Know When It Is Enough

When did you last feel, “That's enough”?

Original

名與身孰親？身與貨孰多？得與亡孰病？是故甚愛必大費，多藏必厚亡。知足不辱，知止不殆，可以長久。

In plain words

Your name or your life: which is closer to you? Your life or your goods: which is worth more? Gaining or losing: which does more harm? So the more you cling, the more it costs; the more you hoard, the more you lose. Know what is enough and you won't be disgraced. Know when to stop and you won't be in danger. That is how you last.

Key words

亡wángTo lose.
殆dàiDanger, peril.
知止zhī zhǐKnowing where to stop.

Reading it step by step

The last few pages were about distinguishing: sorting beautiful from ugly, good from bad, which brings comparison and wanting. Slowly we learn a second kind of knowing: how to steer clear of disaster. This chapter is Laozi's way of avoiding trouble.

First: three questions to put things in order. Your name or your life: which is closer? Your life or your goods: which is worth more? Gaining or losing: which hurts more? The answers look obvious, yet we often live them backwards: we wear out our health for a title, and give up sleep to earn a little more. The third question is the sharpest. We fear losing, but rarely notice that gaining can make us ill too. The more you gain, the more you fear to lose, and the harder it is to stop.

name or lifewhich is closer?

titles change; you have one body

life or goodswhich is worth more?

things can be replaced; life can't

gain or losswhich hurts more?

gaining, too, makes it hard to let go

Second: "the more you cling, the more it costs; the more you hoard, the more you lose." One teacher tells of his elder brother, who collected wine glasses: one from every hotel he stayed in, until a whole cabinet at home was full and gleaming. Then an earthquake brought the cabinet down, and every glass shattered. He never collected another. No one can predict disaster, and the tighter you grip, the more it hurts to let go. Laozi isn't telling us to love nothing. He is warning that when you can't let go, the thing you love starts to own you.

Third: "know what is enough and you won't be disgraced; know when to stop and you won't be in danger." When King Goujian of Yue won back his kingdom, two ministers had made it possible. Fan Li saw that Goujian could share hardship but not success, and once the work was done he slipped away in a small boat. Wen Zhong stayed on in high office and was eventually forced to take his own life. "When the hare is caught, the hound is cooked." Knowing when to stop isn't giving up halfway. It is seeing the whole curve: after the climb, what comes next? Laozi also says, "No disaster is greater than not knowing what is enough."

Bring it home. Overtime earns the promotion; the promotion brings more overtime. You buy one bag and want the next. An investment does well and you want a little more. Knowing enough isn't hard: you only have to tell yourself, "This far." What's hard is saying it while the wind is at your back. The philosopher Spinoza, who earned his living grinding lenses, was offered a professorship at Heidelberg, a post most scholars would leap at. He thought for a few minutes and asked himself one question: my life is already good, so why change it? Then he said no.

Enough is a kind of freedom.

One line to carry

Enough is a kind of freedom.

Today's question

What in your life is already “enough,” yet you keep adding to it? If you said “this far” today, what would you gain?

Quick check

Fan Li left after victory; Wen Zhong stayed and was destroyed. Which line fits best?

Next pageKnowing Yourself Is ClarityPage 7

I · Facing a World in Disorder — When values and meaning both wobble, what can we stand on?

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