Great Love Always Exacts a Great Cost

answered by Laozi, "Dao De Jing", Ch. 44

기원전 6~4세기

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Casablanca (1942)

dir. Michael Curtiz · USA

Reunited amid the chaos of war, two people face a moment of choice between their love and a greater cause. Holding onto love does not necessarily set both of them free.

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Between holding onto love and releasing it for a greater cause, where does true freedom lie?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

甚愛必大費，多藏必厚亡。知足不辱，知止不殆，可以長久。

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

Great love always exacts a great cost; great hoarding always ends in great loss. To know contentment is to avoid disgrace; to know when to stop is to avoid danger — and so one may endure.

💡 TL;DR

Laozi said that the more fiercely one loves, the greater the cost it exacts.

📝The Classic Answers

Laozi said that the more fiercely one loves, the greater the cost it exacts. The stronger the grip, the greater the loss when it comes. Wanting to keep someone we love close is natural, but sometimes releasing them is the greater love. Choosing, in the fog of an airfield, to let love go rather than seize it is not defeat but the freedom of one who already understands the cost that seizing brings. Whenever I feel the urge to hold on, I first ask what that holding will, in the end, cause me to lose.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If there is something today you strongly want to hold onto, ask whether letting it go might actually serve it better.

📖 Classic Source: Laozi, "Dao De Jing", Ch. 44. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.