Tao Te Ching

Has anyone read the Tao Te Ching? It's a short, simple book, and the central text of the Taoist philosophy. It's theme is "Nature and Intelligence". Nature is like the god of Tao, the be-all and end-all. Intelligence is the human mind (and any consciousness) perceiving nature, but it is also part of nature itself.

The book expresses the idea that nature (or the universe) works extremely well already, without any need for human interference to guide it. The idea is that human intelligence can influence nature, but it must be in accord with nature's grand plan if our influence is to be successful. If we try to influence nature against its own design, it causes problems. So we must let everything go according to its nature, and try to help it along the way to realising its potential, as oppose to trying to change it into something else altogether.

The elements are the basic materials that comprise the universe and we must work with them, letting each do its own thing. We can guide them and manipulate them by learning about what each one does, and using it accordingly. But if we try to fight fire with fire, or drink a rock, it will not work, no matter how much we try to force it to happen.