← The Dao De Jing
Chapter 8
The Highest Good Is Like Water
上善若水
The Text
上善若水。水善利万物而不争，处众人之所恶，故几于道矣。
The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things and does not contend. It settles in the low places people disdain — and so it is close to the way.
Reading it
Water is not praised for being soft. It is praised for going where the work is, without needing the position to be respectable.
水受称赞不是因为它柔，而是因为它往该做事的地方去，且不必占一个好位置。
Practice for the week
Take the task nobody wants this week. Do it without mentioning that you did.
这周接一件没人愿意做的事。做完不要提。