The Power of Living Simply | Tao Te Ching Chapter 67 Explained (Part 2)

The world talks about honoring the Tao, but you can't tell it from their actions. Because it is thought of as great, the world makes light of it. It seems too easy for anyone to use. There are three jewels that I cherish. Compassion, moderation, and humility. With compassion, you will be able to be brave. With moderation, you will be able to give to others. With humility, you will be able to become a great leader. To abandon compassion while seeking to be brave, or abandoning moderation while being benevolent, or abandoning humility while seeking to lead, will only lead to greater trouble. The compassionate warrior will be the winner, and if compassion is your defense, you will be secure. Compassion is the protector of heaven's salvation. Today, we're going to be talking about the second of the three jewels that Lao Tzu claims to cherish. This video is part two of a three-part miniseries, so if you haven't watched yesterday's video yet, I would recommend pausing this video and going to watch that video first. Yesterday, we talked all about compassion, its benefits, and how it leads to bravery. Today, we will be talking about moderation. So, in the translation we're using today, the J.H. Macdonald translation, this attribute is referred to as moderation, but in other translations, it is sometimes called It looks like overall, we are dealing with the concept of not taking more than we need, being content with the things that we have, and simplifying our lives. This obviously runs very contrary to the cultures of many modern societies. However, for much, if not the majority of human history, frugality has not just been a nice quality to improve your life, but an absolute necessity for preserving your life. For much of human existence, and for many humans even today, food and resources are scarce, and frugality is a survival skill. I remember hearing stories about my great-grandparents who lived through the depression, stories about how they would do weird things like wash plastic forks and reuse paper plates. I've at times been annoyed by older people who have seemingly tried to guilt trip me into eating every single morsel on my plate, no matter how questionable it looked. These habits look strange and even obnoxious to us now, but back then, they helped our great-grandparents survive. Part of me wonders if there ever were to be a similar depression, how my generation would fare. Would we be able to adapt to the new scarcity? Or would a lifetime of being used to having more than enough of everything come around to bite us? Who knows? Frugality isn't just a survival skill, though. For those of us who currently live under circumstances where we are not constantly faced with starvation or poverty, simple living still makes a big difference. I know there are a lot of people watching these videos who are from large cities, and maybe many of you have never had the chance to go camp out in nature by yourself. This makes me kind of sad, because I was really lucky to be born in a place where nature was really close, and where regular or at least semi-regular camping was more or less the norm. This was probably partly because I'm from a small town where there wasn't much else to do other than camp. For those of you who haven't been camping, I encourage you to give it a try sometime if you can. It's really great. And you know what makes it great? Well, being out in nature is always good, and it's fun to do the things that come along with camping, like hiking, biking, and fishing. But you know the best part about camping? It's the fact that you are out away from the rest of your life. Big public campgrounds don't accomplish this quite as well as just going to the mountains or something like that. If you're able to get out far enough away from people, it's like the whole modern world just gets put on pause for a few days, and you don't have to think about it at all. Your school or job is miles away, you don't have to talk to anyone, and if you're really lucky, your phone doesn't even have service. Or I guess you can just turn it off. You know, that works too. Camping is great because it's a kind of forced simplicity. It makes you cut out the distractions in your life. You don't get to choose from 30 different outfits. All you've got is what you've packed. You aren't thinking about the different errands you need to run. They're miles away. No texts, emails, social media, or anything like that to break the solace. It's just you, whoever you went with, and nature. Camping's great, but the thing about it is that it only lasts for a certain amount of time. If you want that kind of simplicity in your life, you're going to have to fight for it a little more, or at least make a couple conscious decisions. While there is no one-size-fits-all plan for creating simplicity in your life, I'll go ahead and share some things that have helped me, and maybe a couple of them will work for you. My first suggestion is to start with your physical space. If you're surrounded by clutter, your life is going to feel cluttered. I recommend starting with a space that's important to you, and that doesn't seem too overwhelming to clear up. Do the space that seems easiest, and that would mean a lot to you to have clean. For me personally, I started with my computer desk, because it was important to me, and it didn't need that much work to get it clear the first time. Try and keep that space completely clear as long as you can. Once clutter inevitably finds its way into your space, no big deal, just clear it off again and keep going. Once you feel ready, you can move on to other spaces. My second suggestion is to get rid of stuff. This is probably one of my favorite steps. It's a lot easier to keep spaces free of stuff when there just is less stuff to take up space. Again, I would start off with whatever seems easiest so you can build up some momentum. I think I started off with my clothes when I did this. This will be easier for some people than for others. If you want, just start with what you know you're okay getting rid of. Keep the things that are really important to you, and don't feel bad about it. For the hard stuff that falls somewhere in between, you can try putting it on probation. Put it in a box, and go put that box away where you're not going to look at it. After a few weeks, come back to the box and see if you're ready to let go of any of the stuff in it. If you are, do it. If you're not, then don't. Often after doing this, you realize that you really didn't need whatever it was in the box all this time, and chances you probably won't need it again in the future. But if you still want it, keep it, no worries. One of the cool things about minimalizing your possessions is that you really start to learn who you are and what's important to you. One of the coolest things I've ever done as far as self-discovery was to minimalize my music. I used to be a music production guy, and I loved finding new music to listen to. But I realized about a year ago that all this music was just sitting in my apple music library, not being listened to. And when I put my tunes on shuffle, I was skipping more than I was actually listening. So I decided to pare it down. And let me tell you, I was pretty brutal. I started this project last year in July or August with over 3,000 songs. I decided that I was going to go through my entire library starting at A, and if I wanted to keep a song, I had to listen to it all the way through. If I couldn't do that, I had to get rid of it. This project has taken me almost a year. I'm nearly through it now, and my library of over 3,000 songs is currently sitting at about 800. But you know what's cool? These 800 songs are all songs that I actually like, like every single one of them. I learned so much about myself through this process. I realized how much my choice of music, as well as my life in general, has been dictated by what I thought all the cool people were doing. I realized there was a lot of quote-unquote cool music out there that I honestly just didn't like. Now that I'm almost done with this, I know what I like, and I'm okay with it. I don't need to curate my music library to impress anybody else. It's my library. I had a similar experience with clothes. I used to buy lots of different kinds of clothes to try and look stylish. Now I own two pair of pants, one of which I need to throw away, honestly, and about five of the exact same plain white t-shirt. It's hot where I live, so I also have two pairs of shorts, and again, I think I'm about ready to say goodbye to one of them. My wife has a similar system. We call it our uniform system, where we wear the exact same uniform every day. I like my black pants, or shorts, and my white t-shirt. I don't need to wear anything else. I'm not saying you have to do exactly what I did. This just works for me, and I like it. You do what works for you, but make sure that you're moving in the direction of simplicity. My third recommendation is to try and target places where things pile up, including digital spaces. Go through your storage shed. How much stuff can you get rid of? It honestly gets to become a bit of a dopamine trip once you get into it. I don't know what it is exactly, but you feel somehow lighter after minimalizing your things. It's very freeing. I also feel like going through your possessions from different parts of your life is kind of sacred in a way, because it helps you process the feelings you were feeling at that time. It's really cathartic. For me, letting go of the stuff helps me to let go of the experience. A lot of times when I get rid of something that I used to love but don't need anymore, it's like I'm telling it, thank you. You were really important to me, and I'm very grateful for that, and now I'm ready to move on. Or sometimes I come across something that brings up bad memories, and I'm able to just go ahead and process those bad feelings that come up. When we hold on to our stuff, I wonder if sometimes it's symbolic of holding on to past parts of our lives that the stuff represents. But the truth is that those parts of our lives, just like the stuff that reminds us of them, are from a different time that we no longer live in. It's okay to let it go. Some of the items you may want to keep, and that's totally fine, but I've found a lot of satisfaction over the years by letting go of a lot of this stuff. And can I just give you my opinion? I really, really, really, really would recommend not selling the stuff you get rid of. Just give it away to someone who can make use of it. If you can think of someone in your life who would really like the thing you're getting rid of, send them a text and offer it to them. Don't take any money for it. If you can't think of anyone, or if nobody seems to want it, don't keep badgering people about it. Just put it up for free on Facebook Marketplace, or give it to a thrift store. If it's something that really can't be thrifted, or if nobody on the internet seems to want it, just throw it away. It's as easy as that. Don't be that person who has to try and get money out of everything you do. If you're in serious need of the money, that may be a different matter. But if you're not in dire straits, just give it away. Some of the coolest experiences I've had with people over the last few years have been from giving away my old stuff. Some of it to people I knew, and some of it to complete strangers. People are often really grateful when you give them things that are actually worth something to them. It's super fun. Give it a try. When you're tackling your digital spaces, obviously this is a little bit different. I mean, you're not going to go thrift the old pictures on your phone. Some of these more digital spaces can be really intimidating to tackle because of how easy it is to fill them. Just start right away on one of them, and keep coming back to it. I shared my example with my music already. That's taken me a year. I did it by finding a system that worked for me. What worked for me was to listen to it while driving, and then delete all the stuff I skipped when I got to my destination. Other digital spaces I've begun to tackle are my audiobooks, podcasts, and even my video games. I've limited myself to listening to three audiobooks at a time. I can only start a book when I finish an old one. I'm drawing these three mostly from the huge reservoir of books that I've started but haven't finished. As far as podcasts, I'm listening to only one right now, and I'm not going to try and start another one until I get through this one. I understand that a lot of podcasts are not necessarily designed to be listened to all the way through. The one that I'm listening to is, so I'm going to. Again, do what works for you. Finally, for you Steam game collectors out there, you might find it rewarding to go through and see what video games you want to get rid of, or at least uninstall. I'm on a game goal right now that's similar to my audiobook goal. I'm only playing three single-player video games at a time, and I only get to start a new game when I finish one of the three. Everything else I've uninstalled except for the games that I play with friends and family. Outside of single-player games, I also enjoy multiplayer games that require long-term skill acquisition, like Valorant or Apex Legends or League. For these games, I'm choosing to only play one of them until I reach a certain rank goal, at which point I will evaluate if I want to go farther in that game or switch it out for another. I know this is all pretty heavy-handed. This is just what I'm doing right now, and so far I like it. You decide what you want your simplified life to look like, and start today with something that feels easy. Don't start a million projects all at once. Do something easy now, and you'll pick up momentum as you go. Simplicity and frugality are not just physical survival skills. They are emotional survival skills. When you choose to be conscious about how you fill your time, space, and schedule, you'll have more space left over for the things that really matter, and the people that really matter. Like I said, just start today with something that's easy to do. Clear off a space, cancel an activity, go through a pile of clothes. Use your quest for simplicity as a means of self-discovery, and let others benefit from the things you get rid of. Simplifying your life seems really hard before you start it, but it does get easier, and it gets more fun too. For my friends in the discord, I'm really looking forward to hearing what kind of experience you guys have had with this. And as always, thank you so much for watching, and I will see you all tomorrow for part 3 of chapter 67. Peace and blessings.