Letting Things Take Their Natural Course

I. Naturally and Spontaneously

Work, rest, enjoy, find peace and happiness, make plans and adjust them, make breakthroughs and grow—all naturally and spontaneously, at ease with the times and accepting of fate. Everything happens naturally, freely and leisurely, without ever feeling strained or effortful.

A person functions naturally, letting the horse go where it will.

II. The Moment You Strain, You Go Astray

(1) Whipping an Already Suffering Horse

When I was ignorant, I was often tormented by external things (goals, lack of ability) and internal things (self-doubt, driving myself onward), and I mistook this anxiety, suffering, and self-coercion for “effort.” Already suffering, exhausted, and agitated, I kept applying the whip, heading toward madness and destruction.

For example, in the financial industry: Can I pass the CFA and CPA exams? Am I any good at stock trading and investing? Can I understand macroeconomics? Can I manage dozens of people? Can I get into a top-tier fund? Can I afford a home in Beijing? Can I support a wife and children? Can I rescue and turn around the lives and destinies of my parents and the younger generations of my family? And so on.

(2) Attachment to Effort

“A Dedicated Discussion of Effort.” Many goals come about naturally, through mindfulness + favorable timing. That anxious, painful self-coercion actually gets in the way of reaching a higher state of being.

III. Living in the Present and Letting Things Take Their Natural Course

(1) Being Myself Better, Rather Than Becoming a Better Self

I will not kill off my old self just because I have gained a new ability. Learning to knit or ski, getting into a prestigious university, or becoming a CEO will not make me cease to be me. I have always been me; my original self has innate wholeness. Knitting, skiing, getting into a prestigious university, and becoming a CEO are all “abilities” I can acquire as an “ordinary person.” Nor will I cease to be me because an accident costs me a hand or a leg and I lose certain abilities, or because I leave a particular industry. My original self is inherently clear and pure.

Abilities and goals come naturally. Often, by the time I quietly attain them, I have long since stopped caring.

(2) The Future Is Unknown: Living in the Present

Why should someone in their early twenties torment themselves with the problems of their thirties and forties, using the future to torment the present? How could they know what circumstances, horizons, perspectives, and understanding they will have in their thirties and forties?

The past and the future are both constructions in people’s minds. Only the present is real and open to action. At root, the suffering comes from inner demons, the little ego, and fixations. It is resisting fate rather than accepting and following it.

It is normal for trees to sprout branches in all directions. Do not romanticize the other forks in the road; walk the path you are on well.

There are no surprises or sudden changes: apart from accidents, there are no surprises. So there is no need to overthink. The things we pursue do not change abruptly; they change gradually, day by day. Live in the present, wait calmly for change, let quantitative changes become qualitative changes, let what has accumulated bear fruit, and quietly await good things happening and good people drawing near.

(3) Not Dwelling on the Past

IV. The Core of Daoism Is “Being at Ease with the Times and Accepting Fate”

The body is like an unmoored boat, drifting down the river of fate, confident and fearless, living in harmony with the water.

Both came from Hebei, both grew up in poor families, both became fascinated with martial arts after watching Jet Li’s *Shaolin Temple*, both entered martial arts schools, and both later moved to Beijing to seek their fortunes. Wang Baoqiang worked as an extra; Zhang Weili worked as a gym instructor. Later, Wang Baoqiang entered the film and television industry and became an award-winning actor, while Zhang Weili entered the UFC and became a championship belt holder. Was effort what lay behind this? No. It was luck, timing, and circumstance. People can certainly use the claim that Zhang Weili works harder than ordinary people to manipulate ordinary people psychologically. But between Zhang Weili and Wang Baoqiang, who works harder, who has made the more correct choices, and who is happier? People are not meant to be compared, and effort is not the most important thing. Everyone is making an effort. Wang Baoqiang’s and Zhang Weili’s classmates from martial arts school and their classmates from rural Hebei are all making an effort. Much more depends on circumstance. Rejecting effort does not mean giving up and letting things fall apart. For Wang Baoqiang and Zhang Weili, what matters more than so-called effort is following fate and being themselves better. This is even more true for ordinary people.

V. Excerpts from “Mastering Life” in the *Zhuangzi*

When you are upright and tranquil, you renew yourself along with all things. Set aside worldly affairs, and the body will not be exhausted; forget about life, and your vital essence will not be depleted. With the body whole and vital essence restored, you become one with Heaven.

Confucius was admiring the landscape at Lüliang. A waterfall plunged from a height of more than twenty *zhang*, and the spray from its rushing waters extended for forty *li*. Giant softshell turtles, Chinese alligators, fish, and turtles could not swim upstream there. He saw a man swimming and thought he must be seeking death because of some hardship, so he told his disciples to hurry downstream and rescue him. [The man remained submerged] for several hundred paces before surfacing, then swam to the foot of the bank with his hair loose, singing.

Confucius followed him and asked, “I thought you were a ghost, but on closer inspection I see you are a person. May I ask whether you have a special method for swimming?”

He replied, “I have no special method. I began with what was familiar, grew through habit, and attained mastery by following nature. I sink with the whirlpools and rise with the surging currents, following the movement of the water rather than imposing my own will. That is how I swim.”

Confucius said, “What do you mean by beginning with what was familiar, growing through habit, and attaining mastery by following nature?”

He replied, “I was born in the uplands and was at ease in the uplands—that is familiarity. I grew up by the water and was at ease in the water—that is habit. I do not know why I am this way, yet this is how I am—that is following nature.”

Excerpts from the original text:

The waterfall plunged thirty *ren*, and its spray extended for forty *li*. A man swam in it. After several hundred paces he emerged, his hair loose, singing as he swam to the foot of the bank.

He said, “I began with familiarity, grew through my nature, and attained mastery through fate. I enter with the whirlpools and emerge with the surging currents, following the way of the water without imposing my own will.”

Confucius said, “What do you mean by beginning with familiarity, growing through your nature, and attaining mastery through fate?”

He said, “I was born in the hills and was at ease in the hills—that is familiarity. I grew up in the water and was at ease in the water—that is my nature. I do not know why I am this way, yet this is how I am—that is fate.”

VI. Letting Things Take Their Natural Course: I Will Function Automatically, Letting the Horse Go Where It Will