The Ludibrium of Living Well

In the present article a new case will be made for the philosophical and religious merit of the Xiang’er commentary to the Laozi. Throughout the text there is a normative emphasis on reaching sagehood and the levels of obedience and cultivation that this entails. The Xiang’er prescribes a preparatory morality that readies Daoist practitioners for the eventual return to the Dao from which everything sprang. While this creates a temporary equilibrium in which commoners are held in check by a matrix of morality, this is but a stepping stone towards the ultimate dismantling of the edifice of human consciousness and the cosmic return to the Dao, as of yet the prerogative of sages. This creates a grim religious worldview in which humans are tasked with muting the clamour of the species in order to restore the original calm and stillness of the cosmic Dao.