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5 min readWorrying Less About Tomorrow
In the small state of Qi long ago, there lived a man who could not stop looking up at the sky. He had come to fear that it might collapse and the earth give way beneath him, leaving him with nowhere to stand. The thought occupied him so completely that he could no longer eat, and he lay awake listening for the first crack overhead. Anyone who has been anxious knows how such a thought takes hold: a slight pain becomes a possible illness, the illness becomes a hospital, the hospital becomes a family left without support, and within a minute the mind is standing in a ruin. Each step seems reasonable taken alone, which is what makes the chain so convincing—though the place it leads to is one that nothing in the present has shown to be real.
This story comes from the Liezi, one of the classic Taoist books, and the Chinese language has kept it alive in an expression still used today for needless worry. People usually tell it with a smile, as a warning against fretting over nothing. But Chen Li, author of the blog Words of Taoism, has never been able to laugh at him, because his sky is a larger version of what each of us fears: that whatever holds up our life might one day give way.
Three Answers to a Frightened Man
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:02) **Welcome and the Taoist Story of the Man of Qi** - Chen Li introduces the episode's central parable from the Taoist text *Liesi*, about a man consumed by the fear that the sky will collapse.
- 2 (03:37) **The First Answer: Reassurance from a Friend** - The friend tries to calm the man by logically explaining that the sky and earth are stable and cannot fall.
- 3 (05:55) **The Second Answer: The Wiser Man's Honesty** - A wiser man points out that the friend's reassurance was a lie, as everything that is put together can also come apart.
- 4 (07:14) **The Tale of Lady Lee: We Are Poor Prophets** - Chen Li introduces a second story from Zhuangzi to challenge the assumption that we know what is good or bad for us.
- 5 (10:24) **The Third Answer: Liesi's Release from Certainty** - Liesi states that it is a mistake to say the sky will fall and a mistake to say it won't, because no one can know.
- 6 (12:07) **Trust in the Process: The Boat and the Bridge** - Chen Li offers a Chinese proverb that embodies a practical kind of trust: "When the boat reaches the bridge, it will straighten of its own accord."
- 7 (13:29) **Water as a Teacher: Solving Problems as They Arise** - Lao Tzu praised water for traveling without knowing the country ahead, meeting each obstacle as it appears.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
When we dread the future, we assume that the sky might fall, and we also assume that we know what would be good for us and what would be bad.
More resources:
- Free resources, books and more on https://wordsoftaoism.com/
- My Substack Blog: https://taoismteachings.substack.com/
- Music I use, as a playlist: https://tinyurl.com/spotifyzenplaylist
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