Tao te Ching Chapter Seven

Thomas Brill and Brian Parks chatting again.
This week we talked about chapter 7 of the Tao te Ching.

1. Heaven endures; Earth lasts a long time.
2. The reason why Heaven and Earth can endure and last a long time—
3. Is that they do not live for themselves.
4. Therefore they can long endure.

5. Therefore the Sage:
6. Puts himself in the background yet finds himself in the foreground;
7. Puts self-concern out of [his mind], yet finds self-concern in the fore;
8. Puts self-concern out of [his mind], yet finds that his self-concern is preserved.
9. Is it not because he has no self-interest,
10. That he is therefore able to realize his self-interest?

Here is a link to the audio file for chapter 7 if you are not using iTunes.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/tao4two/TtCCh7.mp3