Chapter 9 - Moderation

Holding a cup and overfilling it
Cannot be as good as stopping short
Pounding a blade and sharpening it
Cannot be kept for long

Gold and jade fill up the room
No one is able to protect them
Wealth and position bring arrogance
And leave disasters upon oneself

When achievement is completed, fame is attained
Withdraw oneself
This is the Tao of Heaven

What does this mean?

At first glance, this is very straightforward.  Once you've overdone something or have too much, it loses it's usefulness and causes more problems than having it in the first place.

This is the philosophical argument of moderation.

Moderation also refers back to our needs.  Isn't anything outside of the basics past moderation?  With this, I agree.  However, for those reading this, making a transition to a need-based life is hard.  It is like chiseling a statue: you keep knocking chunks off the rock until it matches what you envision.

How do I use this?

Addressing the physical things are easy.  At worst, the anxiety you feel when thinking about having less stuff is akin to pulling off a band-aid on a fully healed scratch.  It hurts at first, but once it's done, you are free.  Free space means something completely new as it frees up your mind.

Addressing the mental space is hard.  

It is the difference between a wound and a chronic disease.  With a wound, you clean it, bandage it and in time, it heals.  With a disease, you must analyze and figure out what it is in the first place and why you feel bad, care for the symptoms, and have the mental discipline to do unpleasant things to feel better.  For some, there is no cure and instead your life must find a way to live with it.

Imagine your emotions as things: expectations of the future; regrets of the past; mistakes that you or others have made; desires of what you want; qualities you like and dislike about yourself; the circumstance that led you to this moment, the religion and culture that shapes your values.  

Thinking of these things make you feel something and usually not for the better.

My theory is all of these things occupy a box called your brain which can only hold so much.  If your brain is filled with these memories and expectations, the good feelings and pleasures you could enjoy are washed away in a torrential sea of suffering that make you feel something else quickly. 

Start chiseling the emotional values away. The only thing you truly need is the very moment you are in.  This is mindfulness.

When you are done, what is left brings you closer to the Tao.