The Contrived and the Natural
“The Creator has no wish to be
powerful; and thus he is truly powerful. The ordinary man craves to be
powerful; and thus he never has enough power.
The Creator does nothing, yet
nothing is left undone.
The ordinary man is always
doing things, yet there are always many more to be done.
With the grace of the Creator, we
experience natural goodness.
Natural goodness requires no
effort, no expectation of reward or recognition.
Contrived goodness requires
great effort, with little or no accomplishment.
Compassion and loving-kindness
seek nothing in return.
Fairness and justice demand
results, with expectation of correct behavior.
Natural goodness comes from
within, which is our essence, and not from without, which is only our
appearance.
When we are separate from our
true nature, we experience no natural goodness, no compassion and no
loving-kindness.
Our goodness then becomes
contrived, demanding fairness and justice, focusing on appearance and
superficiality.”
(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 38)
The Wisdom in Living for Life
Control and manipulation,
fairness and justice, prestige and power, reward and recognition—they may all distort your perception of the realities
of all things. They may seem to be
what they are not.
So, do not seek them.
Being your true nature, you may see things as what they really are, and not as what you wish they were or should be.
Stephen Lau
Copyright©
by Stephen Lau
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