To Conquer Oneself Is Strength

answered by Laozi, "Dao De Jing", Ch. 33

기원전 6~4세기

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Little Women (1994)

dir. Gillian Armstrong · USA

In an era when marriage was seen as a woman's only fulfillment, a sister turns down a secure proposal to forge a writer's life on her own. Between her era's expectations and the life she wants to write for herself, she strives not to waver.

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

To step outside the place one's era assigned to women and write a life of one's own — is that selfishness, or courage?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

勝人者有力，自勝者強。

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

To conquer others is power; to conquer oneself is strength.

💡 TL;DR

Laozi said that to conquer others is power, but to conquer oneself is true strength.

📝The Classic Answers

Laozi said that to conquer others is power, but to conquer oneself is true strength. In an age when marriage was seen as the only complete way to live, a woman refuses a secure proposal and chooses instead a life of writing on her own. The opponent she fought was not the man who proposed, but her own fear that she could never be whole without marriage. Harder than defeating the world is defeating the self that has internalized the world's own standard. Whenever I want to give something up, I first distinguish whether the opponent I must face is outside me, or the fear within.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If there is something you want to give up today, distinguish whether the opponent you must face is outside you, or your own fear.

📖 Classic Source: Laozi, "Dao De Jing", Ch. 33. 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.