herself.

The Tao of Heaven nourishes by not forcing.
The Tao of the Wise person acts by not competing.

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When Einstein published his theory of relativity, people needed solid evidence based on experiments. When he was told that his theory was proved to be accurate through an experiment based on some solar eclipse phenomenon, his response was rather cold. He replied it was them who needed the result and not him. Nevertheless, unlike philosophy, science needs verifiable results, and Einstein was in need of experimental results that can corroborate his theory. Every scientific theory, however convincing and accurate it looks, needs verification through empirical results. The power of science originates from this. That our theoretical or mathematical constructions do not end up being speculation but establish links between our reasoning power and empirical observations. Therefore, Einstein had to be “debatable.”

Although this chapter says otherwise, wise men do need “to debate.”  The concept of “dialectics” is based on constructive discourse between two opposing debaters.