“Knowing others is wisdom;
Knowing the self is enlightenment.
Mastering others requires force;
Mastering the self needs strength.
He who knows he has enough is rich.
Perseverance is a sign of willpower.
He who stays where he is endures.
To die but not to perish is to be eternally present.” (Daodejing #33)
This was one of my favorite poems from the Tao Te Ching. To me, it means that it is great that you are able to understand the struggles of others, but true understanding comes from recognizing and overcoming your own struggles. You are the only person that you will see every day of your life, so who exactly are you looking at. This is the question that the poem is trying to nudge the reader to find the answer to. One can read so many self-help books on how to live life or read works of great philosophers for a definition of life. In the end, only they can define what makes them them and they can only assign a definition to their life. They are the only ones that are truly capable of coming to a decision of who they are. You can try and try to change someone, but in the end, they are the only able to do so, and maybe what you were trying to change does not match up with their definition of life, but yours.