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All streams flow to the sea
because it is lower than they are.
Humility gives it its power.
If you want to govern the people,
you must place yourself below them.
If you want to lead the people,
you must learn how to follow them.
The Master is above the people,
and no one feels oppressed.
She goes ahead of the people,
and no one feels manipulated.
The whole world is grateful to her.
Because she competes with no one,
no one can compete with her.
A quote from the “Tao te Ching” by Lao-tzu, translation by Stephen Mitchell.
I think many of our world’s leaders could govern themselves by these principals.
Bodhirose's Blog 
Paulo Guimaraes
/ March 4, 2011That’s the problem, this country is supposed to be for the people, by the people, yet, its the people who get stepped on! These greedy politicians worry about money, power, and status and care not who gets trampled. Very sad, and it happens all over the world.
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Bodhirose
/ March 5, 2011It’s totally screwed up! Time to hit the streets!
Come on…
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musingbymoonlight
/ March 4, 2011Absolutely. This quote is also in R.L. Wing’s “The I Ching Workbook,” translated a bit differently. Shall we send the link to your poem to the leaders of the world.
Wish we could. Not sure it would do much good. Several are pathological.
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Bodhirose
/ March 5, 2011Don’t think it would do any good. Sigh…
These wonderful teachings have been here for so long. It should be mandatory reading and and years of study on these lessons before you can even dream of becoming a leader.
Our criteria for excellence is sadly lacking.
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liv2write2day
/ March 6, 2011This is so wise and, yes, I wish our leaders would reflect a bit on the wisdom of the Tao.
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Bodhirose
/ March 6, 2011What a difference the world would see…
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contemplativemoorings
/ March 7, 2011Boy, it is refreshing to hear something like this…Pop culture produces so much pop wisdom, but this is real wisdom…Quite profound…
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Bodhirose
/ March 7, 2011I prefer to go to the ancient masters for my dose of wisdom. They seem to tell it in a form that really resonates in my soul. The “Tao te Ching” is one of my favorite books.
Thanks for coming by–I’m so happy you liked this, Michael.
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soulbro*
/ March 8, 2011Look and see
The stream of Consciousness
The ocean of life formed*
enjoy my Dearest Bodhirose(+)
soulbro* 😉 xoxoxo—{–@
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Bodhirose
/ March 8, 2011So true…
xoxo 🙂
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trisha
/ March 8, 2011this one is a piece of heaven gayle, you said such priceless things in this poem. it is awesome.
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Bodhirose
/ March 8, 2011I did not write this, Trisha. It is a quote from the “Tao te Ching” by Lao-tzu.
I agree it is priceless–it deeply touches my soul.
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trisha
/ March 10, 2011ok. got it. thanks for sharing. i should say your taste is divine in that case.
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Bodhirose
/ March 10, 2011I knew you would appreciate this quote. Thank you.
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trisha
/ March 13, 2011i love almost all wise ones. my keyboard is malfunctioning, i cant use three keys, one of them is ” q” 😦
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Bodhirose
/ March 13, 2011So sorry to hear of this latest trouble–now with your keyboard. Does it work some of the time though? How did you type that “q”? 🙂
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trisha
/ March 16, 2011well, copy pasted it from your comment- it really is horrible 😦
i had to change my passwords because some had q in them.
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Bodhirose
/ March 18, 2011Oh, how weird and a great inconvenience! So very sorry… 😦
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