Govern the State by Correctness
The Text
以正治国，以奇用兵，以无事取天下。吾何以知其然哉？以此：天下多忌讳，而民弥贫；民多利器，国家滋昏；人多伎巧，奇物滋起；法令滋彰，盗贼多有。故圣人云：我无为，而民自化；我好静，而民自正；我无事，而民自富；我无欲，而民自朴。
Govern the state by correctness; wage war by surprise; win the world by not-interfering. How do I know? By this: the more prohibitions in the world, the poorer the people; the more sharp weapons among the people, the darker the state; the more cunning men ply their skill, the stranger the things that arise; the more statutes are promulgated, the more thieves abound. So the wise say: I do nothing and the people transform of themselves; I love stillness and the people correct themselves; I have no affairs and the people enrich themselves; I have no desires and the people simplify themselves.
Reading it
An empirical claim with an evidence section: every tightening produced the thing it prohibited. The four I-lines are the negative-space version of leadership — the leader’s restraint is the people’s room. Each of the four pairs a leader-vow with an emergent public good.
一个带证据部分的经验断言：每一次收紧都生产了它所禁止的东西。四个「我」句是领导力的负空间版本——领导者的克制就是民众的空间。四对「承诺—公益」一一对应。
Find one rule you enforce that produces the behaviour it prohibits. Suspend it this week and watch.
找出一条你执行中反而生产它所禁止之行为的规矩。这周暂停它，看结果。