66 - LOWDOWN

Lakes and rivers are lords of the hundred valleys.

Why? Because they’ll go lower.

So they’re the lords of the hundred valleys.

Just so, a wise soul,

wanting to be above other people,

talks to them from below

and to guide them

follows them.

And so the wise soul

predominates without dominating,

and leads without misleading.

And people don’t get tired

of enjoying and praising

one who, not competing,

has in all the world

no competitor.

UKLG: One of the things I love in Lao Tzu is his good cheer, as in this poem, which while giving good counsel is itself a praise and enjoyment of the spirit of yin, the water-soul that yields, follows, eludes, and leads on, dancing in the hundred valleys.