13: Fear

13

Praise and disgrace cause fear.
Honor and great distress are like the body.
What does it mean that praise and disgrace cause fear?
Praise leads to weakness.
Getting it causes fear, losing it causes fear.
This is why praise and disgrace cause fear.
What does it mean that honor and great distress are like the body?
The reason for great distress is the body.
Without it, what distress could there be?
Therefore:
He who treasures his body as much as the world
Can care for the world.
He who loves his body as much as the world
Can be entrusted with the world.

Fear

Is there any driving force in man surpassing that of fear? We struggle all our lives to master it, and to avoid anything that brings it about. Fear rules our existence to the extent that there are few things we do without it being one of our reasons, more often than not the most important one...

Here is my full commentary on this Tao Te Ching chapter:
Tao Te Ching Chapter 13 Translation and Commentary