Each Thing's Way
Trouble is caused by people who think they are smart enough to improve things. First they try. When there is resistance, they push. Then they push harder until their intentions are lost in struggle and discord. Cunning and ingenuity make things worse.
Go softly in the world. Place the smallness of what is known beside the greatness of what is not known. Understand with humility. Honor what is known. Honor even more what is not known. Trust the natural way of things. Ordinary simplicity is infallible.
Let everyone find their own way. Teach reluctantly. The same secret is different for everyone. Tell no one but keep no secrets.
There is a limit to a lifetime but not to the mystery in a lifetime. What foolishness then trying to catch the unlimited in the limited. How presumptuous to understand! Understanding, therefore, should not get in the way of each thing’s way.
From The Tao of Being, a modern rendering of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching by Ray Grigg
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What do you make of the notion that "understanding should not get in each thing's way?" Can you share a personal story of a time when the greatness of what is not known gave you perspective on the smallness of what you knew? How do you reconcile the "foolishness (of) trying to catch the unlimited in the limited" with a piece a few weeks back pointing out that "each passionate being who dares to explore beyond the fragmentary and superficial into the mystery of totality helps all humanity perceive what it is to be fully human?"