In last week’s blog we talked about the possibility of industry being in harmony with nature.

While the Tao shows us how to choose balance and simplicity, it also teaches us about welcoming opposition. 

Perhaps passage four of the Tao is reminding us of our own opposites as physical beings in a complex world. 

While we may have been taught there is ‘good and bad’ or  ‘right and wrong’,

the Tao invites us to detach from the idea of these moral judgments.

Instead, the Tao invites us to view opposite forces as necessities to one another.

In the same way the moon opposes the sun is how these opposite forces work in and for us.

Allowing ourselves to accept the embodiment of both “good” and “bad”

relieves the pressure to fit in a “right” or “wrong” box.

This gives us more empathy and gentleness with ourselves and others.

At the end of the day, we are people who make mistakes and decisions.

We might not always be able to be the “good guy” who can please everyone. 

If you have had to confront problematic behavior in your children, or even with employees,

you already know this!

Now let’s explore the idea of emptiness in this passage …

The Tao invites emptiness to be seen as space for infinite creation.

Without emptiness, there is no room to build. 

If we can empty ourselves of moral judgments, we have space for anything to exist.

Moral judgment doesn’t excuse behavior but instead it extends compassion towards it.

This emptiness invites us to become the change we want to be in the world rather than demanding it from others.

By Arabella Davis