“If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to.”
The Tao Te Ching was written over 2,500 years ago, yet it is still a timeless collection of wisdom and insight to this day.
Delivered as short, aphoristic verses, the purported author Lao-tzu never tells us how we should act or behave to lead a life of integrity and oneness.
Instead, he speaks in metaphors and paradoxical dualities, sage wisdom for living harmoniously with the natural order of all things.
The Tao is neither religion, creed, nor spiritual text.
It was not handed down from an enlightened sage who claimed to receive divine inspiration.
Nor is the Tao Te Ching dogma or ideology.
The Tao never dictates what is right or wrong, instead, it invites you to consider the mutually arising dualities and polarities that are the basis of our perceptions.
By embracing the way of thinking and way-making expressed in the Tao Te Ching, you can see yourself as an integrated and natural part of the self-same world you both observe and exist within.
And when we witness ourselves as of the world — not apart or separate from it — we can lead from an ethical approach of conservation and cultivation, both for the planet’s ecology and for human dignity.
Darren Stehle | Coach & Writer
@DarrenStehle
Coaching change-makers in critical thinking to align with your values & truth, develop confidence & self-mastery, and contribute to an equitable & just society.
