when the powers and strengths of heaven
float downward into the earth
through man
the tao way of life presents itself
to everyone and everything

horses trained by men behave naturally and spontaneously
without any need for direction or control
their beneficence unfolds naturally

but when the powers and strengths of heaven
are blocked from flowing into the earth
man becomes isolated
and inoffensive creatures become warlike
multiplying in great numbers
and profaning the sacred
as the tao way of life recedes

the ancient child asks
what then presents itself

dissatisfaction with one’s own essential nature
dissatisfaction with one’s own gifts and deficits
dissatisfaction with the very ground one stands on

the worst thing you can do is to
extend and reach into the world
from a place of scarcity instead of abundance

one is restful
the other is restless

the restless place is an unnatural field
sown with discontentment

the restful place is an inexhaustible sacred precinct
that goes where you go
providing everything you need
in just the right amounts

secure the restful place
stand
allow the power and strength of heaven
to flow downward
through you
to the earth
and quietly watch
the tao way of life present itself
to everyone and everything

—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching; An authentic Taoist translation. translated by John Bright-Fey

In the mythological view, heaven (the sky) and earth are masculinity and femininity respectively. They and Yang and Yin, order and chaos, and man who stands between them is he who balances the opposing forces. He does this with his vision, for consciousness constructs a Map of Meaning out of the infinite complexity that is the chaotic Nature of the world. But for this process to occur, man must allow the order of heaven to sink back down into the chaos of the earth. He must allow crumbling ideas and beliefs to die and make room for new order to be born from the unknown—this is the Tao way of life, the state of readiness to let go, to let flow one’s preconceived notions of right and wrong back into the ætherial abyss from which they emerged, to let then new wisdom rise up from insight, from spontaneous, instinctual revelation.

But to fail to do this, to fail to let go of one’s belief that he is correct is to isolate that man from the real world. His order becomes decrepit, his sensitivities senile. He comes to assume he knows almost everything, and therefore all that he doesn’t know must by definition be wrong. Thus, monsters appear in the dark corners of all his thoughts. Inoffensive things become grave threats capable of destroying his very identity. He becomes less and less capable of assenting to how life actually is, favoring instead his presumption as to how life ought to be—this is a receding of the Tao way of life, a turning away from life itself. It is the slow possession by the Spirit of Vengeance against the world under pretenses that it is deserved.

The consequences of this failure: hatred of the self, of one’s own nature, of one’s own talents and proclivities, and then eventually of all that would be capable of helping that one person achieve success. They are all reminders of his imperfection. Each gnaws like termites at his crumbling house of presumptive arrogance.

Man should not assume that he has no nature. Likewise, he should not assume himself transcendent of the natural world. He is dependent on it. To accept this is receive; to reject this is to starve—and the starving man, so deprived, will see himself as an eternal victim. He will never discover the power and wisdom inside himself. He will new sow, and so he unnatural fields will remain dead and barren.

On the other hand, he who accepts his lot in life and takes full advantage of it will find abundance in temperance. His desires and needs, dissolved and reconstituted regularly, are brought in line with reality. He is the exemplar to whom admiration is paid despite wealth, power, beauty, skill, or status. He is the man at peace, no matter his circumstances, who brings prosperity to himself and those who know him.

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Forty-Six”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. pp.92-3