Searching for precious goods leads astray.
Interpretation
Chasing after material wealth can lead one away from true fulfillment.
This quote by Laozi emphasizes the idea that the pursuit of material possessions and superficial values can distract individuals from the deeper, more meaningful aspects of life. It warns that the quest for 'precious goods' often leads to a misguided journey, detracting from authentic happiness and fulfillment.
In practice
In a discussion about consumerism, one might say, 'As Laozi pointed out, searching for precious goods leads astray.'
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.
When...we, as individuals, obey laws that direct us to behave for the welfare of the community as a whole, we are indirectly helping to promote the pursuit of happiness by our fellow human beings.
The policy of the emperors and the senate, as far as it concerned religion, was happily seconded by the reflections of the enlightened, and by the habits of the superstitious, part of their subjects. The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord.
To wonder about life is not something we learn; it is something we forget.
Solidarity is not a matter of altruism. Solidarity comes from the inability to tolerate the affront to our own integrity of passive or active collaboration in the oppression of others, and from the deep recognition of our most expansive self-interest. From the recognition that, like it or not, our liberation is bound up with that of every other being on the planet, and that politically, spiritually, in our heart of hearts we know anything else is unaffordable.
I dreamed: I am the fish whose flesh is eaten, and because I am fat, it is good.
Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it.
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