| Tao Verse 76 | | | | or rigid and inflexible in our beliefs we stop growing. |
| A man is born gentle and weak. | | | | We then become hard. We then stop learning and |
| At his death he is hard and stiff. | | | | growing intellectually and we die to our true potential. |
| Green plants are tender and filled with sap. | | | | Take an example of flexible and rigid from nature. A |
| At their death they are withered and dry. | | | | palm tree sits on the beach and takers the first brunt |
| Therefore the stiff and unbending is the way of death. | | | | of the storm. |
| The gentle and yielding is the way of life. | | | | Yet it survives to live again because it allows itself to |
| Thus an army without flexibility never wins a battle. | | | | be flexible. It bends to the ground during the storm; yet |
| A tree that is unbending is easily broken. | | | | when the storm passes it bounces back and lives for |
| The hard and strong will fall. | | | | a new day. |
| The soft and weak will overcome. | | | | The mighty oak however; our symbol for strengths; |
| What is Lao Tzu asking us to consider in Verse 76? | | | | that is inland of the storm stands rigid when the storm |
| It seems he is asking us to be flexible in life | | | | hits it. Even thought the oak is mightier than the palm; |
| Adjust to the changing circumstances of life. | | | | and the winds are now less it breaks. Why because it |
| In the western world we are raised to believe flexible | | | | stays rigid and inflexible. That rigidness causes the |
| is weak. | | | | mighty oak to break. |
| Lao Tzu in the Tao says however that flexibility is | | | | The lesson of the palm and the oak is that flexible |
| actually strength, and that rigid and inflexible is actually | | | | allows life and growth to continue on for another day; |
| weakness. How can we as westerners resolve these | | | | while inflexible and rigid cause death. |
| opposite eastern beliefs. | | | | How do you approach life? The Tao tells us that; |
| This verse asks us to remember that when we are | | | | "The hard and the rigid will break; |
| born; we were gentle and weak. Lao states as long | | | | The soft and the flexible will remain". |
| as we remain that way we grow, mature and live. | | | | In peace... |
| But when we stop growing mentally; becoming stuck | | | | |