溫故知新 Old wisdom, today’s insight — ONGO
Know the Masculine, Keep to the Feminine, and Become the Ravine of the World
To step outside the role tradition assigned and follow one's own talent — is that unfilial, or true filial devotion?
Know the masculine, yet keep to the feminine, and you become the ravine into which the whole world flows.
Laozi said that one who knows strength yet keeps to gentleness becomes the ravine into which the whole world flows.
📝The Classic Answers
Laozi said that one who knows strength yet keeps to gentleness becomes the ravine into which the whole world flows. A woman who disguises herself as a man and goes to war in her father's place appears to step outside the place assigned to women. But rather than choosing strength or gentleness alone, she holds both, and so reaches a place no one else could reach. A talent that a single fixed role could never contain is finally revealed in full only once it steps beyond that frame. Whenever someone steps outside an assigned role, I first consider what it is trying to reveal in full.
🌱Apply It Today
If someone tries to step outside an assigned role today, consider what it is they are trying to reveal in full.
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.
