Heaven is eternal, earth is lasting. The reason why heaven and earth are eternal and lasting is because they do not live for themselves; that is the reason they will ever endure.
Therefore the wise man will keep his personality out of sight and because of so doing he will become notable. He subordinates his personality and therefore it is preserved. Is it not because he is disinterested, that his own interests are conserved?
Interpretation:
Imagine a group of children playing with a ball. They can play lots of different games and, as long as they are willing to share, they can all play peacefully. Now imagine that one child feels slighted for some reason. He does not feel that he is getting his fair turn. He announces that the ball is his, he takes it from the others. If you want to play, he declares, you must play by his rules so that he can be assured his fare share. Soon fights will break out, others will try to take the ball or refuse to play with him. This Chapter makes the observation that the jealous, self-serving child will likely find less success than the child that shares readily.
The same is true for all people, the gifts, knowledge, power, (the ball) that we each own, we can claim for ourselves, but how often does this self service cause us more pain and grief, and bring us less reward than if we forget ourselves and live, work, share (play) as if we had no sense of ownership?
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