Tao Tuesdays – Chapter 36
Each Tuesday, Amy Putkonen posts a chapter from her version of the Tao Te Ching (my personal favorite version right now) on her blog “Tao Te Ching Daily“. She invites other blogger to write their commentary on the chapter and link together on her post. I like to read the chapter, write my impressions from direct experience of the chapter, then go back and read all the commentaries to expand on experience. It’s been a wonderful experience, and I’m so grateful to Amy for this opportunity! 
Please check out all the other commentaries too.
Chapter 36
If something has expanded,
it will soon contract.
If something has been weakened,
it was once overly strong.
If something was thrown away,
it was surely once admired too much.
If something is to be received,
it must first be given.
This is the wisdom of obscurity.
The soft and weak
will overcome the strong and forceful.
Small fish stay deep and survive.
A country thrives
when its weapons are not displayed.
I don’t remember where I first heard it put this way, but this chapter is where we get the idea “in each is the seed of its opposite”. It is also the part of Taoism that gets REAL. It isn’t just a philosohy in Tai Chi and Kung Fu: It is how life works. You literally, physically can FEEL dynamic movement, balance (or the lack of it), push and pull and that subtle point where strenght turns into weakness. Train, and you get stronger. Over-train and you get weak again. Strike just right, and even a little nerdy-girl like me can learn to break . If Mr. Muscle Dude over extends his punch or stance, you can knock him over with a feather. True enough, it is all about body mechanics and center of gravity…not some mystical kung fu know-how…but that is still Taoism, yin and yang, at real, literal, physical, feel-able play.
Time and entropy are real things too. Marble buildings will in time crumble. Carbon in time crushes into a diamond. A river will carve a canyon and build a delta given enough time.
In order for one person to recieve, another must give. Create and destroy, flaunt and hide…life is filled with dynamic opposites.
