The Tao Te Ching was written by Lao Tzu (or “Master”), who founded the Eastern philosophy in 6th century BC.
Directly translated as The Book of the Way and Its Power, the text consists of 81 verses and is considered a foundational work of Taoist philosophy.
The Tao is the unseen force underlying the Universe, or what we may consider natural law, Source, or God.
The invisible force
The unseen force that underlies all of existence is called the Tao. One can also see this as God, Source, or divine order.
From this invisible source all things were created.
Darkness in this context is the unseen realm. From this realm springs forth all things that can be seen. From that level of creation comes everything we can see.
The tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be spoken is not the eternal Name.
The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of creation.
Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery.
By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real.
Yet mystery and reality
emerge from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness born from darkness.
The beginning of all understanding.
–Lao Tzu
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Humility and detachment grants true authority
To not live for yourself, but instead to embrace humility and detachment from ego, is to be united with the divine presence of all things.
This is a place of Mastery.
This is the place of true fulfillment.
The Tao of Heaven is eternal,
and the earth is long enduring.
Why are they long enduring?
They do not live for themselves;
thus they are present for all beings.
The Master puts herself last;
And finds herself in the place of authority.
She detaches herself from all things;
Therefore she is united with all things.
She gives no thought to self.
She is perfectly fulfilled.
–Lao Tzu
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Success is as dangerous as failure,
and we are often our own worst enemy.
What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure?
He who is superior is also someone’s subordinate.
Receiving favor and losing it both cause alarm.
That is what is meant by success is as dangerous as failure.
The reason I have an enemy is because I have ‘self’.
If I no longer had a ‘self’, I would no longer have an enemy.
Love the whole world as if it were your self;
then you will truly care for all things.
–Lao Tzu
Attaining any level of success invites the equal level of its challenge
To achieve success, one must also face the possibility of its corresponding failure. This is the reality of earthly duality.
The danger of any pursuit is found in the opposite of its attainment. You cannot have joy without knowing its equal counterpart of pain. You cannot find success without having confronted (and overcome) the same level of failure.
Once you have understood this truth, you will see the world as a reflection of yourself.
You cannot have success without having confronted its equal counterpart of failure.
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The best leaders are those the people hardly know exist.
The next best is a leader who is loved and praised.
Next comes the one who is feared.
The worst one is the leader who is despised.
If you don’t trust the people, they will become untrustworthy.
The best leaders value their words, and us them sparingly.
When the Master has accomplished her task, the people say, ‘Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!’
–Lao Tzu
True leadership is invisible
The best leaders are found in the background. They are the ones who have mastered the ability to empower others to lead themselves.
True leadership happens when one does not draw attention to himself, but when he focuses on the processes and outcomes of others. A leader is ultimately loved and praised for his ability to serve and guide those around him.
On a deeper level, leadership is not attached to any one person or entity, but is the invisible force that exists within a greater ecosystem or structure.
Leadership is not attached to any one person, but is the invisible force that guides the greater system.
When properly established, the presence of a physical leader is simply secondary. What matters is the ethos (and logos) established within that space.
In a spiritual context, this leadership is the logos, Source, Creator, or God. This is the Tao. Within a scientific context, this is the natural order of the Universe.
As humans, we mirror this same guiding force on a smaller scale within our own families, communities, etc. In this way, we truly are fractals of a greater system of life.
The best leaders have mastered the ability to empower others to lead themselves.
Service is the highest form of leadership
The worst form of leadership is one where fear, control, and manipulation are at play. Therefore, at the heart of true leadership is the task of service to others. The highest form of leadership requires one to lose fixation of the self, and to focus on the greater whole. It is an act of selflessness.
At the heart of true leadership is a desire to serve others.
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Forget about knowledge and wisdom, and people will be a hundred times better off.
Throw away charity and righteousness, and people will return to brotherly love.
Throw away profit and greed, and there won’t be any thieves.
These three are superficial and aren’t enough to keep us at the center of the circle, so we must also:
Embrace simplicity.
Put others first.
Desire little.
–Lao Tzu
Simplicity returns us back to harmony
While the complexities of human life can serve their purpose, they are not always the answer to a life of harmony. What becomes more complex also brings about challenges corresponding in complexity.
After seeking all that earthly life has to offer, one may find that it is simplicity that brings us back to peace.
It is simplicity that brings us back to peace.
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One who seeks knowledge learns something new every day.
One who seeks the Tao unlearns something new every day.
Less and less remains until you arrive at non-action.
When you arrive at non-action, nothing will be left undone.
Mastery of the world is achieved by letting things take their natural course.
You cannot master the world by changing the natural way.
–Lao Tzu
Levels of Knowledge
One who seeks ordinary knowledge will go through the ordinary process of learning something new.
But one who seeks the Tao will go through an unlearning of all that he has known.
This level of universal wisdom is a level above ordinary knowledge, earthly information, or material data.
Taoism, therefore, is an unlearning of what we may consider earthly knowledge. It is the study of the logos, or underlying natural force, behind the Universe. To do so requires us to transcend the limits of earthly knowledge.
One who seeks the Tao will go through an unlearning of all that he has known.
Mastery of the natural world
One who masters the natural world is a master of obeying natural law. This is a person who understands the logos behind the forces at play.
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