Just a short little thought this week. I’m up to chapter 9 in the Tao te Ching and those three words are a summary of its message, to me.
To keep peace and serenity in your heart, mind, and life, don’t hold too tightly to anything and don’t go overboard. This includes both in action and in thought. If we push too hard, try to acquire too much, consume too much, we risk losing whatever it was that we were trying to do. It doesn’t mean not to care or not to do our best work, just know when to stop. Another phrase I hear a lot today, “perfect is the enemy of good” kinda fits. Man, it has taken me a long time in life to really understand this, and to begin to live in this way.
The last paragraph of this chapter in the Mitchell version of the Tao is “Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.”
In Jankel’s interpretation it is “Rest when the job is complete. This is heaven’s way.”
The Legge version reads, “When the work is done, and one’s name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.” This makes me think of (arguably) the greatest cartoonist of all time, Bill Watterson. The Calvin and Hobbes fans know what I am talking about.
What are you thinking about today?
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