Ancient Wisdom Atlas

Motif

futile striving against one’s own shadow

futile_striving_against_one_s_own_shadow

A motif of the Duality and Cosmic Opposition family, within the sub-family The divided soul and self-conflict. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.

1 occurrences

1 traditions


daoist

  • Chuang Tzu: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer THE OLD FISHERMAN. / CHAPTER XXXII. / CHAPTER XXXIII. / THE EMPIRE.; lines 14461-14654 confidence: medium

    Hui Tzŭ investigates all creation but does not conclude in Tao; he makes noise to drown an echo and is like a man running a race with his own shadow.

    Hui Tzŭ’s failure to conclude in Tao is compared to making noise to drown an echo and running a race with his own shadow.

    read in the book