Tao Te Ching, trans. Stephen Mitchell. New York: Harper Perennial, 1982, #36.
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 people the results.
2 comments:
This passage from the Tao Te Ching reminds me of a quote from Carl Rogers: “It is a curious paradox that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” When I let myself feel the sayings of the Tao Te Ching, they encourage me to loosen my tight hold on how I want things to be and let go into what is. I feel as if I am encountering Jesus’s mysterious and paradoxical sayings for the first time, before I tried to figure out what they meant or heard an explanation of them. Here are words from deep inside the world of meaning, inviting me to let go of my preconceptions and be in the being, “the way things are.”
Funny, I thought that I'd posted a comment here awhile ago, but I see that it hasn't shown up. Perhaps the invisible overcomes the visible.
This reading calls to mind two of my recurring character defects-- the desire to control, and unrealistic expectations: a difficult combination, as a good friend recently noted.
I turn these over to my Higher Power (again), asking for character assets in their place. What will those be?
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