Tuesday 23 September 2008

To Tao or not to Tao ?

Dear people close to me are going through some turbulant uncertainty at this time, and so i remembered a chapter of The Tao te Ching which has to do with letting things arise as they will, so they can fall , allowing change to happen of its own accord ,so that then you can act at a more auspicious time. Its difficult to do because you want to act swifly to bring about a certainty that will alleviate your anxiety.
I know from my own turbulant anxious past that there is much wisdom in the old master Lao-tzu´s words, usually you get what he is saying in hind sight....which is kind of too late !

Anyway the chapter i refere to is 36, translation by Stephen Mitchell, which is i think the best one out there.

If you want to shrink something,
you must first allow it to expand.
If you want to get rid of something,
you must first allow it to flourish.
If you want to take something,
you must first allow it to be given.
This is called the subtle perception
of the way things are.

The soft overcomes the hard.
The slow overcomes the fast.
Let your workings remain a mystery.
Just show the people the results.

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