Lao-Tzu

1. What is the Master's attitude toward action?

I found this reading to be a little hard to follow. However I do feel that Lao-Tzu described the Master as the ruler of China in that time period. The way he described him was interesting because it was as if the Master was letting the people act in their own ways. In a sense he was letting them decide the government on their own. At one point he says “If you want to be a great leader, you must learn to follow the Tao. Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself”, (Lao-Tzu 27). This is an interesting statement to me, because it is not a concept that many think of when they think about government. What I think he is trying to say is that in order to have an effective government you can’t just control everything. People don’t like to be controlled, therefore when there is control there is bound to be rebelling. I also think what he is saying is that things are never going to be perfect, and if you have a fixed plan or concept nothing can live up to that. There is going to be disappointment if you have a certain way you want something. Not only that but, nothing can ever be set in stone in the sense that things are always going to be changing and it is much easier if you let them change on their own. The Master’s attitude towards action seems almost non-existent. It seems as if he would rather just have everything fall into place on its own.

Lao-tzu. "Thoughts From The Tao-te Ching." A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Trans. Stephen Mitchell. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2006. pp 22-31.