Returning Is How the Dao Moves

Reading it step by step

The last two pages showed how the Dao comes forth: from the undivided, through One, Two and Three, to all things. Today's chapter is only four lines long. It tells us how the Dao moves, and how it works.

Second: “softness is how the Dao works.” The Dao never forces anything. It lets each thing grow in its own way. Like water, like air, it never seems to strain, yet nothing can live without it. Children bounce on the sofa, tumble off and are fine; an adult falls from half a metre and may break a bone, because the body has gone stiff. The softer you are, the less you get hurt. With age the body may not stay supple, but the mind can.

Third: “being is born from non-being.” Non-being here is not simple emptiness. It is what has not yet taken shape or been divided: the plank before the saw, the blank page before the first word, the breath before you speak. Every definite thing comes out of that, which makes non-being the richest place of all. Don't rush to fix everything in place: leave some room still unshaped, and something new has space to grow.

These four lines are very practical. When things are going brilliantly, don't get carried away: the turn is just ahead. When you hit bottom, don't despair: the turn is just ahead there too. Seen over a long enough time, gains and losses rise and fall like the tide. And much of life doesn't need force. Shouting at a child a hundred times does less than sitting quietly with them once. Out-talking a colleague does less than leaving each other a little room.

The Dao moves by returning and works by softness. Today, try using a little less force.