Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
- Finding oneness comes with all kinds of benefits.
- You'll find clarity like the sky.
- Peace like the Earth.
- Spiritual power like the gods.
- Vital energy like all the living things around you.
- Rulers who've found this oneness show everybody how they should be living.
- If we don't find oneness, bad stuff happens.
- A sky without clarity breaks apart.
- The Earth without peace erupts.
- When gods don't have spiritual power, they disappear.
- When living things lose their energy, they all die.
- When rulers don't have this oneness, they lose their position.
- Good rulers base everything on those beneath them.
- Good rulers don't want to be shiny like jade.
- They want to be dull like rocks.
- We're guessing this all means that good rulers don't forget the little people, and they aren't into a lot of flash.
- It's true, right?
- Those ruler-dudes who squish the little people and spend all their time building giant statues of themselves don't always last that long.