. . . the mind is desperate to fix the river {of events} in place: Possessed by ideas of the past, preoccupied with images of the future, it overlooks the plain truth of the moment.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the tendency of the mind to become fixated on the past and future, causing it to miss the present moment.
Laozi highlights the common human condition where our thoughts are dominated by regrets of the past and anxieties about the future, leading us to neglect the present. This state of mind can prevent us from appreciating and fully experiencing the reality of now, which is the only moment we truly have.
In practice
During a mindfulness seminar, the speaker could use this quote to emphasize living in the present.
If you understand others you are smart._x000D_ If you understand yourself you are illuminated._x000D_ If you overcome others you are powerful._x000D_ If you overcome yourself you have strength._x000D_ If you know how to be satisfied you are rich._x000D_ If you can act with vigor, you have a will._x000D_ If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting._x000D_ If you die without loss, you are eternal.
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.
In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.
Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.
The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves.
The women are, of course, the biggest single group of oppressed people in the world and, if we are to believe the Book of Genesis, the very oldest.
A precedent embalms a principle.
A lot of people, because of my contempt for the false consolations of religion, think of me as a symbolic public opponent of that in extremis. And sometimes that makes me feel a bit alarmed, to be the repository of other people's hope.
Those who think of freedom in this country as one long, broad path leading ever onward and upward are dead damned wrong.
Does that not sound odd to you? When God decides who should live or die, he is immoral, When you decide who should live or die, it's your moral right. There was a pin-drop silence.
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