The Name That Can Be Named Is Not the Eternal Name

answered by Laozi, "Dao De Jing", Ch. 1

기원전 6~4세기

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

The Trial (1962)

dir. Orson Welles · France·West Germany·Italy

An ordinary office worker is swept into the trial of a vast bureaucratic system without ever learning what he stands accused of. Before a nameless charge, he does not know with what he can possibly defend himself.

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Can a person judged without ever knowing the charge protect themselves with anything at all?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

道可道，非常道；名可名，非常名。

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

The Way that can be spoken of is not the eternal Way; the name that can be named is not the eternal name.

💡 TL;DR

Laozi said the Way that can be spoken is not the eternal Way, and the name that can be named is not the eternal name.

📝The Classic Answers

Laozi said the Way that can be spoken is not the eternal Way, and the name that can be named is not the eternal name. Before a vast bureaucracy that will not even reveal the charge, a person has no language left to defend themselves with. Before a fear with no name, what matters more than what he actually did is the fact that the system never clearly defines the name 'guilt' to begin with. Before an undefined name, a human being becomes powerless. Whenever I am about to judge something, I trace back whether the name I have given it is truly the accurate one.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If you are judging someone by a certain name today, first define exactly what that name actually means.

📖 Classic Source: Laozi, "Dao De Jing", Ch. 1. 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.