Lao Tzu on why a churned-up mind clears when you stop stirring it. From Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, about the 4th century BC.
Picture a river crossing in China, in winter, about 2,400 years ago. A traveler feels for each stone with his foot before he trusts it. The water is icy, and every step clouds it with mud.
That careful wader is how the Tao Te Ching pictures the wise of old. It is a book credited to Lao Tzu, though no one knows for sure who he was.
The Tao Te Ching asks who can make muddy water clear, and answers: let it be still, and it slowly clears. Around 1880, Henri Poincaré had been working hard on a problem. He left on a geology trip, forgot it, and the idea he needed came as he stepped onto a bus in Coutances.
You can’t make muddy water clear, but you can stop stirring it. Practical advice: think a hard choice through once, then walk or sleep on it before you decide.
Likely, on the evidence · checked against 5 sourcesThink a hard choice through once, then sleep on it before deciding.
“I keep going around in circles about whether to move for a new job. How do I get clear?”
Let the Mud Settle and the other 11 ideas of Tao Te Ching, a minute at a time.
Download on theApp StoreEvery idea is drawn from the public-domain text, and its names, dates and quotes are checked against the sources listed with it. The paintings are made for Counsel; they show the scene, not a historical record.
