Nothing in the world is softer and weaker than water;
Tao Te Ching 78, Lao Tzu, translated by John Wu, 1961
But, for attacking the hard and strong, there is nothing like it!
For nothing can take its place.
That the weak overcomes the strong, and the soft overcomes the hard,
This is something known by all, but practiced by none.
When I lived in Hawaii, I used to walk along a beach that had beautiful beige sand interspersed with the occasional outcropping of black lava rock. As I would walk, I would hear the soothing sound of the crashing waves and watch the waters wash in and out on the shoreline. The water was constantly giving way to the hard shore, crashing down on the beach before yielding and retreating. Or so it appeared to me in the moment. If I had a longer perspective, however, and could stand at that location for several millennia, I would see the shoreline slowly erode and dissolve into the unrelenting sea. In fact, the sandy beach on which I loved to walk was actually created by the unrelenting waves pounding the lava rocks, coral reefs, and shells. Ultimately, I would watch the island disappear entirely under the ocean’s constant advance and retreat, yet the sea itself would remain. The soft overcomes the hard. The rigid falls to the yielding.
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As the Tao Te Ching says, everyone knows water gains its power from its yielding nature. We wash food off pots and pans with water. We spray down homes or cars to remove dirt and grime. We should know the way of yielding is powerful, that the weak eventually overcomes the strong. So why do we seek “power” in the rigid, in the uncompromising, in the illusory “solid”? Why are we so quick to fight for our “rights” or our vision of how the world should be? Worse still, why do we double down when others make it clear that our view of reality is askew or our accusations against others are false rather than confess or mistake? It is so hard for us to yield, much less to deny ourselves. Speaking of sand, the Tao’s thrust can also be seen in the truth that you can hold more sand in an open hand than in a clenched fist. The harder you try to cling to a loved one, the more you push them away. The open hand is the beneficial way of truth, fairness, and goodwill that builds better friendships and achieves more through love and trust than the clenched fist ever will through control.
The only clenching of the fist, for a Christian, should be to grasp firmly onto your cross as you follow after Jesus. The Taoist statement fits well with Jesus’ emphasis on dying to self, turning the cheek, going the extra mile, and loving your enemies. We are called to be the yielding yet unrelenting presence of love. This is the way ultimately to achieve justice in the world. Consider Martin Luther King’s open handed work in the Civil Rights Movement. He learned it from the Gospels and from Mohandas Gandhi’s open handed work to liberate India from British rule. Gandhi learned this from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as well as the Jain concept of Ahimsa. Interestingly, the Jain symbol of Ahimsa is the open palm!
The prophet Amos used this imagery of water overcoming rocks to communicate what God desires from us. Amos says worshiping God isn’t through sacrifice or beautiful music. True worship is when we let “justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (5:24, NIV)
When someone makes false accusations against us, we instinctually respond with fight or flight. But we need to engage them in love, quietly endure the accusations, and trust others to defend you. Too many Christians are hardening themselves into culture warriors, yet Jesus wept for Jerusalem for just that issue. He knew his fellow Jews wanted to overthrow the Romans through force and foresaw that this would destroy their city, their witness, and many of their lives.
It will be interesting to see what happens in Iran. The government is approaching the people’s outcries with hardened clenched fists. Will the peaceful protests overcome? Will they devolve into hardened tactics? Likewise, Putin keeps hardening his position against Ukraine. Putin sees himself as a defender of Orthodox Christianity against a corrupt West, but does he walk the way of Jesus, denying himself and taking up his cross? The same chapter of the Tao Te Ching tells us the way of water for politics. “To bear the calamities of a country is to be the prince of the world.” This sounds more like Volodymyr Zelensky’s wartime leadership to date. Yet can he practice true weakness or will the Ukrainians eventually harden in their fight with Russia and commit the same types of atrocities inflicted upon them? The way of water is “known by all but practiced by none.” None, perhaps, but Jesus, who took the calamities of his people upon himself and has become the King of Kings.
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Yes, that is one of my own photos.
Orthopistis 