Addictions of The Senses | Tao Te Ching #3

Written by on June 14, 2021

“Color’s five hues from th’ eyes their sight will take;

Music’s five notes the ears as deaf can make;

The flavors five deprive the mouth of taste;

The chariot course, and the wild hunting waste

Make mad the mind; and objects rare and strange,

Sought for, men’s conduct will to evil change.

Therefore the sage seeks to satisfy (the craving of) the belly, and not the (insatiable longing of the) eyes. He puts from him the latter, and prefers to seek the former.”

Here is what I get out of this chapter. There’s a heavy emphasis on the external world in the first paragraph. It mentions our senses which are the inputs for knowing the external world. Through the body’s senses, to the brain, and then interpreted by the mind, this is how we know the external world.

To the mind the sensations, or sensory data, are all strange and foreign objects. In Integral theory, Taoism and Zen, you are trained to view sensory data as nothing more than objects in awareness. The more you are able to do this the more control you gain over physical and mental desires which are driven by pleasure from your sensations. The sensations can lead the mind to madness, because you can become consumed by your desires. This makes me think of addictions. Integral theory categorizes addictions of the body as anything you become controlled by, food would be an addiction of taste, sex an addiction of physical feeling, an obsession with certain music, movies, addictions of the eyes and ears, etc. All sensations can lead to forms of addictions.

This is why I see the last paragraph as meaning the sage seeks to satisfy what is within, while trying to put from himself the temptations and desires of the external world. But instead of giving into addictions you learn to satisfy them with the mind by extinguishing the craving. I believe this is what the Tao Te Ching is getting at because of the heavy theme throughout Taoism to conquer these addictions by learning to view desires as objects in awareness. Which allows you to transcend them and break their control over you.