There is something fundamentally honest and psychologically healthy in being oneself and striding forward with one’s vision facing directly ahead, instead of trying at every turn to satisfy abstract standards of goodness established by a reigning orthodoxy. This is what Te/De (德) is all about – Professor Victor Mair

The De, from Dao De Jing (or Tao Te Ching, Laozi’s philosophy, 6th century BCE) is about the spirit of the Dao manifested within you, where Dao is the cosmos, the earth, all things natural. It is omnipresent and embedded within you, me, those around us, and those far away. It is present in animals, trees, things we see, things we cannot see. Recognizing Dao is recognizing one big network, connecting you to your neighbour and to the granny in Brazil holding a child on her lap. Fung Yu-Lan writes that “Everything has its own Te, or virtue. Everything has its own proper nature. Everything is happy, if it is allowed to be in accordance with its own nature.” That’s a nice thought, isn’t it? Happiness is closer within reach than we think.

Very (very, very) simply put, De is you as part of Dao.

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