What is at rest
is easy to hold.
What has not shown up
is easy to take into account.
What is frail
is easy to break.
What is vague
is easy to dispel.

Do it before it exists;
govern it before there is disorder.
The most massive tree grows from a sprout;
the highest building rises from a pile of earth;
a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step.
Those who contrive spoil it;
those who cling loose it.

Thus sages contrive nothing,
and so spoil nothing.
They cling to nothing
and so lose nothing.

Therefore people’s works
are always spoiled on the verge of completion.
Be as careful of the end
as of the beginning,
and nothing will spoil it.

Thus sages want to have no wants;
they do not value good hard to get.
They learn not learning
to recover from people’s excesses,
thereby to assist
the naturalness of all beings,
without daring to contrive.

We have spoken of beginnings and the care that should be taken with them before. It was significant to me that here we are reminded that endings is of equal consequence in the greater scheme of things, and if the proper care is not taken with an ending it could spoil the whole of what has gone before. For most people it is difficult task to let go or become detached from the things that shape, influence and govern their lives. Be it a person or persons, material things or our daily pursuits. But the harder we hold the more it takes control of who we are and in the end letting it go will mean letting a little bit of yourself get lost. This is where fear steps in and we just wont let go. We are so much more than we give ourselves credit for and loosing and giving away bits are usually the very things we no longer need in our growth process. Ultimately we need to grow, never stagnate, always move forward and thus become harder to hold in limbo. Realizing that we cannot contrive life to suit our whims is a great release. The only control we have is no control and this is a powerful tool in its paradoxical nature but it needs to be understood in a most detached way. These are not easy concepts but then finding the way is only as easy or difficult as we perceive it to be.

willow

We are naturally frustrated beings because of the inevitable extremes we have to cope with in our lives: life and death, beginning and end, hallo and goodbye. Out of these extremes often arises intense desire to reach that one extreme, which sometimes take the form of a vulgar self indulgence. But the world is not designed for our fancies and desire and excessive want often kills the goal and the insight to reach it . If we loose the quality to breath, to be still, we won’t be able to find rest in the paradoxes of our human condition. If we loose the quality to breath we will choke on the very thing that keeps us alive and calm and that is breathing.

sparroy