Practice forgiving, and avoiding judgment, when you see reprehensible or evil-minded ways.
Take Lao-tzu up on his advice for dealing with those who appear to be wicked people by mentally separating the individuals from their toxic behavior. Remember that they are Divine creations of the Tao who simply believe that ego should control life. In your thoughts, erase the vileness, the wrongdoing, and the addictive or harmful actions; and allow those folks to just be there apart from their malevolent behavior. See the unfolding of the Tao in them, and picture them as innocent children who are overstimulated by ego’s temporary stronghold. In your mind, forgive the evil conduct, and make every effort to wrap loving arms around the children you see before you.
Lao-tzu urges you to treat yourself in a similar manner: Cast out any behavior you dislike about yourself, allow your pain to be felt, and absolve yourself. With these behaviors removed, visualize embracing yourself, and notice the radiant being of light who is yourself in your imagination. Practice elevating yourself with your Tao deeds and doling out kindness to others as well as yourself. This is how you apply this verse of the Tao, which is indeed the remedy for all evil.
Do the Tao Now
Today, make the decision to help one other person, if only for a few moments, to meditate on this verse’s principle. But do so without mentioning the Tao Te Ching or this book. Possibly send out an expression of love where you might have chosen anger. Or mail a greeting card with a particularly meaningful verse of the Tao to someone who’s assumed a new position of leadership. Whatever you do, your motivation is to help that man or woman unlock the door to his or her treasure-house by offering keys in the form of your own Tao-centered thoughts and behaviors.
63rd Verse
Practice nonaction.
Work without doing.
Taste the tasteless.
Magnify the small, increase the few.
Reward bitterness with care.
See simplicity in the complicated.
Achieve greatness in little things.
Take on difficulties while they are still easy;
do great things while they are still small.
The sage does not attempt anything very big,
and thus achieves greatness.
If you agree too easily, you will be little trusted; because the sage always confronts difficulties,
he never experiences them.
Living Without
Difficulties
This verse conveys so much with an economical use of words. Every time I read what Lao-tzu is saying here, I feel that it’s impossible for me to experience difficulties in my life if I’m willing to accept his sage advice. He counsels that we learn to think in moments, rather than in days, weeks, months, years, decades, or a lifetime. All we ever get is right now—that’s it. So we must avoid the inclination to magnify tiny events or worry about a future that may never arrive. It’s the little things that make all the difference in our world, and keeping life simple replaces chaos. As Lao-tzu reminds us, “See simplicity in the complicated . . . do great things while they are still small.”
I’ve followed that advice while working on this book. As you might imagine, writing individual essays on the 81 verses of one of the most revered and enduring spiritual texts has been a daunting task! A project like this involves at least a year of daily researching, reading, writing, and revising. Yet instead of focusing on the challenges of this project, I choose to “see simplicity” and “take on difficulties while they are still easy.” I immerse myself in a single verse in the morning, allowing the words to flow through my heart and onto the page. I feel like I’ve mastered the ironic conclusion of this 63rd passage, which says that difficulties are not experienced when they’re confronted.
This, then, is the wisdom of this verse: There’s no such thing as difficulty when you live in the present moment, doing only what you can right now. So examine your thoughts about what you call the troubles in your life. Can you shift to thinking of every undertaking as not only manageable, but easy and small as well? After all, how do you pursue a difficult course of study that will take several years to complete? By not projecting yourself into the future or using your present moments to worry. How do you get through the long, difficult process of giving birth to a child? Moment by moment. I’ve watched my wife do just that during the years she was either pregnant or nursing, delivering five children in eight years. As Lao-tzu teaches, if you don’t attempt anything big, you will achieve greatness.
Almost every morning I do a 90-minute hot yoga class with 26 postures and two breathing exercises. Now an hour and a half of intense activity in a room that’s more than 105 degrees can seem not only big, but very difficult as well. I’ve learned to change the way I think about this daily routine that I enjoy so much, and now I find it to be easy. As the first breathing exercise begins, I keep my mind and body totally focused on what I’m doing in the opening moment. If my mind wants to wander to
