When there is no desire, all things are at peace
Interpretation
A lack of desire leads to inner tranquility.
This quote by Laozi suggests that when we are free from desires and attachments, we can achieve a state of peace and contentment. Desire often generates dissatisfaction and unrest, so by letting go of our cravings, we can find harmony both within ourselves and in our external circumstances.
In practice
In a meditation workshop, the instructor shared this quote to emphasize the importance of letting go.
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.
God bears with the wicked, but not forever.
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants.
People with advantages are loath to believe that they just happen to be people with advantages.
Looking at the world as a whole, the drift for many decades has been not towards anarchy but towards the reimposition of slavery. We may be heading not for general breakdown but for an epoch as horribly stable as the slave empires of antiquity.
I will call no being good who is not what I mean when I apply that epithet to my fellow creatures; and if such a creature can sentence me to hell for not so calling him, to hell I will go .
Death is the ultimate enemy - and I find nothing reproachable in those who rage mightily against the dying of the light.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.