Sunday, January 17, 2010

Wen Tzu - Verse 121, Part II

from Verse One Hundred Twenty-One
Accord with their nature, and everyone in the world will obey. If they go against people's natures, laws and regulations may be posted, but they will not be observed.
~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~
For me, the greatest problem with external rules is that people will always try to find ways to circumvent them! Almost all of us were this way as children. As soon as our parents or guardians laid down a rule, most of us tried to figure out how to "game the system" or exceed the boundaries, if only by just a tad.

Chuang Tzu believed that the creation of rules themselves also created the will to break them. Since each concept includes its antithesis -- yin and yang at work -- each concept draws its own lines of distinction.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.

1 comment:

  1. Rules exist where reponsibility does not.
    A second-best to adulthood.
    With maturity, one exceeds the rules.
    Always-children will circumvent them.

    ReplyDelete

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