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A review by laurieb755
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way by Laozi
3.0
This is not a book I would normally choose to read. However, in the fall of 2022 we visited our son in Brussels and, having finished the book I brought with me, asked him if he had a book for me to read. This is what he gave me. I began it then but never finished, though did copy one of the chapters that had particular appeal.
Now it is a little over two years later, January 2025. I purchased a copy for myself and, after several weeks of the book sitting on the night stand and reading a few chapters at a time, last night I finally finished. However, it doesn't seem quite right to say I finished because this is a book that – at least for me – needs to be reread to fully understand the meaning. I definitely could not tell you what 'the Way' is or explain 'the Power of the Way', other than to say that for me it felt a bit mystical, almost like a sense of the spiritual. I book-eared nine of the chapters because each of them resonated and made some sense to me. And here is the one that I copied while in Brussels. From page 75:
Consider Beginnings
Do without doing.
Act without action.
Savor the flavorless.
Treat the small as large,
the many as few.
Meet injury
with the power of goodness.
Study the hard while it's easy.
Do big things while they're small.
The hardest jobs in the world start out easy,
the great affairs of the world start small,
So the wise soul,
by never dealing with great things,
gets great things done.
Now, since taking things too lightly makes them worthless,
and taking things too easy makes them hard,
the wise soul,
by treating the easy as hard,
doesn't find anything hard.
Now it is a little over two years later, January 2025. I purchased a copy for myself and, after several weeks of the book sitting on the night stand and reading a few chapters at a time, last night I finally finished. However, it doesn't seem quite right to say I finished because this is a book that – at least for me – needs to be reread to fully understand the meaning. I definitely could not tell you what 'the Way' is or explain 'the Power of the Way', other than to say that for me it felt a bit mystical, almost like a sense of the spiritual. I book-eared nine of the chapters because each of them resonated and made some sense to me. And here is the one that I copied while in Brussels. From page 75:
Consider Beginnings
Do without doing.
Act without action.
Savor the flavorless.
Treat the small as large,
the many as few.
Meet injury
with the power of goodness.
Study the hard while it's easy.
Do big things while they're small.
The hardest jobs in the world start out easy,
the great affairs of the world start small,
So the wise soul,
by never dealing with great things,
gets great things done.
Now, since taking things too lightly makes them worthless,
and taking things too easy makes them hard,
the wise soul,
by treating the easy as hard,
doesn't find anything hard.