Adapt To Reality

“The rigid person is a disciple of death;
the soft, supple and delicate are lovers of life.”

–Lao Tzu (Laozi), the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing). From the post Cloud Hands by Michael Garofalo.

From the verses:
“A man living is yielding and receptive.
Dying, he is rigid and inflexible.
All Things, the grass and trees:
Living, they are yielding and fragile;
Dying, they are dry and withered.
Thus those who are firm and inflexible
Are in harmony with dying.
Those who are yielding and receptive
Are in harmony with living.
Therefore an inflexible strategy will not triumph;
An inflexible tree will be attacked.
The position of the highly inflexible will descend;
The position of the yielding and receptive will ascend.”

• Translated by R. L. Wing, 1986, Chapter 76

“Human beings are
soft and supple when alive,
stiff and straight when dead.
The myriad creatures, grasses and trees are
soft and supple when alive,
dry and withered when dead.
Therefore it is said:
the rigid person is a disciple of death;
the soft, supple and delicate are lovers of life.
The army that is inflexible will not conquer;
the tree that cannot bend will snap!
The unyielding and mighty will be brought low;
the soft, supple and delicate will rise above them.”

• Translated by Jerry C. Welch, 1998, Chapter 76