Introduction
The title of this verse points, once again, to understanding the Dao through the way it manifests in our lives. The example is personal, like in Cherishing People, but the emphasis is on pointing out a natural law for us to apply. Understanding ourselves through examining the universe and understanding the universe by examining ourselves is a crucial component of wisdom traditions.
Sheathing Light evokes several layers of meaning. The concrete meaning is that when we look at how connected the universe is, we understand that our well-being emerges from our environment. Therefore, being of service and enjoying other’s success is the way we take care of ourselves, too. There is a value in being quietly competent and going about our business without making a big deal of our work. For more on this, see Cherishing People
Sheathing Light also describes the Dao by alluding to the Dao functioning as the interplay of yang (Heaven, spiritual) and yin (Earth, material). We have seen various allusions to this building up in the previous verses.
- “The unnameable is the embryo of existence. The act of naming gives birth to all things.” (verse 1)
- opposites are embedded in each other (verse 2)
- “The Dao flows from a bottomless vessel” (verse 4)
- “Pumped and even more comes out” (verse 5)
- “The Generative Mother’s womb is the origin of Heaven and Earth” (verse 6)
The natural law of their dynamic interaction is made explicit and pointed to as a referent for the Wise.
Translation
Heaven is permanent; Earth is eternal.
Nature is permanent and eternal
because it is not self-made.
Being other-made enables immortality.
The Wise, knowing this,
Step back from themselves and find themselves ahead.
Exclude themselves and see themselves cherished.
Is this not selflessness?
Such is the way to emerge as oneself.
Commentary
Heaven is permanent; Earth is eternal.
As the intro mentions, Heaven and Earth are corollary to yang and yin. It’s appropriate to conceptualize Heaven and Earth as poles of an electromagnetic spectrum, Heaven/yang being the positive pole and Earth/yin being the negative. The Dao is the electromagnetic force organized and given motion through this fundamental duality.