mastery of the world is achieved by
letting things take their natural course
you cannot master the world by changing
the natural way loud sir our
civilization is in a state of ongoing
strivings in which control seems to be
the highest virtue we don't have to look
far to observe this in the workplace for
example employees are more and more
controlled and supervised especially now
we have the technology to do so and
governments put more efforts into
tracking their citizens whether it's
through camera supervision or the
proposal of a so-called
social credit system ironically the
letter is a Chinese invention that goes
utterly against the philosophy that
emerged from the same soil Taoism as
opposed to a control obsessed Society
Taoism revolves around letting go and
going with the flow at first glance the
act of letting go may seem a form of
weakness but according to the Daoists by
a correct understanding of how the
universe works we can approach life more
intelligently more efficiently and go
with the flow
rather than swimming against it
therefore the power of letting go is a
form of strength that's based on
sophistication rather than force
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the daodejing
the main taoist scripture was written by
a mysterious sage named Lao Tzu there
are countless ways in which we can
interpret this text one way is to see it
as a guide for a ruler what
characterizes the passages of the
daodejing regarding governance is that
loud sir puts emphasis on ruling by not
ruling as he compares governing a
country with frying a small fish too
much poking spoils the meat he argued
that when a ruler tightens his grip on
the people all kinds of negative side
effects will occur we see that people
become distrustful towards one another
when the government is too patronizing
and when it's too intrusive people
become rebellious but when a leader is
unobtrusive and act with integrity then
people will become whole as they are
granted the space to naturally evolve
it's clear that Lao Tzu favors a passive
form of governance which doesn't just
apply to ruling a state but also to the
governance of ourselves because letting
things go is the key to let nature do
the work which applies to any level in
this video I would like to show you
several ways in which Taoism shows us
the power of letting go the first one is
the art of non doing the Taoist concept
of wu wei can be explained as effortless
action or the so-called flow state but
also as non doing or knowing when to act
and when not to when we take a critical
look at ourselves we see that a need for
control prevails in many areas of life
we feel the need to control our pets or
children our gardens our video games in
some cases our partners and first and
foremost our future now control isn't
always a bad thing in order to survive
we need to exert our influence on the
environment to some extent especially
self control can lead us in a positive
direction without control human
civilization would probably never have
occurred
but too much of it doesn't get us
anywhere it seems that we systematically
underrated the natural influences that
lie at the basis of our daily lives we
can't control everything and many things
happen when we stop controlling them
let's take a tree for example we can
plant it we can water it we can add some
fertilizer
and make sure it's exposed to enough
sunlight but any more intervention would
only damage the process because we
interrupt nature from doing its job
another example is attraction the first
step to attracting someone is simply
showing ourselves so that the person we
want to attract knows that we exist then
attraction either happens or not when
attraction is there one can easily blow
it by taking too much action attraction
is a natural phenomenon that is beyond
our control it absolutely cannot be
enforced instead it has to grow or erupt
spontaneously and there's only one way
to let the seed of attraction grow into
a beautiful tree which is not
intervening aside from the occasional
watering silence makes the heart grow
fonder
that's why letting go is vital in
relationships because by letting go we
give space to the forces of the universe
to unfold after a fight for example
anger naturally erodes and when Trust is
breached one cannot enforce restoration
it has to grow back naturally so letting
go makes the difference between
controlling and allowing
the second one is embracing change the
Daoists were very aware that life and
fault
in a constant movement between opposites
between high and low light and dark yin
and yang
there isn't much we can do about it and
the most efficient way of living is
simply moving along with the waves of
existence the flow of life and its
transformations are inevitable yet we
see so many people cling to their
circumstances in the metaphor of the
river stream they hold on tightly to a
branch or a rock afraid to let go
because they want complete control over
their position they simply don't trust
the universe and the consequence of this
is a rigid lifestyle they see life
passing them by including many
opportunities for positive change and
they miss out on a lot of fun as Lao Tzu
wrote in the daodejing
and I quote the living are soft and
yielding the dead are rigid and stiff
living plants are flexible and tender
the dead are brittle and dry and quote
there are also those who swim against
the stream they are the biggest energy
wasters of them all perhaps they see
honor and virtue in taking an extremely
non agreeable stance in life but
exercising a constant resistance to how
the universe and faults isn't a very
efficient way to live and most likely
makes one worn out and miserable this
non acceptance of how things are is also
the cause of people fighting against
themselves because of certain societal
expectations people engage in a battle
against their inherent nature instead of
flowing along with the attributes that
nature has given them we could say
follow your strength instead of trying
to repair your weakness embracing change
also applies to uselessness and
usefulness Taoist philosophers Wang Zi
observed that usefulness depends on the
circumstances as he told about a
merchant that tried to sell shirts to a
tribe whose members were covered in
tattoos and always showed them off by
walking around
allas to them shirts are useless but to
us at least most of us they aren't
useless at all usefulness and
uselessness are relative and are not to
be treated with rigidity when you live
in New York for example having a car is
less useful and when you live somewhere
in the countryside where the next
village is 50 kilometers away so we
ought to be willing to let go of things
that are useless in one situation and
adopt what's useful instead that's how
we make change an ally and not an enemy
the third one is not focusing on
outcomes comparable to the Stoics the
Daoists observed that a focus on future
outcomes has a negative effect on us
focusing too much on the future makes us
anxious our present endeavors become
fueled by a desire for an uncontrollable
result and the more we crave that the
less we value the only thing we have
which is the present moment
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zhang zhu goes one step further by
telling us that the more we value
something external the worse we perform
in the present he tells us about an
archer that loses his ability to shoot
when he focuses too much on the price i
quote he was contending for a piece of
earthenware puts forth all his skill if
the price be a buckle of brass he shoots
timorously if it be for an article of
gold
he shoots as if he were blind the skill
of the archer is the same in all the
cases but in the two letter cases he's
under the influence of solicitude and
looks on the external price as most
important all who attach importance to
what is external
show stupidity in themselves and quote
now this doesn't mean that the people
that want external things are stupid it
means that when our minds are in the
future we paralyze ourselves in the
present this principle lies at the basis
of the flow state that we see in
activities like sports art and dancing
when we experience this flow state we're
so immersed in the task at hand that we
completely forget about the future it's
like the dance dances itself
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the last one for now is letting go of
excess in a society in which status is
an ultimate concern everyone wants to be
at the top not because it's necessarily
the best place to be but because we have
collectively decided that high status is
preferable and the low status is
horrible this also comes with a
collective pursuit of the former and a
collective aversion to the latter but
the tallest trees catch the most wind
and when we are at the top it takes a
tremendous amount of effort to stay
there because everyone wants to take
your position it's stressful compared to
the lower regions in which one lives
more privately with less competition
less enemies and in general less effort
the other extreme however is a place of
deprivation if we deliberately seek the
absolute bottom we become ascetics
although in a different way there are
still a strong attachment the attachment
to deprivation the question we can ask
ourselves is what do we truly need Wang
Zi observed that a bird that nests in
the forest wants no more than one branch
and that a mouse that drinks from the
pond drinks no more than a belly full so
if we aim for what we need and let go of
excess we prevent possessions from
becoming our prison cell which allows us
to travel light epicures observed as
well that the basic necessities for life
are easy to come by and that living
moderately is the key to happiness it's
a path that's easy and sustainable as
Lao Tzu wrote those who use moderation
are already on a path to the dao and
quote when we stop striving we give
nature space to unfold in trusting the
universe and accepting that it's
ever-changing lies the opportunity to
become loose and supple instead of rigid
and brittle the power of letting go
means that we float along the stream
without grasping for rocks and branches
and that we cut loose that weight so we
navigate through life with minimal
effort thank you for watching
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you
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