ThePower of Selflessness "Heaven is eternal, the Earth everlasting. They can be eternal and everlasting because they do not exist for themselves. For that reason they can exist eternally."

"Therefore, enlightened people put themselves last, and yet they are first. Put themselves outside and yet they remain."

"Is it not that they are without self-interest that their interests succeed?"

The path followed by Taoists seems contrary to common sense and ordinary expectation. Enlightened people know that the cyclic action of the Tao will ultimately bring into the foreground that that is currently in the background.

This natural change occurs without force or resistance and therefore endures. Thus, careful positioning is the strategy of enlightened people. By putting themselves last and outside, they are employing subtlety and tactical inertness to compel the social environment to counterbalance and bring them forward naturally.

Although it is true that in acting without self-interest one's interests are fu lfilled, people who put their interests last discover that their desires are transformed. As their awareness expands they develop priorities that are aligned intelligently with both the current situation and with larger influences in the world.

For this reason, as their aims are fulfilled, their environment evolves. (7)