Tuesday, June 1

"The less and less of self, the more and more of 'Your will, not mine, be done in me and through me,' the greater becomes the potential, the greater becomes the harmony, the greater joy is seen in relationships and activities with others." 

(ECRL 1992-1)

道德經 《道德經》第78章

天下莫柔弱於水，而攻堅強者莫之能勝，其無以易之。

弱之勝強，柔之勝剛，天下莫不知，莫能行。

是以聖人云：受國之垢，是謂社稷主；受國不祥，是謂天下王。

正言若反。

78 — Kunesh

Nothing is softer, more flexible, or more giving than water

• nothing can resist it
• nothing can take it away
• nothing can endure it
• there is no way to hurt it.

The flexible overcomes what resists it,
the giving overcomes what takes it,
the soft overcomes the hard,
but who uses this knowledge?
 
Only the person who knows the earth
as intimately as the trees and grasses
can rule the earth,
only the person who accepts
the guilt and evil of humanity
can rule the universe.
Straight tongues seem forked.
Straight talk seems crooked.

78 — Arthur Waley, 1934

Nothing under heaven is softer or more yielding than water;

But when it attacks things hard and resistant there is not one of them that can prevail.

For they can find no way of altering it.

That the yielding conquers the resistant

And the soft conquers the hard is a fact known by all men,

Yet utilized by none.

Yet it is in reference to this that the Sage said

“Only he who has accepted the dirt of the country can be lord of its soil shrines;

Only he who takes upon himself the evils of the country

Can become a king among those who dwell under heaven.”

Straight words seem crooked.