Daodejing Chapter 48 breakdown: nothing is left undone
Chapter 48 of the Daodejing calls on you to unclutter your mind of conventional ideas, values, and practices so that you can achieve a state of maximum effectiveness through wuwei, or effortless action.
Section 1
Learning requires
Increasing every day.
The Dao requires
Decreasing every day.
Decrease and decrease again,
Until you attain
Effortless action.
The chapter begins by contrasting the process of orthodox learning with the understanding of the Dao. Orthodox learning requires the daily accumulation of subjective knowledge about beauty, ethics, morality, ritual, music, and other artificial human constructs. By stimulating unhealthy yearnings for wealth, status, and material possessions, this knowledge leads to greed, hypocrisy, contention, and conflict. In contrast, understanding the Dao calls for stripping away these desires and passions through rigorous self-cultivation to attain a pristine state of wuwei, or effortless action.
Section 2
With effortless action
Nothing is left undone.
All-under-heaven is won
Without interfering.
Interfering never wins
All-under-heaven.
Attaining wuwei does not mean doing nothing but acting spontaneously in harmony with the natural flow of things. By continually removing the layers of complexity that constrict your thoughts and actions, you can achieve a state of efficacy that means, to draw from Chapter 47, you never have to set foot outside the door or look through the window to accomplish everything that needs to be done.
Because you refrain from meddling in other people’s affairs, they will automatically gravitate towards you and achieve a favourable outcome for everyone.
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