81 rules of the toa (91)

Yes it's true, and the only rule we really need..." Love Thy Neighbor ".

Thanks for your great advice and general truisms, they have made my day sooooo full of angel food cake...lots of air, little substance. Is there one about trying to impress people with big words?


Scott

How to make an effective affro-deeziack would impress me.

How's that for fun with phonics?

anytime:)

I could not agree with you more

Believe me it is not that I do not understand or appreciate the Tao, or Toe or whatever you wanted to call it...

I have ventured into several aspects of spirituality and simply chose to invest my time where it is worth it.

What truly is amazing are the everyday miracles with family and friends, and I don't see that anywhere in your "Rules".

So thanks for your ridicule, you are making my point for me. You see, you cannot offend me as my heart is at peace....but you are welcome to continue trying.


Scott

74. Execution
If people were not afraid of death,
Then what would be the use of an executioner?

If people were only afraid of death,
And you executed everyone who did not obey,
No one would dare to disobey you.
Then what would be the use of an executioner?

People fear death because death is an instrument of fate.
When people are killed by execution rather than by fate,
This is like carving wood in the place of a carpenter.
Those who carve wood in place of a carpenter
Often injure their hands.



75. Rebellion
When rulers take grain so that they may feast,
Their people become hungry;
When rulers take action to serve their own interests,
Their people become rebellious;
When rulers take lives so that their own lives are maintained,
Their people no longer fear death.

When people act without regard for their own lives
They overcome those who value only their own lives.




76. Flexibility
A newborn is soft and tender,
A crone, hard and stiff.
Plants and animals, in life, are supple and succulent;
In death, withered and dry.
So softness and tenderness are attributes of life,
And hardness and stiffness, attributes of death.

Just as a sapless tree will split and decay
So an inflexible force will meet defeat;
The hard and mighty lie beneath the ground
While the tender and weak dance on the breeze above.




77. Need
Is the action of nature not unlike drawing a bow?
What is higher is pulled down, and what is lower is raised up;
What is taller is shortened, and what is thinner is broadened;
Nature's motion decreases those who have more than they need
And increases those who need more than they have.

It is not so with Man.
Man decreases those who need more than they have
And increases those who have more than they need.

To give away what you do not need is to follow the Way.
So the sage gives without expectation,
Accomplishes without claiming credit,
And has no desire for ostentation

81. The Sage
Honest people use no rhetoric;
Rhetoric is not honesty.
Enlightened people are not cultured;
Culture is not enlightenment.
Content people are not rich;
Riches are not contentment.

So the sage does not serve himself;
The more he does for others, the more he is satisfied;
The more he gives, the more he receives.
Nature flourishes at the expense of no one;
So the sage benefits all men and contends with none.

---

Content people are not rich;
Riches are not contentment.


Very true

So this concludes our lessons in the way of the tao
I hope it has enriched you as it has for me.

Peace

Yeah I hope it has too. Can you do it again please?