Liberty and 五色令人目盲...

On April 25th, the Chinese Cultural Centre in Paris hosted a lecture on liberty within Chinese and Western philosophy.

THE ORIGINAL TEXT
老子说：“ 五色令人目盲，五音令人耳聋，五味令人口爽，驰骋畋猎令人心发狂，难得之货令人行妨。是以圣人，为腹不为目，故去彼取此。”

A USEFUL RECORDING
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/J6IEeBm2Xfk/

GENERAL EXPLANATION
Too many colours will blind you, too much noise will deafen you, too strong a taste will numb your tastebuds. Chasing at a gallop will make you insane. Owning too many material possessions will slow you down. Reason for which a sage knows this principle, and constantly seeks a rich spiritual life, rather than chasing after many colours, many sounds, chasing, obtaining materials possessions, which while procuring gaining also produce loss.

Even knowledge must be treated with caution, and one should learn to distinguish between higher knowledge and lower knowledge. Reason for which, children in the modern day world know much more than students of previous times, but will not surpass in  greatness thinkers such as Kongzi and Laozi.
Furthermore,  in a society in which the quality of material goods is ever-advancing, people become more demanding in their material ambition, and lose themselves inside this unending search for greater material wealth, forgetting the most essential elements of life. Laozi suggests distancing ourselves from the search of non-essential materials goods and spending more time concentrating on a Taoist spiritual advancement.


CHENGYUS TO REMEMBER
惟利是图 : "一心追求难得的东西会使人惟利是图"
乐此不疲 : "人们对物欲享受的追求往往是乐此不疲的，最终结果是对一切刺激的麻木"
眼花缭乱; "五光十色的花花世界令人眼花缭乱"
 

 
Explanations inspired from http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4db71fda0100z82z.html