Kites harness the force of the wind.
They express our intent,
But they cannot change the wind.
A person with a kite can make it dip, turn, and flutter at will. An expert can even use a fighting kite and engage until one is cut loose. It’s fun flying a kite, feeling the gigantic tug on the end of your line. Sometimes the wind is so strong that it will nearly lift you off the ground. When you harness the forces of nature, you harness something quite powerful.
This is an example of the proper utilization of Tao. It is taking advantage of natural forces. It means accepting the way they work, and then finding a way to borrow their power. It does not mean trying to change or circumscribe things. If the wind is not blowing our kite the way we want, we cannot change it. We can only borrow its energy. When initiative and natural forces are combined, there is true harmony.
Chapter 40
The returning is the movement of the Tao
The weak is the utilization of the Tao
The myriad things of the world are born of being
Being is born of non-being
Interpretation
That which reverses course, reflects back, or returns to its point of origin characterizes the cyclical motions of the Tao. Because the Tao process underlies everything in existence, we observe its cycles reflected everywhere in the universe.
That which exhibits weakness, a soft touch, or a yielding nature characterizes the function and utilization of the Tao. This is because the Tao drives life forward endlessly, and the living is always pliant and flexible while death is invariably stiff and unyielding.
The above applies to the mind as well. An awareness that is in tune with the Tao is open to possibilities and adaptable to new ways of thinking. In contrast, a mind that stubbornly clings to preconceptions and automatically rejects anything different is, in a real sense, already dead.
It’s easy to see in a simple example how to work with the forces of nature and Tao. It is harder in our everyday lives, where those forces may not be so obvious. Yet how often are we fighting against the way we know things have to work, and trying to impose our own will on the world? We know in the end we can’t win, but we keep fighting to have our own way.
The nature of Tao is to be soft and yielding, to be able to change. If we insist on having everything our way, never changing what we believe, we may as well be dead, because in effect, we are already dead to the world. The world and Tao want to influence and change us, not the other way around.
Be open to change and learn to sail in the wind. Then you’ll see how high you can fly.
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