“All Souls' Day” is the day in Orthodoxy, when with the memories of the deceased, we humbly rethink life. As a striking coincidence in the context, a text by Lao Tzu appeared before my eyes just today.
The literal translation in some directions has a very direct relation to “All Souls' Day” (probably comes from “For the soul”). And here is the place to point out that only the Bulgarian people count people on earth (God's creatures) as souls. (“Five souls, ten souls”).
The mentioned text by Lao Tzu related to the day: “The partial becomes complete; the crooked, straight; the empty, full; the worn, new. He whose (desires) are few, obtains them; he whose (desires) are many, is deluded. Therefore the wise man holds in his arms the one thing (humility) and shows it to the whole world.
He is free from self-expression and therefore he shines; from self-assertion and therefore he is distinguished; from boasting and therefore his merit is acknowledged; from self-satisfaction and therefore he acquires superiority.
Because he is free from striving, no one in the world can contend with him. This saying of the ancients that “the partial becomes the complete” is not spoken in vain: – by it is meant all true completeness.” (Twenty-two. “Growth of Humility”. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu).
And from me: It seems to me that in a civilizational context we are imperceptibly rotting in complex expectations, forgetting simple reality. Let us remember that today we pay tribute to those who died in wars. It is time for a mandatory subject in school “How to live in our society”.
May 30, 2026, Nikolay Krushkov