Tao Te Ching Verse 60: Un-Managing with the Tao

Tao Te Ching Verse 60

translated by Han Hiong Tan

Governing a big country is akin to frying a small fish.
When the power of Dao is prevalent,
Even the demons become impotent.
Although the demons continue to possess magical power,
Their power is rendered innocuous.
Hence, the demons cannot harm people.
The sage also does not harm people.
Both do not interfere with people.
Thus by sticking to non-intervention, both let their virtues merge together.

Photo by Ashwini Chaudhary on Unsplash

The Management

There are a few things in the kitchen that I need to watch and be patient with if I am to not ruin them when I am cooking.  I can relate to fish for starters.  If I set it and go about preparing the rest of the meal, I’ll end up overcooking it and it’ll taste like rubber.  Or if I flip it too many times because I want it to hurry up and cook, it falls apart.  

But we’re not just talking about food and the kitchen, are we?  In the verse, Lao Tzu refers to a big country.  And even if we’re not rulers or heads of state, we are leaders and teachers.  Does the term micromanage ring a bell?  I think we’ve all been subjected to leaders that have asked us to do certain things and then wanted to “heavily guide” us in how exactly it should be done.  I also suspect that we ourselves have fallen into the role of the micromanager with others before.  I know I have.

And there are times when I try to manage myself.  I’ll look in the mirror and decide that I need to eat differently.  Or my exercise routine is not going to my satisfaction.  Or I’m not understanding the book I’m reading well enough.  Or I just don’t seem to have enough time for anything.  What are these but examples of me not striking a balance between an intent and proper, unhurried but attentive execution?

Do I get to choose exactly how my food turns out?  How people treat me in my life? What my routines are, how spiritual I can get?  Some aspects of my culture tell me that I am 100% in charge of all of that.  That I must know what I want and take it.  Be bold, act, and get what I’m after.  And while these messages can be well meaning and designed to motivate, I tend to interpret them as empowering encouragements that put me solely in the driver’s seat. 

Consequently, I thought for a great many years that I needed to decide everything about my life.  What exactly my career should look like, which businesses I would build, how many customers I would have and what exactly they would buy from me.  How fast I could run a set distance, how many exercises I could do in a certain amount of time.  What I would eat, what I wouldn’t eat, what I would learn and how in depth and how fast. 

And then I decided that these expectations I was putting on myself were counterproductive, and I swung the other way, embracing spirituality with vigor.  I remember in the beginning, I would actively work on specific aspects of my spirituality, which worked, but ended up exhausting me in the end.

So after reading this verse’s first part, I am given some perspective - do, but not too much.  Set intent, but don’t micromanage.