Verse Sixty-Three
Act without considering it to be acting.
Work without considering it to be working.
Taste without considering it to be tasting.
Big or small, many or few - respond to complaints with virtue.
Plan for difficult times when they're still easy to change.
What becomes enormous was once something minute.
All the difficulties in the world arise from what was originally easy to change.
Everything enormous in the world arises from what was originally minute.
It's natural for the wise person to end up not having to act on what's become enormous, and therefore has the ability to achieve what's great.
You see, lightly making promises must show a lack of sincerity.
If many things are taken lightly, then many things will cause difficulty.
It's natural for a wise person to keep in touch with what might become difficult.
Therefore, he ends up without difficulties.
~ Nina Correa translation ~
When most of us cut or scrape a finger, the first thing we do is wash it to rid the wound of germs. Next, we might apply some antibiotic ointment, then, if it's a large or deep gouge, there's a good chance we'll affix a band-aid or bandage to try to keep the wound clean to promote better healing. Treating a wound in this manner simply is commonsense.
What if we didn't do any of these things? For starters, the wound might heal on it's own. On the other hand, this small wound may grow larger. It might fester and spread infection to adjoining tissue. If this occurred and we still refused to take remedial action, we might become very sick. If we continued to ignore the problem, we might just arrive at the point in which the finger may need to amputated and/or the accompanying infection might result in our death. All of these potential ramifications would come about because we refused to deal with the matter appropriately when it was easy to manage!
If we're honest with ourselves, most of the problems we encounter in our lives occur because we fail to handle things when they are manageable. When an issue first arises, we come up with all sorts of excuses and rationalizations to procrastinate. The more we put off dealing with the situation, the more onerous it gets and the more onerous it gets, the more we don't want to deal with! Soon, it becomes a perpetual cycle of negativity.
To provide a personal example of this cycle, I tend to be a very cluttered person. I have a definite tendency to make great piles of important papers and documents. Because I'm disabled and I receive services from a number of state and federal agencies, I'm always being asked to furnish various forms of documentation.
If I would only take the time to file the various papers and documents when they are received, I would save myself a great deal of anxiety and frustration. Unfortunately, though I'm getting better at it, I too often continue to chuck these things into piles and, when I need to access a particular document, I can never seem to find it!!!
Of course, this drives me stark raving mad. "I'm sure it was in THIS pile," I screech, but, of course, it's not there. So now, I'm forced to cull through every frick'n pile and eyeball every damn piece of paper. After all this, I sometimes STILL can't find it.
After one of these episodes, I vow to do better. However, because I've allowed the piles to grow so large, it looks like an insurmountable task and so I tell myself I'll get around to organizing them...soon. But soon never seems to come fast enough and, before I know it, I'm again searching for a document I can't seem to find.
All this frustration is borne of the fact that I have refused to deal with the problem when it was easily manageable.
How about you? What sorts of problems do you allow to fester and grow from tiny seeds into impenetrable thickets?
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
What if we didn't do any of these things? For starters, the wound might heal on it's own. On the other hand, this small wound may grow larger. It might fester and spread infection to adjoining tissue. If this occurred and we still refused to take remedial action, we might become very sick. If we continued to ignore the problem, we might just arrive at the point in which the finger may need to amputated and/or the accompanying infection might result in our death. All of these potential ramifications would come about because we refused to deal with the matter appropriately when it was easy to manage!
If we're honest with ourselves, most of the problems we encounter in our lives occur because we fail to handle things when they are manageable. When an issue first arises, we come up with all sorts of excuses and rationalizations to procrastinate. The more we put off dealing with the situation, the more onerous it gets and the more onerous it gets, the more we don't want to deal with! Soon, it becomes a perpetual cycle of negativity.
To provide a personal example of this cycle, I tend to be a very cluttered person. I have a definite tendency to make great piles of important papers and documents. Because I'm disabled and I receive services from a number of state and federal agencies, I'm always being asked to furnish various forms of documentation.
If I would only take the time to file the various papers and documents when they are received, I would save myself a great deal of anxiety and frustration. Unfortunately, though I'm getting better at it, I too often continue to chuck these things into piles and, when I need to access a particular document, I can never seem to find it!!!
Of course, this drives me stark raving mad. "I'm sure it was in THIS pile," I screech, but, of course, it's not there. So now, I'm forced to cull through every frick'n pile and eyeball every damn piece of paper. After all this, I sometimes STILL can't find it.
After one of these episodes, I vow to do better. However, because I've allowed the piles to grow so large, it looks like an insurmountable task and so I tell myself I'll get around to organizing them...soon. But soon never seems to come fast enough and, before I know it, I'm again searching for a document I can't seem to find.
All this frustration is borne of the fact that I have refused to deal with the problem when it was easily manageable.
How about you? What sorts of problems do you allow to fester and grow from tiny seeds into impenetrable thickets?
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
The stack of Tao books and art books in the window sill next to the computer. My kids' rooms. But I can find pretty much anything in the house in less than five minutes.
ReplyDeleteThen there's the garden, for which I really do need a machete at times! ;^)
oh my goodness where do i start? :P but i'm like you, i procrastinate when it comes to all those stupid forms and documentation... and especially when it comes to my car! my poor car never gets what it needs because i don't know anything really about cars so if there's a problem i put it off because i don't know what to do about it. :(
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