Good evening and thank you for joining me for another boring books for bedtime.

I hope tonight selection provides all the boredom your busy brain needs to quiet down and let you

get some sleep.

So find a comfortable spot, adjust your volume, take a nice deep breath in, let it out slowly, and off we go.

This evening we're continuing our reading of the Dow Day-Ding

or the Dow and its characteristics by Lausseu, translated by James Legge.

Let's continue where we left off, Part 2.

Those who possessed in highest degree the attributes of the Tao did not seek to show them and

therefore they possessed them in fullest measure. Those who possessed in a lower degree those attributes sought how not to lose them,

and therefore they did not purpose them in fullest measure.

Those who possessed in the highest degree those attributes

did nothing with a purpose and had no need to do anything. Those who possessed them in a lower degree were

always doing and had need to be so doing.

Those who possess the highest benevolence

were always seeking to carry it out

and had no need to be doing so.

Those who possessed the highest righteousness

were always seeking to carry it out

and had need to be so doing.

Those who possess the highest sense of propriety were always seeking to show it, And when men did not respond to it, they bared the arm and marched up to them.

Thus it was that when the Tao was lost, its attributes appeared.

When its attributes were lost, benevolence appeared. When benevolence was lost, righteousness appeared, and when righteousness was lost, the

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