The Power at the Beginning"What is at rest is easy to hold. What is not yet begun is easy to plan. What is thin is easy to melt. What is minute is easy to disperse. Deal with many things before they emerge. Put them in order before there is disorder."

"A tree of many arm-spans grows from a single sprout. A tower of nine stories is raised from a pile of earth. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Those who act on things spoil them. Those who seize things lose them. Therefore, enlightened people do nothing, hence they spoil nothing. They seize nothing therefore they lose nothing."

People often spoil their work at it's point of completion. With care at the end as well as the beginning, no work will ever be spoiled."

"Thus enlightened people desire to be desireless and do not treasure goods that are hard to get. They learn without learning by returning to the place where the collective mind passes. In this way they assist all things naturally without venturing to act."

This passage e xplores the possibilities for the control that a person might gain in worldly events through the use of strategic non-interference. Every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. Strong force applied in any direction has the effect of engendering an equal force back towards the original force.

Enlightened people guide events by developing a sense of where and how events originate. Thus they can act on the event when it is in its most unentrenched and least reactive state. At the same time they can position themselves to guide the situation through to completion.

The instinct that signals the origin of events can be cultivated by minimising one's desires and avoiding the crippling effects of dogmatic thinking. (64)