Endurance
Both Heaven and Earth endure forever.
The cause of their indurance
is their indifference.
Likewise the Sage is indifferent,
and not being preoccupied with self,
is immortal.
Being unselfish,
fulfillment is attained.
Wisdom of the Tao, # 8
Life is at once spiritual and material, and the Sage is concerned with both. Our anxieties cannot be solved by embracing one and rejecting the other. With equal attention, we must attempt to understand the way of both.
The cause of their indurance
is their indifference.
Likewise the Sage is indifferent,
and not being preoccupied with self,
is immortal.
Being unselfish,
fulfillment is attained.
Wisdom of the Tao, # 8
Life is at once spiritual and material, and the Sage is concerned with both. Our anxieties cannot be solved by embracing one and rejecting the other. With equal attention, we must attempt to understand the way of both.
Endurance is not a quality that prefers life over death or the strong over the weak. Rather, it is a continuous unfolding of the present moment. Life simply goes on. Birth and death are in endless cooperation. They never stop: one moment gives birth to another just as one flower gives birth to another. A torrential rainstorm gives birth to a fresh, sunlit sky just as rage gives birth to calm.
The Sage accepts everything as it is. He participates totally in life as it unfolds, and he stays present in the flow from moment to moment. Thus the Sage is fulfilled and his fulfillment endures forever.
The Tao Book adapted and interpreted by Priya Hemenway
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