When people do not dread authorities, then a greater dread descends.
Interpretation
The quote warns that the absence of fear towards authority can lead to a more significant fear arising from other sources.
This quote by Laozi emphasizes the idea that when individuals stop fearing those in power, it opens the door to a more profound sense of dread that can emerge from chaos or lack of order. It's a reflection on the human condition and the balance between authority and the potential for disorder when that authority is no longer respected or feared.
In practice
In a discussion about political power and its implications, one might quote Laozi to illustrate the consequences of losing respect for authority.
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.
In order to discover the character of people we have only to observe what they love.
In the matter of a difficult question it is more likely that the truth should have been discovered by the few than by the many.
I myself shall continue living in my glass house where you can always see who comes to call, where everything hanging from the the ceiling and on the walls stays where it is as if by magic, where I sleep nights in a glass bed, under glass sheets, where who I am will sooner or later appear etched by a diamond.
We need to incorporate that age-old concept of redemption into the work that we do in the criminal justice system in California.
Things that are done, it is needless to speak about...things that are past, it is needless to blame.
The love for justice that is in us is not only the best part of our being but it is also the most true to our nature.
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