Agility

This first section hinges on the phrase sheng ren, traditionally translated as “the sage”. But Sheng means perceptive, competent and responsive to change, and ren is just people or person, so it makes more sense to render it as agile person, agile people, or just “agility”. Particularly in chapter 1 …

1. The River (xv)

Agility is practical, not mystical.
A way of working together, not a state of enlightenment.

Listening as if crossing thin ice,
Testing as a boat on dark water,
Adapting as a stranger to a far shore,
Connecting as the deep woods,
Simplifying as a melting snowflake,
Leading as a valley does the river,
Sharing as its silt feeds the fields.

Imagine the ice solid or the water clear,
Stop to plan your way ahead,
Ignore what moves underfoot;
You fall and disappear.

2. Embracing Change (xxiii)

Great changes happen fast.
A storm may last a night,
Or a flood a day,
And change the world forever.

As nature’s forms change, so must our own.
Embracing change, we lead it
Like a ship sailing on the tide.
Anchored to forms, or spinning adrift,
The tides overwhelm us.

3. The Force (lxxviii)

Though nothing is so soft and flexible,
Water carves mountains and drowns cities
Which cannot control it.

Glaciers and floods -
People see in these the force of water
And fail to grasp its real power.

Agility channels water to irrigate fields
To multiply grain so people won’t go hungry
And fight over it.

4. Floating Boats (v/viii/vii)

Like water, agility aligns people:
Dissolves differences,
Clears confusion,
Quickens growth,
Opens bottlenecks,
Fills opportunity,
And speeds flow.

As water runs where it’s not blocked,
The agile carve channels of mutual benefit,
Learning by sharing learning,
Letting go old ways to find better ones,
Trusting in those trusting in them.
As a rising tide floats all boats
Agility feeds community.

5. Experimentation (xli/xlviii)

Like children laughing,
Or scientists studying,
The agile experiment.

Laughter comes at the surprise
Of finding new ways to reduce the work
Of adapting to each other.

The less you experiment
The harder the remaining work.
Experimentation makes work easier
By increasing the work not done.

6. Agile Ways (lxvii)

People often talk about agility;
But, often, talk is all there is to it;
Still there are three ways
Agile people think and work differently:
Connection, adaptation, and simplicity.

Connection generates strength,
Adaptation, flexibility,
And simplicity, ease.

For Strength without an open hand,
Flexibility without a coiled spine,
Ease without a quiet heart,
Spell the end of agility.

7. Open Hand (xlix)

Agility connects people like a family
By fostering them.

The agile are fair to the fair,
And the unfair,
Fostering fairness.

They’re trustworthy to the trustworthy,
And the untrustworthy,
Fostering trust.

They’re kind to people within their community,
And without,
Fostering kindness.

No matter what someone says or seems,
They treat each like each other.

8. Coiled Spine (xlv)

As nature adapts without end or intent,
Effort or limit,
Reason or regret,
Agile people adapt their forms
To the flow of forms.

Bending to straighten,
Emptying to fill,
Failing to learn,
Risking to gain,
Leaving to return.

9. Quiet Heart (xxiv/xxii)

Living on the edge;
Blowing with the wind;
Believing your own lies;
A captain in a cage;
Fighting for respect;
Dwelling in the past – These are wasteful, futile habits
The agile silence in themselves.

Agility sees debt, disorder, deceit, disconnection, debate, and dogma
As damage, and routes around them.

10. Watchmen (xxix/xxii) XXX

You can’t control human nature no matter how you try;
People will always find new ways to express it.

Stamp out one evil and another breeds;
Punish one rebel and others conspire;
Some lead where others follow;
Some own what others owe;
Some gain what others lose;
Some make rules others obey.

Agility only makes rules to control motives
To compete, hoard, and exploit,
And even these are only effective
When they apply impartially,
For mutual benefit.

11. Growing The Pie (xxii/xxxiii)

Agile work achieves nothing
That doesn’t make all work easier;
Agile business profits no one
More than it profits everyone.

Where bureaucrats form hierarchies
The agile form communities.
Where philosophers develop knowledge
The agile develop tools.
Where princes control empires
The agile control desires.
Where soldiers defend their homeland
The agile survive their homeland.

The agile care less for growing their slice than growing the pie,
Investing in others and partaking with them.
As nature flourishes where it doesn’t struggle
The agile prosper by not competing.