My favorite poem from this section was #62:
“The accomplished person is not aggressive. The good soldier is not hot tempered.
The best conquerer does not engage the enemy. The most effective leader takes the lowest place.
This is called the Te of not contending. This is called the power of the leader. This is called matching heaven’s ancient ideal.”
I thought this passage to be one of the most helpful in characterizing Daoism. I think that we often view “great” people as being the things that this poem advises against: aggressive, assertive, etc. The Te of not contending is the exact opposite; it says that accomplished people are calm and humble. I think this could be a lot of use in our world today. So often we are concerned about status and what others thing of us – but this poem says that the most effective leaders take the lowest place. I think if more of our leaders tried to do this instead of chasing power, we would live in a much more tranquil and less hostile society. I also think it’s so interesting that this poem ties these sentiments to “heaven’s ancient ideal.” The role that heaven plays in this writing is interesting to think about because it almost seems as though heaven is backing up the ideas mentioned.