Bit by Bit - Chapter 13, Part 8

Trey Smith

If superiors adopt inaction and inferiors adopt inaction as well, then inferior and superior will share the same virtue, and if inferior and superior share the same virtue, there will be none to act as minister. If inferiors adopt action and superiors adopt action as well, then superior and inferior will share the same way, and if superior and inferior share the same way, there will be none to act as lord. Superiors must adopt inaction and make the world work for them; inferiors must adopt action and work for the world. This is an unvarying truth.
~ Burton Watson translation ~

Humans need ideals. A sense of what perfection -- for lack of a better word -- entails. Ideals spur us forward to discover the potentiality of who we can be.

To view the Index page for this series, go here.