Ah, for a small country with a small population! Though there are highly efficient mechanical contrivances, the people have no use for them. Let them mind death and refrain from migrating to distant places. Boats and carriages, weapons and amour there may still be, but there are no occasions for using or displaying them. Let the people revert to communication by knotting cords. See to it that they are contented with their food, pleased with their clothing, satisfied with their houses, and inured to their simple ways of living. Though there may be another country in the neighbourhood so close that they are within sight of each other and the crowing of cocks and barking of dogs in one place can be heard in the other, yet there is no traffic between them, and throughout their lives the two people having nothing do do with each other.
Categories
80
Chapter 80 of the Tao Teh Ching talks about the isolation of a small country with a small population.
2 replies on “80”
Lao Tzu wrote that 2,500 years ago. It sounds quite familiar with my world now and probably yours. So, what has changed? We all want peace, health, and family. He offered
a simple glimps into the future for us to implement.
Today when I typed this and proofed it I got to contemplating on it as you would expect. The insight I gained was that you can live in a Taoist community among others in any worldly circumstance or environment. Communities among and within communities.