The Way of the Stone Mason

Our culture teaches us that we must strive to be great, to do great things. The way of Nature teaches us that a lot of little makes for great, that small effort, undertaken with perseverance and creativity, makes for big and enduring results. Thus Lao Tzu said, in Chapter 39 of the Tao Te Ching:

Soft and small, the deepest roots
By which the greatest tree is nourished:
Humility within completes greatness without,
For they are not by Nature separated.

The stone mason chips away at the mountain that stops the cloud, which in turn blocks out the sun that exhausts the strength and life of the wealthiest mandarin who lords over the stone mason, who in his humility sees only his work and not the greatness of its destiny. True greatness is not a goal; it is a gift.

Why strive for what is already within you? The stone mason strives neither to bring down the mountain nor to stand on its summit. He needs the mountain’s substance to further his art, and so he takes from it, yet without disturbing its balance or making a claim of lordship over its height. Pursuing the art of living is precisely this: the interaction of small effort, directed energy, with matter and form, with no claim of ownership or subjection between them. People in our culture have not learned this lesson any more than the people of ancient China had; thus Lao Tzu warns us at the end of Chapter 39:

Do not presume to gleam like jade
When you live among the humble stones.