Laozi's favour rests with the left – live in peace, reject violence. Sometimes violence may be necessary. He qualifies his words by saying ‘in times of peace,’ this is the way to see things. If violence is necessary, be expedient. Don’t glory in it.

For this verse, Laozi is continuing a theme he started in the last one. Action, here force, will get you nowhere. Taking is a path to failure.

In this verse, Laozi is suggesting that rulers should let things be and refrain from leaning in on the side of any extreme. Sometimes the best course of action is to do nothing. Don't strive to be anything other than what you are.

Innocence is a place we have been before as a baby or a child. But just as Dao ebbs and flows, and has no end, so we too can return to that innocent state.

Those who are good – or good at something, should teach those who are less good. Those less good, serve as object lessons to those teaching them. Each is learning from the other. Knowledge is a scale, and teaching is a process, a chain. And that process goes both ways.

Here Laozi is warning against being bogged down by possessions or being too ambitious or perhaps even fighting on too many fronts. A modest existence mentally and physically is easier to control. Be satisfied with your lot. Seek nothing else, simply for the sake of seeking.

Dao is prime. It is female in the sense of producing, giving birth, creating, ever fertile. It is constantly moving, affecting everything in the universe, flowing and returning like waves in the ocean. Then come Heaven and Earth in that order, and both following the ways of Dao. Finally, mankind. Great, and yet definitely at the whim of Dao, Heaven and Earth.

Laozi's lesson is – grandstanding, seeking fame and fortune, being an influencer comes to nothing in the end.

Learn to accept the way things are – save your breath. And be content with your own personal choices. They may be right, they may be wrong. But once made, they are the only choice.

What is being said here is ‘bend yourself backwards and follow the crowd, do not resist, and you will remain intact’. Essentially… if you remain rigid and unyielding in life, then you will most likely face conflict and even be broken.