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Introduction

This verse examines human behavior and the natural laws that govern it. It aims to create a framework for our actions that avoids common relationship pitfalls and positively impacts others, as reflected in the title “Cherishing People.” 

Weaving the Way frequently describes how “the Wise” person engages the world. As a consequence, the language often compares “the Wise” to “the Ordinary” and sets the Wise up as “directing” the Ordinary. Historically, this has been interpreted to mean that “Weaving the Way” is a leadership text, and the later-added titles and commentaries reinforce this class-oriented worldview.

I do not ascribe to that perspective.

As stated in earlier verses, this is far more likely a pragmatic text for personal cultivation through a meditative lifestyle. As such, “the Wise” is our developed, attuned aspect, and “the Ordinary” is our underdeveloped, misaligned aspect. This juxtaposition is about who we are on the inside and how “the Wise” shows up in the world. The consequence of presencing “the Wise” aspect more than “the Ordinary” has the added benefit of supporting others. However, such impacts are a side-effect, not the primary purpose, of the treatise. 

Many verses in Weaving the Way can seem somewhat mystical and obscure. At least until we use them as prompts for self-reflection. While reading the verse, feel into the experience it talks about. Be honest with your impulses and so-called negative emotions. Especially the emotions that you’d prefer not to admit you have. When we are have clear and accurate self-knowledge, we are in integrity. When spend a lot of time in integrity, we begin to understand the mechanisms that govern human behavior. Such understanding is what enables us to Cherish People. 

As we continue moving through the verses, please spend time reading them both as an internal dialogue between the different aspects of yourself and as a reflection of the dynamics that play out interpersonally. Unsurprisingly, the two are reflections of each other, and exploring what works either “in here” or “out there” helps the other. 

Translation

Refrain from making a big deal about talent;
ordinary people won’t compete for recognition.

Make something important difficult to obtain
and people will be tempted to steal it. 

Not seeing an object of desire
 allows a person’s mental and emotional state to be at peace. 

So the Wise support people by helping them:

Release their attachments, 
Nourish their being, 
Soften their opinions, 
Strengthen their confidence.

When people are complete, 
what con artist dares go to work?

Following the natural law, 
every issue can be resolved. 

Commentary

Before we begin the verse, I think it’d be helpful to discuss “desire.” One of the best frameworks I’ve encountered for understanding how desire is both a positive and negative force comes from Buddhism. The Buddha expressed the two-faced nature of desire with distinct words, tanha and chanda. Tanha, traditionally translated as thirst or craving, indicates reflexively grasping after something that cannot bring lasting satisfaction. In this sense, craving is going after the wrong things because we’re confused about what they will give us. Chanda means something more like will to act.

The will to act emerges from a correct perception of what is vital for lasting well-being and an absolute commitment to achieve it. The method promoted by this meditative living manual is to eliminate what causes craving so we can focus our will to act on our needs and needed outcomes. The result is effortless success and long-lasting contentment. 

The opening points out three common things and their potentially harmful ramifications. These three hypotheses concern the energy of craving.

Refrain from making a big deal about talent
and ordinary people won’t compete for recognition.

Competition for recognition is a fascinating phenomenon. Others will try to get a “Gold Star” if they see someone else get one. This mode of motivation is prevalent and can be very effective. However, it has a few dark side qualities. One such quality is that it operates through polarization. By creating “top” and “bottom” levels, people can and want to move around in the pecking order. The lines blur between admiration and resentment, pride and arrogance, and envy and respect. Another challenge in this environment is how people can learn to be inauthentic, or worse, in their competitiveness to receive recognition. 

One of the things we can do to Cherish People is to acknowledge significant achievements and contributions without overdoing the praise or using them as an example among their peers. An environment that recognizes each person for their personal growth, not compared against the growth or talents of others, is a way to honor everyone. 

Make something important difficult to obtain
and people will be tempted to steal it. 

Where the last axiom concerns subjective qualities in people, this one involves objective things and circumstances. For example, pitting multiple people against each other for a coveted promotion creates an environment that challenges people’s integrity. One-of-a-kind art pieces are targets of theft. In a more mundane way, smartphones are desirable, expensive, and important. As a result, people steal them to extort money from their owners or resell them on a secondary “black” market. Seeing the large-scale social influences illuminates how this is relevant to us as we weave the Way. 

In what ways do we have something important and difficult to obtain driving our behaviors? It might be a job, a car, a specific relationship goal, or other things. Can you feel how that pushes you to acquire it? Have you ever wanted something so badly that you were willing to do something you know you shouldn’t do to get it? Likewise, are you holding something special before others and creating such energy in them? If you are, are you doing it out of kindness to help them grow, unconsciously or maliciously? When that person behaves unseemly, do you not share in the blame?

Not seeing an object of desire
allows a person’s mental and emotional state to be at peace. 

Few things result in total systemic turmoil like frustrated desires. It makes evolutionary sense to be highly agitated to get what we want. The more agitated we are, the harder we will try to relieve the agitation. When there is an avenue to get what we want, this force is the most powerful motivator in the world. When there are insurmountable obstacles, competing desires, or priority issues, the same evolutionary advantage is highly destructive. It is easy to think of how we engage in, perhaps questionable, activities that meet unfulfilled desires. How does the pressure of needing something different drive you to do things you would never have thought you could do? Both good and bad? The wisdom of Weaving the Way invites us to recognize this force for what it is: desire leads to agitation, agitation resolved is peace. 

By extension, when Cherishing Others, it is unkind to “hype” them up for things beyond their capacity to achieve. We may think we are supporting and encouraging or sharing the joy of our success. Yet, often, we are causing others to feel envy, jealousy, lust, frustration, pressure, and dissatisfaction. Many people want to be “better than that” and then struggle with not being more genuinely happy for us. Being content within ourselves and sensitive to where others are in their life circumstances gives us a greater capacity to know how to share and support each other. 

So the Wise support people by helping them:

This line marks a transition point in the verse. The first three hypotheses express the energies that cause pain and pressure due to craving. The following four phrases are things we can do to support the reduction of craving and center ourselves in the will to act. Building ourselves and others up in this way allows the motivating force of desire to remain in its positive aspect. 

Release their attachments, 

Releasing their attachments is more literally “Emptying their heart.” In this context, emptying the heart is ridding it of craving. It is like cleaning the dust and dirt off a mirror to make the reflection more accurate. Our choices made with clarity are always more effective for our purpose than choices made from a confused, obscured, and partial perspective.

Nourish their being, 

In this text’s worldview, such nourishment pertains to a balanced, harmonious psycho-emotional system. Aspects of nourishing their being include practicing an appropriate diet and exercise routine, regulating various forms of activity, redressing areas of dis-ease, spiritual practice, and cultivating harmonious flows of energies in the body. Consider this an axiom stating the importance of holistic, intentional self-care for body, mind, and soul. 

Soften their opinions, 

Soften their opinions is more literally “Weaken their will.” In this context, will refers to having things a particular way according to one’s desires. It is easy to fall into clear-cut and uncompromising thought patterns when strongly opinionated. Being very specific in determining “good” and “bad” makes it difficult to be happy and limits our creativity. By relaxing our opinions or being “less willful” about how things must be, we experience more gratitude and appreciation. Further opening results in a creative fluidity to flex and flow with life circumstances in real time. 

Strengthen their confidence.

Strengthen their confidence is more literally “Strengthen their bones (and sinew).” It’s similar to “having a backbone,” or possessing confidence and resolve in adversity. Another word that comes to mind here is “uprightness,” in the sense of being honorable, honest, reliable, and worthy of trust. Such composed self-assurance and self-discipline are the ultimate expression of self-understanding. 

When people are complete, 
What con artist dares go to work?

Building ourselves (and others) up according to these principles quenches thirst and skillfully directs the will to act. We are much more difficult to deceive when we are content and well-resourced. Our energy goes directly into what is most important, and we allow nothing to distract us. 

Following the natural law, 
every issue can be resolved. 

We naturally find our way through life when we are in sync with the mechanisms of existence. A river making its way from high ground to the ocean is a perfect metaphor to contemplate.