Number Forty Three Patience
43
Wind wears away stone
carrying dust to the sea
teach effortlessly
Lesson # 43
That which is neutral
and infinitesimal
can easily pierce the densest object.
It is true of neutrinos
and of wisdom.
Almost imperceptible energy
can crack open that
which you thought was impenetrable.
This is the teaching of non-forcing.
Can you work without efforting?
Can you teach without words?
From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching
Number 43 Patience
Remember the soft and the gentle
eventually overcomes the hard and the rigid
That is true inside our hearts
as it is in the world around us
Almost imperceptible energy
can crack open that which you thought was impenetrable
This is the teaching of non-forcing
When you are teaching by example without instruction
and you are working with the least energy necessary
and you are not out there ruthlessly fighting for the truth with all your might
Folks won’t get you at all
at first
NUMBER FORTY THREE
In the world when we arrive at gentleness we press forward to overcome all hardness.
To possess Inner Life we enter it by our own private doorway.
We do this in order to know in overflowing fulness, the possession of activity of Inner Life.
Overflowing fulness of activity of Inner Life
With power to impart it to others without words –
Few men in the world attain to this.
Isabella Mears, The Tao Teh King, A Tentative Translation from the Chinese, William McLellan, Glascow, 1916.
Number 43 (commentary) How can I win?
You can’t. The effort it takes to compete, struggle and grab on to victory only attracts future defeat. When we make an effort against the flow of events, we meet resistance. When we soften, things are free to work out as they will.
But how can we take a stand against injustice and greed? To begin with, we need to do the work on ourselves that allows us to be flexible and accept our limitations. Then we need to create structures around us that can gently hold us when we are not being gentle with ourselves.
That way we can find and choose the best of the very imperfect solutions that are available.
Tangent and Tool #43, Out of step A question and a reflection: “How do I create change without fighting hard for what I believe?” Unfortunately, most leaders inspire people to follow them by persuading others that they have the truth that people will need to survive. Those leaders need to create enemies, they need to show people how to fight these enemies and they need to convince others that joining this fight is worth their time and effort. The more they can elicit people’s fear, pride, rage and/or righteousness, the more people will obey and believe them. That also sounds like how to start a social movement. Mobilizing for social action seems antithetical to what much of this book is about. So, how to lead without creating an enemy to fight?
There are six ways to do social and climate activism from a Taoist perspective. 1- Inspire hope. Life will prevail and humans have shown themselves to be highly adaptable. So, remember while it may get pretty gnarly for a while, odds are we humans will find a path to maturity and environmental guardianship, instead of barbery, enslavement, or despotism. 2- Empowerment. There are actions to be taken on every level, from recycling to political influence. If you are getting frustrated on a macro level, start focusing on micro-achievements and victories. 3- Storytelling. Start collecting stories of people who are moving the needle in the right direction and tell them, especially to children. 4- Calls to action. the best antidote to depressed paralysis is to take action. That goes for Climate Change Depression also. Make the call to action specific and attainable. Then get very public with it. 5- Celebration. Celebrate every victory, no matter how small. Of course, no one victory is going to turn this ship around, but many little ones might. 6- Group up. Loneliness and isolated exhaustion are anathema to progress. Together we are very much more powerful (this is especially true for you introverts out there, work against the comfortable habit of staying solitary and connect with like-minded others.)