Water

Master Kan, speaking with the voice of Lao Tzu, praises the strength and patience of water. The majority of the earth and our bodies is composed of water; thus, the basic element of baptism is already within us — there is no need for priests or rituals, if we can only turn within and discover what we already are. Something to keep in mind next time someone tells you that rain is bad weather.

The full text of Chapter 78, from my translation of the Tao Te Ching, is below.

Is there anything in all of Nature
As adaptable and as shapeless as water?
But for wearing down what’s fixed and rigid,
No power on earth can match it.
Thus, it is unique.

When an amorphous presence
Meets adamantine resistance,
The amorphous prevails.
When the supple meets the obdurate,
Suppleness prevails.

There are none who can deny this,
But no one seems able to live by it.

Thus the Sage teaches that
The humiliation of one’s country
Is not to be taken upon one’s self,
Nor are environmental disasters
To be conquered as enemies.

But we can, with subtle understanding,
Communicate with them.