Chapter Sixty-Eight

Chapter 68

The best athlete wants his opponent at his best.

The best general enters the mind of his enemy.

The best businessman serves the communal good.

The best leader follows the will of the people.

All of them embody the virtue of non-competition.

Not that they don't love to compete, but they do it in the spirit of play.

In this they are like children and in harmony with the Tao.

Harmony. Imagine that for a moment. Harmony is life functioning fluid in motion; life as it should be. Here we are made to consider the leader's role in it.

It's a participation sport and everybody's effort counts. Harmony can't be achieved without you or me or everyone else. So a leader's role counts toward binding that unity into a rhythmic pattern. A good leader will realize how much being conscientious NOT try too hard is key to effectiveness. A leader will realize the goal at hand should be designed with everyone's success in mind. Thus she/he will have a broader sense of priority than just what advances her/his cause. I can't say enough about the virtue of subtlety.

Now take into consideration the type of leader referred to here as the "best general". Here is a good example of that virtue. Subtely our attention is brought to the responsibility of competitive leaders to understand the mind of their opponents. Great advantage is gained from knowledge of the inner workings of the mind of the enemy. But too seldom does one realize that the knowledge isn't necessarily about gaining momentum with which to trod one's enemies into dust.

I believe here, in context with the harmony Lu often spoke of and urged us toward, he was referring to the kind of insight into the opposing field that yields peace. The kind of insight that brings the leader down to earth and causes them to acknowledge that the so-called enemy is really just another human being, one whom may want something she/he has or may not wish to share what she/he already has, but a human being nonetheless. I think this kind of grounded, humane perspective is the one Lu is lauding. Equating it with a child-like competitive spirit, one that knows how to go after what is wanted, take on an equally competent foe, AND realize that in the end we are all the same- children in a grand sandbox of sorts. None of us being any less fragile, or any more worthy than the other.
I believe Lu is saying here that being humbly conscious of this fragility and equality is the key virtue- a sort of "non-competition"- to harmony.

Don't I wish this virtue was more widely put into motion!

Yay, and I make this, and have made this my prized gem of wisdom gathered from the elders of reason and compassion from ages so old. Lu-Tzu puts into skillful poetry what I feel, is one of my main drives for communication. I do what I do, write what I write, and create what I create for this one purpose- to do my part in solidifying such harmony in the communities of those around me. Can I do more than I am doing at this point? Oh certainly! I have hardly began to start. I would even call it my "career" of sorts because I do not wish to be associated with any sort of profession too closely. (You may be a consumer of my works but they do not define me.) So I would rather be called a "Harmonist" because I would let such a virtue define me (If I were worthy of it.) before I would let a source of artistic outlet and income, say photographer, define what makes me, me.