All things flourish, and each returns to its source.
Interpretation
Everything grows and develops, ultimately returning to where it began.
This quote by Laozi reflects the cyclical nature of life and existence, suggesting that all phenomena arise, flourish, and eventually return to their origins. It emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things and the natural order of the universe, reminding us that life is a cycle of growth and return.
In practice
During a meditation workshop, discussing the nature of existence.
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.
No good case exists for the inequality of real and intellectual property, because no good case can exist for treating with special disfavor the work of the spirit and the mind.
I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man's being unable to sit still in a room.
I have always reckoned the dignity of the republic of first importance and preferable to life.
Nothing is more disgusting than the crowing about liberty by slaves, as most men are, and the flippant mistaking for freedom of some paper preamble like a Declaration of Independence, or the statute right to vote, by those who have never dared to think or to act.
To verify images kills them, and it is always more enriching to imagine than to experience.
Any power must be an enemy of mankind which enslaves the individual by power and by force, whether it arises under the Fascist or the Communist flag. All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded to the individual.
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