"What has equilibrium is easy to maintain.
What hasn't begun is easy to plan.
What is fragile is easy to shatter.
What is small is easy to scatter.
Deal with things before they arise.
Cultivate order before confusion sets in.
The greatest tree springs from a tiny shoot.
The tallest tower is built from a pile of dirt.
A journey of a thousand miles begins at your feet.
Interfere with things, and you'll be
defeated by them.
Hold on to things, and you'll lose them.
The sage doesn't interfere, so he doesn't fail;
doesn't hold on, so he doesn't lose.
Because projects often come to ruin
just before completion,
he takes as much care at the end as
he did at the beginning,
and thereby succeeds.
His only desire is to be free of desire.
Fancying nothing,
learning not to know,
electing not to interfere,
he helps all beings become themselves."
How difficult it can be to help without interfering, how challenging to respect oneself and still to honor others. People talk about the threat to or loss of identity in relationships--can it not be that we are more, and better, when together?
What hasn't begun is easy to plan.
What is fragile is easy to shatter.
What is small is easy to scatter.
Deal with things before they arise.
Cultivate order before confusion sets in.
The greatest tree springs from a tiny shoot.
The tallest tower is built from a pile of dirt.
A journey of a thousand miles begins at your feet.
Interfere with things, and you'll be
defeated by them.
Hold on to things, and you'll lose them.
The sage doesn't interfere, so he doesn't fail;
doesn't hold on, so he doesn't lose.
Because projects often come to ruin
just before completion,
he takes as much care at the end as
he did at the beginning,
and thereby succeeds.
His only desire is to be free of desire.
Fancying nothing,
learning not to know,
electing not to interfere,
he helps all beings become themselves."
How difficult it can be to help without interfering, how challenging to respect oneself and still to honor others. People talk about the threat to or loss of identity in relationships--can it not be that we are more, and better, when together?
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