I've been convinced of a great many things. But yes it would take quite a bit to convince me that Taoism isn't just gibberish parsed together by some old Asian dudes who wanted to purposefully sound vague so you can interpret their text in whatever way you wanted and think they're super insightful.
At least your latest passage has one thing that is objective, which is great. That anyone who doesn't agree with taoists is "basically an idiot."
The rest is hilarious. There are 8 deepities in that passage alone. I could become taoist monk as well, it seems. Here, let me try. Toilet water is actually cleanest water. The slowest man is the fastest. To walk a straight path is to walk in a circle. The oldest man is actually the youngest. A pregnant mother is not pregnant. You're an idiot if you don't buy into this. Wisest man is also the least wise. A windy day is like any other day, except with wind.
Pretty insightful, huh?
I mean honestly, I did choose to reply with that particular passage as moreso bait. I actually expected this exact reaction. Now, you say all of this is vague, but it's actually very specific. It is specific about its non specificness. In modern terms, it could be seen as a call to be more flexible and adaptive to changing conditions. The attitude that it calls for in modern terms can be likened (but not equated) to stoicism.
The thing to realize about eastern philosophical texts is that they're often extremely metaphorical when compared to Western texts, meaning you can't take them exactly literally. You got to do a bit of abstract thinking but if you do this you'll understand what it's getting at.
So for instance, those 8 "deepities" are all metaphors to demonstrate the viewpoint of Taoism. Taoism is not a philosophy about what you know, it's a philosophy about what you don't know. The majority of people come to at least some conclusions/ideas/judgements/viewpoints that they believe very strongly to be true. But as you can see even from the disagreement between you and I... not everything we believe to be true actually is true. Often there's factors that we don't realize or that we disregard, or we have some kind of blind spot. We may also have biases, mental illness, prejudices, and cognitive distortions that blinding us. So a large part of the Taoist philosophy is recognizing that we have a blind spot.
So let me translate for you:
The path into the light seems dark-
Like I said, we have blind spots that keep us from seeing things objectively. It's saying you have to look at those blind spots in order to know the truth aka the light better.
the path forward seems to go back-
When you come to believe something that's not true to be true, you might have to do a little backtracking to move towards the actual truth.
the direct path seems long-
If you're blinded by certitude of something that isn't true, then the truth is going to seem pretty far away from you, even alien.
true power seems weak-
This is more of a comment about humility. People that insist strength to be the highest virtue end up stepping on other people to display this strength. If they do this enough they will be resented by the people and eventually overthrown. It should be noted that a lot of the Tao Te Ching is about how to lead a country.
true purity seems tarnished-
Humans come to their own conclusions all the time about what is pure and what is tarnished, but obviously a lot of this is hotly debated and there's no consensus. If there's nothing that's unanimously seen as pure, then how can it be objective? It's not like the forces of nature, where no human's opinion is going to change it. And in the Taoist philosophy, nature is indeed part of the Tao. In practice this is saying not to make any certain moral judgements or jump to conclusions. But obviously there's common sense like don't murder or kill, and the Tao Te Ching explicitly condemns violence and force.
true steadfastness seems changeable-
The Tao is basically nature, humans included. Nature does not sit still. To be steadfast in the Tao, you're going to have to be adaptive and changeable in accordance with what's going on around you. That's not to say you should be like a plastic bag floating in the wind, but you should be open and receptive to new information and experience and always ready to evolve in the face of new information, even information that disproves your current beliefs.
true clarity seems obscure-
As you've said, Taoism to you seems to be vague and say nothing at all. I've tried my best to clear up what it's saying and give examples of it in practice, but to many people the fact that it's not giving a very absolute, objective dogma and call to specific action and beliefs makes it seem this way to people. It supposes that people actually know much less for certain than they think they do.
the greatest art seems unsophisticated-
In the view of the Taoist, the Tao itself is considered the greatest art. Explained metaphorically, the Tao is to particular things what the clay is to an art sculpture. Of course the sculpture exists, but it's formed by the clay. Another example would be that the Tao is to particular things what a canvas is to the paint. This line is a call to recognize that while we live in a world of form, it arises out of the formless void. A big point in Taoism is learning to understand that "nothing", is necessary for "something" to exist. After all, if there was no space between notes in a song, if would just be noise.
the greatest love seems indifferent-
It's no secret that love and hate are intimately interconnected. Take for example a nasty divorce. Two people loved eachother very much, and had many expectations for one another. At some point, one or both of them fell short of the others' expectations. This leads to resentment and divorce, and the hurt of divorce can lead to hatred. But what if neither of them never had expectations of eachother to begin with? What if they let eachother be who they are, and appreciate them for who they are. If you can't appreciate somebody as they are, it's best to not enter a marriage with them to begin with. So what this line is saying, is that caring greatly about desires or expectations from somebody else leads to anger, disappointment, and resentment. It's a call to be and let be.
the greatest wisdom seems childish-
What makes something childish? A child has less experience, and is considered to be naive. A child has high neuroplasticity and is impressionable. A child hasn't fully formed any definitive, concrete worldview or personality. In a sense, a child is like an uncarved block of wood. Unfortunately, it's easy for a child to be led down the wrong path and be convinced of things that aren't true. Trauma, peer pressure, society, and authority figures around them can instill deluded ways of thinking and approaching the world that can last a lifetime. If a child has been misled, and grows to be an adult steeped in delusion, how can they find the truth? They're going to have to be like a child again. That is, they're going to have to be receptive to new influences and information and not claim absolute certainty on everything. You can only grow when you acknowledge that you don't know everything, and that despite being a grownup you're still as naive about the complexities of this ever-changing world as you were as a child; adults are just convinced that they do in fact know.
I hope this clarified some of these lines, and I trust you won't be intellectually lazy in your analysis and reply.
