jawburn_steel | Tao Te Ching

From

Understanding others is knowledge,

We ... do and do not understand others. We see their natures, see their hearts, but only in simple terms.

The complex ways people choose to act, the things they desire ... we do not always understand. But that is as it should be. We do not need to always understand.

Understanding oneself is enlightenment,

*smiles* We understand ourselves and each other very well! Very well indeed.

We know what shaped us, what forged us, and what we became from those shapings. We are who we are. Goddesses, slaves, warriors, women, lovers.

That is all we are, and all we need to be. We are content in ourselves.

Conquering others is power,

We have conquered in the arena, in other battles. But our fallen opponents have conquered in their turn, their blood in our veins, our victories their victories as we run towards heaven together.

And we have been conquered. Time after time after time. Slaves and women, in the games played away from the arena's bloody floor. Since we were children, standing hand in hand before the men who would be our masters, the men who would be our patrons. We have been powerless. But not for long.

Conquering oneself is strength,

Because we decided that whatever claims those men had in the world, over our bodies, over our lives, that in our souls we had no other masters but ourselves. *smiles deeply* And possibly each other.

That, and the strength of our arms, are our only strengths. But they are enough. In all the world, though we live or die or are taken, though we are destroyed, there is none who may master us. We run to heaven's gates, and carry all who fall before us.

Contentment is wealth,

We are the richest in all the world ...

Forceful conduct is willfulness,

And the most willful. *grins*

Not losing one's rightful place is to endure,

We will endure as long as we have each other, for our rightful place is side by side ...

To die but not be forgotten is longevity,

And together we will live forever!