act without doing

It's so funny. I put on a DVD, Mostly Martha (which had been sitting for a week waiting to be watched), and not long after it started he came home from a special Sunday duathlon he volunteered for. I asked him to come watch a movie with me, and he said "No, you go ahead, you're already into it." I said, "It just started....". He didn't say anything and immediately did some things before settling down in front of the computer and into the chatrooms.

Halfway through the movie I stopped and watched him behind his back as he came to life typing responses to 'friends' he may never meet in person. I immediately stopped the movie, got up, and started packing my things - books, cds, my teddy bears... I went into the bedroom and packed the books on my nightstand, and I happened to open the Tao Te Ching, and right where I had left the bookmark:

Act without doing;
work without effort.
Think of the small as large
and the few as many.
Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts.

The Master never reaches for the great;
thus she achieves greatness.
When she runs into a difficulty,
she stops and gives herself to it.
She doesn't cling to her own comfort;
thus problems are no problem for her.