A misted mirror—
Not to reflect, but to dissolve into.
There are days I imagine being a character from a novel, someone written with enough space between the words to let the wind pass through. Not someone heroic. Not someone tragic. Just someone real in a way most people forget to be.
And if I had to choose, I wouldn’t reach for fiction.
I’d choose the narrator of the Tao Te Ching.
The man who says nothing, but says everything.
The one who walks away from the crowd, not in bitterness but in quiet understanding.
He is not a character in the way novels usually need them to be.
He has no arc.
No rising tension.
No grand lesson that fits neatly in a Hollywood ending.
But he sees the world.
And somehow, it’s enough.
To Be the Stream, Not the Stone
When I first read the Tao, I didn’t understand it.
I was too busy defining myself—ambitious, intense, full of fire.
I needed to be someone.
But the Tao doesn’t care about names.
It says: “He who defines himself can’t know who he really is.”
And that hit me like a whisper in a crowded room.
There is no reward for being loud in the silence.
There is no prize for outrunning your own shadow.
There is just the way.
And the way cannot be forced.
Wabi-Sabi and the Tao
The Tao does not promise success.
It does not encourage hustle.
It doesn’t ask you to be anything more than you already are.
And that is what makes it radical.
You are allowed to just be.
You are the chipped bowl that still holds water.
The crooked pine on the mountain slope.
The tea that tastes better on the third sip.
Wabi-sabi says: Imperfection is not a flaw.
The Tao says: Stop clinging, and everything will fall into place.
Together, they offer an answer to a question most people never ask:
What if becoming more meant doing less?
Lessons from a Character Without a Name
- Let the river choose the path. You only need to float.
- A full cup cannot receive. Stay empty. Stay open.
- Don’t try to be extraordinary. Be like water—soft, slow, and undefeated.
- Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know. So breathe. Listen. Watch.
- You don’t need to change the world. Just stop trying to own it.
If I could be anyone, I’d be the unnamed wanderer from the Tao Te Ching.
Not a sage. Not a master. Just someone who stopped asking where the path leads, and simply walked.
Not to become something.
But to return to what I never left.
If you’ve ever read a line that made you stop and exhale, share this.
Maybe the Way is closer than you think.
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