To be preserved to the end

It is no small wonder that the Word of God has been found hidden in the thoughts and traditions of many peoples, since it is He who created all and is the life of all. He is the Light that enlightens every man who comes into the world, and though He revealed Himself fully only to Israel and through Israel, in our Lord Jesus Christ, He is, as Patriarch Bartholomaios writes, ‘asleep in the night of the different religions’ and He will awaken in them, to save them also from the perilous darkness. The Chinese classic, 道德經 Dao De Jing, The Book of Tao, or The Way and Its Virtue, is particularly filled with wisdom such as this…

Bowed down, then preserved;
bent, then straight;
hollow, then full;
worn, then new;
a little, then benefited;
a lot, then perplexed.

Therefore the sage embraces the One
and is a model for the Empire.
He does not show himself,
and so is conspicuous;
he does not consider himself right,
and so is illustrious;
he does not brag,
and so has merit;
he does not boast,
and so endures.

It is because he does not contend
that no one in the Empire
is in a position to contend with him.

The way the Ancients had it,
‘Bowed down, then preserved’,
is no empty saying.
Truly it enables one
to be preserved to the end.

— 道德經, Book 1, XXII