CRP7- 82 Let the world be, don't interfere or get het up, don't be ambitious for fame or glory, stay simple and quietly calm

I have heard of leaving the world open to its own way and not interfering.

We let the world be, fearful of spoiling its innate nature.

Are people too cheerful? If so they harm the yang. It makes them restless, moving here, moving there, plotting to no purpose, travelling for no good reason or result. The consequence of this is that the world becomes concerned with mighty goals and plots, ambitions and hatred.

This is one of the fundamental maxims of Chuang. Don't interfere with the way of existence, even if you feel bad about certain aspects eg. Russian invasion of Ukraine. Let things take their own direction. Don't get involved. All things have a start point and all things end.

Often our good intentions make matters worse, not better, and as there's no way of predicting the future, or the effects of our own intervention, it is better, wiser, and simpler, to stay nonattached from such things.

We all think fun and cheerfulness are good but here he is challenging that notion. He says, and I think it is backed up by modern evidence, that over-excitement causes restlessness, the desire for more fun, more excitement, more enjoyment, and so people go overboard and become imbalanced from always seeking more exciting experiences.

The drive for bigger and better and more excitement leads to goals, plans, and ambitions and disappointment with ones that fail, or where others argue with us over direction, leads to schisms and negative prejudices against people or things.

So it's better to just have a simple, plain, unambitious life, and try not to get out of step with nature's innate flow.