“… what everyone values is not what’s really of value.”
This is from ‘Skill and Expertise in Three Schools of Classical Chinese Thought’ by Hagop Sarkissian, found in The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Skill and Expertise edited by Ellen Fridland and Carlotta Pavese (2021):
… Kongzi gazes at a waterfall producing rapids so turbulent that no sea creatures dare swim in it, and foam so abundant that it persists miles downstream. Suddenly, he catches sight of a solitary figure in the water.
[line break added] Thinking this person in mortal danger he dispatches a disciple to render aid, only to see the person emerge from the depths full of song. Amazed, Kongzi asks for his dao of swimming. The swimmer claims none. Instead, the swimmer describes his skill as developing naturally out of his having grown up both on land and in water, and thus being adept and at ease in both environments.
… What was ordinary from his perspective resulted in a way of life seemingly extraordinary to others. Here, Kongzi represents the perspective of a judgmental elite, who claims to possess deep insight on what is proper and improper, admirable and inadmirable, and goes around promulgating his beliefs on the assumption that people require guidance and education. Kongzi assumes the swimmer needs his help, yet he requires none at all.
… Here’s the general lesson:
“Everyone in the world values dao when found in texts. A text does not go beyond its sayings, yet the sayings contain something of value. What is of value in sayings is the impressions they convey. The impressions follow from something else, and these cannot be transmitted with words. Alas, everyone values mere sayings and so transmits texts. Even though everyone values them [i.e. words and books], to me they seem not to obtain value; what everyone values is not what’s really of value.”
-Julie
Coloring 