How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Line)
Quote #7
Holding on to the soft is called strength (52.8)
In a world where everybody expects us to be strong, it can be pretty hard try to always live with this idea of unattached action. Can you think of scenarios that would really put the philosophy of wu wei to the test?
Quote #8
Take the world with non-interference (57.3)
A lot of people would say that the resistance movements of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. put this idea into action by leading nonviolent revolutions to achieve social change. What's your take on it? Can passive resistance really be called non-interference? Or is it still interfering, but just in a passive way? Or is passively interfering exactly the sort of thing the TTC is recommending?
Quote #9
All living things, grass and trees,
While alive, are soft and supple
When dead, become dry and brittle
Thus that which is hard and stiff
is the follower of death
That which is soft and yielding
is the follower of life (76.3-9)
When things are alive, they're soft. When they're dead, they dry up and harden (uh, gross). If you flow through life with unattached action, then you're jibing with the living Tao, but if you're totally inflexible, you're holding the bony hands of Death.