Yielding is Preserving
A good Tuesday to all.
Before meditating today I read this:
[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), page 151, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]
22.
To yield is to be preserved whole.
To be bent is to become straight.
To be empty is to be full.
To be worn out is to be renewed.
To have little is to possess.
To have plenty is to be perplexed.
Therefore the sage embraces the One
And becomes the model of the world.
They do not show themselves; therefore they are luminous.
They do not justify themselves; therefore they become prominent.
They do not boast of themselves; therefore they are given credit.
They do not brag, therefore they can endure for long.
It is precisely because they do not compete that the world cannot compete with them.
Is the ancient saying, “To yield is to be preserved whole,” empty words?
Truly the sage will be preserved and (prominence, etc.) will come to them.
Some thoughts:
The most profound act of creation in the Zohar, one of the central texts of Jewish mysticism, is the act of tzimtzum or self-reduction - it is through this that the Infinite shrinks in order to create the Universe.
And so the Tao also reminds us that in a counter-intuitive counter-cultural way the greatest acts may in fact be those that self-diminish.
This path is difficult. There are things that we need that are attained through possessing and feeling renewed when we are all so worn out is not so easy.
And yet, I will continue to try and remember that yielding is the key to preserving.
Wishing everyone a good day.
