Mr. Ackerman, if you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.
The Masters power is like this.
He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.
He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.
He is never disappointed;
thus his spirit never grows old.
Try as you might, you’ll never predict the future. Trying to control the outcome of certain events only leads to frustration and stress.
The Universe provides no guarantees. If you think and scheme too much to achieve whatever it is you are chasing down, you will fall apart faster than if you simply follow your natural way.
This is called “non-Tao”. Obviously, it is in dis-harmony with the Way things are, like swimming upstream. You will soon get tired and lose the battle.
In The Rookie, veteran cop Nick Pulovski, played by Eastwood, takes on an idealistic rookie partner who comes from a wealthy family. When his over protective father attempts to pay off Pulovski to keep his kid out of harm’s way, Pulovski will have none of it.
Pulovski knows the job is inherently dangerous and that is what you sign up for when you get into it. Any extra effort on his part to lessen the risks will likely have the opposite effect.
Though The Rookie was not a great critical or box office success, Eastwood finds some wisdom in the result. He was quoted as saying, “Sometimes these things work; sometimes they don’t.”
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