Passivity and Activity, where lies the Dao?
At any given point in time, objects are either at motion or at rest, moving or in stillness.
Man is a thing, and the same goes for him. He is either in motion or in stillness. And in all dimensions, except for the temporal one which is always in motion, man either rests or moves.
So man can either be active or passive in his life.
Which one to choose?
We know from experience that the active man goes places. He desires a place, and he charges forward, unrelenting, and over time, the active man has progressed in his life.
But we also know from both experience and the Dao that to charge forward and be unrelenting can be a sure way to suffer, if not die. Why? For in this world there is the yielding and the steady, and when the active man encounters the Steady, he will find that it will not budge for him no matter how much he tries. But the active man is driven forward by his own unrelenting self, and so he drives himself into a brick wall and suffers. Why? Because the Steady only stands, it does not kill, so man never dies from this collision. Man cannot be happy this way, and an unhappy man is that much closer to death.
The passive man is not necessarily always at rest. If something moves him, he moves. If nothing moves him, he does not move. Hence, the passive man is always happy spiritually.
BUt man is not spirit only. Man is also body, and the passive man will only be left behind monetarily in this day and age of rapid progress. NObody will come back for him to help him, and if somebody ever does, he will only be dead weight for he will not move if he is not pushed, and nobody can or will want to carry dead weight forever. No man can be happy this way.
But we know from the Dao that when man sinks himself and follows nature and the Dao, man is happy. So adherence to either is not to follow the Dao. In fact, both are sure ways to die.
So in this light, how to follow the Dao?
See, both are just moments in time, and both are moments in man's life. Sometimes, he will not want to budge, and will move only when pushed. Or sometimes man will push back. Or sometimes man will push himself, but rarely is it that man's yielding coincides with his consent to yield, rarely is it that man's success coincides with his will to succeed. So, to follow the Dao, one must try to make both incidents coincide, but man must not try actively.
Man must look at his own energy and feel it, and when man feels his own energy, man is aware of what man can do and what man cannt succeed to do.
This is how.
Man is a thing, and the same goes for him. He is either in motion or in stillness. And in all dimensions, except for the temporal one which is always in motion, man either rests or moves.
So man can either be active or passive in his life.
Which one to choose?
We know from experience that the active man goes places. He desires a place, and he charges forward, unrelenting, and over time, the active man has progressed in his life.
But we also know from both experience and the Dao that to charge forward and be unrelenting can be a sure way to suffer, if not die. Why? For in this world there is the yielding and the steady, and when the active man encounters the Steady, he will find that it will not budge for him no matter how much he tries. But the active man is driven forward by his own unrelenting self, and so he drives himself into a brick wall and suffers. Why? Because the Steady only stands, it does not kill, so man never dies from this collision. Man cannot be happy this way, and an unhappy man is that much closer to death.
The passive man is not necessarily always at rest. If something moves him, he moves. If nothing moves him, he does not move. Hence, the passive man is always happy spiritually.
BUt man is not spirit only. Man is also body, and the passive man will only be left behind monetarily in this day and age of rapid progress. NObody will come back for him to help him, and if somebody ever does, he will only be dead weight for he will not move if he is not pushed, and nobody can or will want to carry dead weight forever. No man can be happy this way.
But we know from the Dao that when man sinks himself and follows nature and the Dao, man is happy. So adherence to either is not to follow the Dao. In fact, both are sure ways to die.
So in this light, how to follow the Dao?
See, both are just moments in time, and both are moments in man's life. Sometimes, he will not want to budge, and will move only when pushed. Or sometimes man will push back. Or sometimes man will push himself, but rarely is it that man's yielding coincides with his consent to yield, rarely is it that man's success coincides with his will to succeed. So, to follow the Dao, one must try to make both incidents coincide, but man must not try actively.
Man must look at his own energy and feel it, and when man feels his own energy, man is aware of what man can do and what man cannt succeed to do.
This is how.