“Rushing into action, you fail.
Trying to grasp things, you lose them.
Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe.
Therefore the Master takes action by letting things take their course.
He remains as calm at the end as at the beginning.
He has nothing, thus has nothing to lose.
What he desires is non-desire; what he learns is to unlearn.
He simply reminds people of who they have always been.
He cares about nothing but the Tao.
Thus he can care for all things.” ― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
The interested reader, may find line by line translation to this classic work online here:
A practical application of various passages can be found here:
https://wordandsilence.com/category/tao-te-ching/
The important thing to garner at this point is simply, approaching whatever the current ‘crisis’ may be at any given time in human history with panic only creates ensuring chaos. This applies equally be a personal circumstance be it divorce, illness or just simply a bad hair day as well as to those events in the microcosm such this current coronavirus, oil price wars, or any weather or climate changes that we do not like happening but invariably do.
A wise person confronts these situations with the knowledge that calmness will help illuminate the best solutions available. Where there is no solution, sometimes there is only going through whatever the circumstance to survive and to go the extra step of making the best of whatever may come our way. Good or bad, this is our lives. What we do with these is almost entirely up to us.
What can be done to prevent further epidemics? Well, Scientific America suggests:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/want-to-prevent-another-coronavirus-epidemic/
What can we do about it now as individuals? Mayo Clinic suggests this:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/symptoms-causes/syc-20479963
As always, the readers of this blog continue to be in the thoughts and prayers of myself and those near and dear to me. May God bless you all as you keep your heads, take reasonable preparations and remember this too shall pass!
