Tao Te Ching – Verse 49 Wisdom

**I believe that the Tao Te Ching has a lot of interesting things to think about. It is the type of writings that mean different things to different people at different times. This is why I would like to share a verse every Friday. I believe it is fitting to start off with the one titled: Wisdom.

Wise people are not absorbed
in their own needs.
They take the needs of all people as their own.

They are good to the good.
But they are also good to those
who are still absorbed in their own needs.

Why?
Because goodness is in the very nature
of the Great integrity.

Wise people trust
those who trust.
But they also trust those who do not trust.

Why?
Because trusting is in the very nature
of the Great Integrity.

Wise people merge with all others
rather than stand apart judgmentally.
In this way, all begin to open their ears and hearts,
more prepared to return to the innocence of childhood.

~translated by Ralph Alan Dale.

~ by cjt on May 24, 2008.