Tao Te Ching – Chapter Fifty-Seven
Written by Lao-tzu – From a translation by S. Mitchell
If you want to be a great leader,
you must learn to follow the Tao.
Stop trying to control.
Let go of fixed plans and concepts,
and the world will govern itself.
The more prohibitions you have,
the less virtuous people will be.
The more weapons you have,
the less secure people will be.
The more subsidies you have,
the less self-reliant people will be.
Therefore the Master says:
I let go of the law,
and people become honest.
I let go of economics,
and people become prosperous.
I let go of religion,
and people become serene.
I let go of all desire for the common good,
and the good becomes common as grass.
How I Read This Chapter
Let go of control,
and things begin to unfold.
The Tao leads gently,
without force.
It doesn’t cling to blueprints,
rules, or pressure.
The more we impose,
the more things break.
The more we release,
the more things balance.
When I stop trying to fix the world,
I discover it’s not broken.
When I stop trying to fix people,
they find their own way.
This is not passivity,
this is deep trust.
Trust in the Way.
Trust in life.
Trust in the wisdom within us all.
What This Means To Me
This chapter really holds a mirror up to the way I used to live – and the way I still catch myself drifting into if I’m not careful.
Before recovery, I was addicted to control – mentally, emotionally, even spiritually. I thought if I could just manage every variable, I’d be okay. If I could just control what people thought of me, what they did, how they reacted – then I’d feel safe. I had rigid ideas about success, worth, morality, and especially myself. I didn’t know I was afraid underneath it all, but I was – terrified, really. So I created mental maps and tried to force life to match them.
“Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself.” I used to scoff at that idea. Let go? No way. If I let go, everything would fall apart. But the truth is, the more I held on, the more things did fall apart. Especially me.
When I came into recovery, I slowly started learning to surrender. First with alcohol – I let go of trying to manage it. Then with life – I let go of needing to have the answers. I began to follow the Steps, trust my sponsor, and lean into a Power greater than myself. I let go of controlling outcomes, and what I found was stunning: life began to work without my interference.
And I began to realise – control had never been safety. It was just fear in disguise.
“The more prohibitions you have, the less virtuous people will be.” That reminds me of how I used to treat myself internally. I’d set impossible standards, make grand resolutions, punish myself for falling short. But the stricter I was, the more I rebelled. The more I tried to control my behaviour, the more chaotic it became. But when I softened – when I learned to pause, to accept, to breathe – I found I could live more honestly, more kindly, more freely.
“I let go of the law, and people become honest… I let go of all desire for the common good, and the good becomes common as grass.”
That part makes me smile. Because it’s true in ways I never expected. The more I try to “fix” people, the more resistance I meet. But when I let people be who they are – when I listen, love, and lead by example – things shift naturally. Not because I forced it, but because I made space for it.
And that last line – “the good becomes common as grass” – feels like the promise of recovery itself. When I stop pushing for goodness, and simply live in alignment with the Tao, the Steps, and the present moment, goodness doesn’t need to be chased. It shows up. In ordinary places. In quiet moments. In the spaces where control once stood.
Today, I trust more. I grip less. And in that loosening, I find peace – not just for me,
but for the people around me too.
