True Words Are Not Beautiful; Beautiful Words Are Not True

answered by Laozi, Dao De Jing, ch. 81

기원전 6~4세기

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

dir. John Ford · USA

The world often loves a beautiful legend more than the fact. When order and honor rest on an untold truth, do we keep the comfortable story or speak the uneasy fact? When legend and truth diverge, which should we leave behind?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Do I choose the plausible legend over the uneasy fact, building myself on a comfortable story?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

信言不美美言不信

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

Trustworthy words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not trustworthy.

💡 TL;DR

Laozi saw that the true and the beautiful often part ways: the legend is smooth, the fact is rough.

📝The Classic Answers

Laozi saw that the true and the beautiful often part ways: the legend is smooth, the fact is rough. When order and honor rest on an untold truth, people wish to keep the smooth story. But a beautiful tale cannot stand in for the true. When a comfortable legend is the foundation of my life, I choose first to discern whether I hold it because it is beautiful or because it is true.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

For one plausible story you keep repeating today, discern in one line whether it is because it is beautiful or because it is fact.

📖 Classic Source: Laozi, Dao De Jing, ch. 81. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.