78 Nothing in the worldis as soft and yielding as water.Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,nothing can surpass it. The soft overcomes the hard;the gentle overcomes the rigid.Everyone knows this is true,but few can put it into practice. Therefore the Master remainsserene in the midst of sorrow.Evil cannot enter his heart.Because he has…
69 The generals have a saying:“Rather than make the first moveit is better to wait and see.Rather than advance an inchit is better to retreat a yard.” This is calledgoing forward without advancing,pushing back without using weapons. There is no greater misfortunethan underestimating your enemy.Underestimating your enemymeans thinking that he is evil.Thus you destroy…
48 In the pursuit of knowledge,every day something is added. In the practice of the Tao,every day something is dropped.Less and less do you need to force things,until finally you arrive at non-action.When nothing is done,nothing is left undone. True mastery can be gainedby letting things go their own way.It can’t be gained by…
38 The Master doesn’t try to be powerful; thus he is truly powerful. The ordinary man keeps reaching for power; thus he never has enough. The Master does nothing, yet he leaves nothing undone. The ordinary man is always doing things, yet many more are left to be done. The kind man does something,…
31 Weapons are the tools of violence;all decent men detest them. Weapons are the tools of fear;a decent man will avoid themexcept in the direst necessityand, if compelled, will use themonly with the utmost restraint.Peace is his highest value.If the peace has been shattered,how can he be content?His enemies are not demons,but human beings…
30Whoever relies on the Tao in governing mendoesn’t try to force issuesor defeat enemies by force of arms.For every force there is a counterforce.Violence, even well intentioned,always rebounds upon oneself. The Master does his joband then stops.He understands that the universeis forever out of control,and that trying to dominate eventsgoes against the current of…
Contrary to the expectationsof 19th century radicals, religion hasnot gone away–perhaps we’d be better off if it had–but instead has increased in power,seemingly in proportion to the global increasein the realm of technology& rational control. Both fundamentalism& the New Agederive some forcefrom deep & widespread dissatisfactionwith the System that works againstall perception of the…
WHAT ARE MY TRUE DESIRES?–& what can I DO before it is too late?… Do you possess both imagination & Will,can you both dream & dare–or are you the dupe of an impotent fantasy? Any day now, vast numbers of Americans are going to realizethey’re being force-fed a load of reactionary boring hystericalartificially-flavored crap….
And the blindness of the blind one,and his seeking and groping,still testifies to the power of the suninto which he has gazed,– did you know that before? And with mountains shall the discerning one learn to build!It is a small thing for the spiritto remove mountains,– did you know that before? You know only…
Friday, the end of the week! An ending involves a beginning. Opposite meanings, each defines the other. You cannot have one without the other. Both terms are symbols, linguistic markers used to make sense of time. Making sense is something we humans cannot do without. Primitive and mammalian, the reflex to cry out, soon…
