The ten thousand things carry yin and embrace yang. ( Credit: Wingsancora93 / Wikimedia Commons) Chapter 42Īlthough yin and yang is only mentioned in one chapter of the Tao Te Ching, its importance to the work’s theme of balance cannot be understated. It should be to fulfill their purpose and flow with the moment. A person’s aim then shouldn’t be to conquer the moment and to force it to fit their desires. Remember that difficult things will get easier one day the easy road cannot continue forever.

The challenge then is to not grow complacent or give in to despair.

As this verse suggests, we’ll sometimes find ourselves leaning toward one extreme or the other. None of this is to say that the search for balance is easy or that we’ll always be successful. You can no doubt think of many other examples. If we’re always lazing about, we miss out on the satisfaction of doing something well. If we are always working, we’ll drain the joy and meaning from our lives. If our diet is too strict, we become miserable. If we live a life of gluttony, we become unhealthy. Therefore the wise avoid extremes, excesses, and complacency.Īvoiding extremes and excesses is the very definition of balance. Sometimes there is strength, and sometimes weakness Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes they are behind Being humble, non-confrontational, and accommodating can help us build cooperative partnerships and meaningful relationships - and in doing so, help us achieve balance with the world as much as with ourselves. Note also how water’s characteristics aren’t just inwardly focused. Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better / It has no equal.” Stone represents people who are immovable, confrontational, and overly assertive, and while it may seem like the stronger of the two substances, it is water that carves canyons to ultimately find its way. As the Tao states in Chapter 78: “Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water. Those characteristics may seem like a call to be a wallflower, submit to others, and never assert yourself. It is humble, always flowing down to the lowest level. It makes room for everything that enters it and accommodates any situation by assuming a new shape. As Mair notes, when it is appropriate, water can sit patiently in a pond, or it can flow as a stream. How does one do that? Consider how water behaves.

Tao Te Ching by Yuhui Liang