When People Do Not Fear Authority
The Text
民不畏威，则大威至。无狎其所居，无厌其所生。夫唯不厌，是以不厌。是以圣人自知不自见；自爱不自贵。故去彼取此。
When people no longer fear authority, great authority arrives. Do not narrow their dwellings; do not oppress their living. If you do not oppress, they will not weary of you. So the wise know themselves but do not display themselves; love themselves but do not exalt themselves — putting this aside, taking that.
Reading it
The fear economy is finite: each withdrawal of it is spent from the same account, and the chapter states the exchange rate — squeezed dwellings and living buy exactly the arrival of the great terror. Self-knowledge without self-display is the ruler’s alternative account.
恐惧的账户有限：每一次支取都出自同一个账户，本章给出了汇率——挤压居所与生计，恰好买到「大威」的抵达。自知而不自见，是治理者的另一本账。
Find where you are leaning on pressure this week. Replace one instance of it with something people can actually accept.
找出你这周倚仗压力的地方。换一处成人们真正能接受的东西。