Sayings about rulers (you hardly know they are there) ~ Lao Tzu

 

The best rulers are scarcely known by their subjects;

The next best are loved and praised;

The next are feared;

The next despised:

They have no faith in their people,

And their people become unfaithful to them.

When the best rulers achieve their purpose

Their subjects claim the achievement as their own.

~ Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching)

Was Lao Tzu talking about the Logos here before his incarnation? Christ stands next to us and guides us and at the finish, we feel we did it all by ourselves. What a thought! Christ gives us the freedom to choose and never by force, pushing or coercing us. He is next to us guiding goodness in us via the Holy Spirit.

The second best rulers are those we love and praise.

The third best are those we fear.

In Lao Tzu's time there was no incarnation nor had the Holy Spirit been given to the World by the Son proceeding from the Father. However, we feel there is a discernment here by the sage that the best rulers are scarcely known. It is hard to understand this by our logic and how we measure a good ruler.

Our Ruler God, leaves us with free-will and guides us with road signs that we must choose ourselves. We choose virtue or vice and we choose to attach to the thoughts we receive. We bind with the thoughts that we choose and can reject thoughts we do not want. If it were any other way, we would not be free. This is the Ruler of the Universe who Lao Tzu seemed to call the Tao. God works in such subtle ways that the atheist can say He does not exist. The Saint has experienced God through the works of a still heart and knows He exists by experience. And the rest of us wait on this experience. May it be blessed. Lord have Mercy!

And is it that our Best Ruler is scarcely known?