DesireesShelves

I made it all the way through this one, even though I had some difficulty grasping all of the concepts presented here. I am not familiar with Chuang Tzu or Taoist teachings. That being said, I would still recommend this book to anyone interested in Eastern philosophy.

Because of all the shoulds and ought to's that society foists upon us on a daily basis, our minds get clogged and keep us from observing nature and who we truly are. It is only n the silence that we can see clearly.

"The crosses we carry, our pathologies, our weaknesses, and our deficiencies may in the end prove to be our greatest gifts for humanity."

"As long as one is competitive, ambitious, there must be disturbance, there must be conflict."

"Observe and do nothing about it. ...to observe in quietness is the key to conquering pain."

""What is" is no longer good enough."

My favorite quote is from Lao Tzu:
"A man is supple and weak when living, but hard and stiff when dead. Grass and trees are pliant and fragile while living, but dried and shrivelled when dead. Thus the hard and the strong are the comrades of death; the supple and weak are the comrades of life. Therefore a weapon that is strong will not vanquish; a tree that is strong will suffer the axe. The strong and big takes the lower position, the supple and weak take the higher position."