Humanity Models Itself on Earth, Earth on Heaven

answered by Laozi, "Dao De Jing", Ch. 25

기원전 6~4세기

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Princess Mononoke (1997)

dir. Hayao Miyazaki · Japan

A human settlement clearing a forest and the gods and beasts defending it stand on the brink of mutual destruction. A young man comes to realize that a total victory for either side is no answer at all.

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

When civilization tries to bind nature, what must we protect?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

人法地，地法天，天法道，道法自然。

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

Humanity models itself on earth, earth models itself on heaven, heaven models itself on the Way, and the Way models itself on what is naturally so.

💡 TL;DR

Laozi said that humanity models itself on earth, earth on heaven, and heaven on what is naturally so.

📝The Classic Answers

Laozi said that humanity models itself on earth, earth on heaven, and heaven on what is naturally so. When human hands cut down a forest for convenience, that very act reverses this order. The moment we try to tame what is naturally so, both nature and humanity grow wild together. The path for forest spirits and people to coexist without destroying one another does not lie in either side winning completely. Whenever I want to reshape nature for convenience, I ask whether I am, in this moment, reversing the order of what is naturally so.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If a moment today tempts you to bend nature to convenience, pause and ask what its own natural way might be.

📖 Classic Source: Laozi, "Dao De Jing", Ch. 25. 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.