You do not control what thoughts appear in your mind. They simply appear, and you react to them.

You do not control what desires appears in your heart. They simply appear, and you react to them.

You do not control what will happen to you next. The world is outside of your control.

You do not even control your own bodily movements. Pay attention. When you move your hand, is it conscious movement, or does it simply happen?

The mind is like an inner narrator. Things happen to "you", and the inner narrator reacts to it, stitches it together into a coherent story. "I did that". "I am choosing to act this way". "I will do this and that". This coherent story feels so solid, so coherent that it gives rise to a coherent sense of "self". But the self is only a story, built of memories of things that have already happened.

This knowledge should be of great relief to the people who fear to be judged to hell for their desires, actions and thoughts. No one have any responsibility for what appears in their life. No matter the severity, no blame can be placed. Everyone is innocent in the eyes of God. Even such as Trump, Netanyahu and Putin.

Hearing this, you may begin to fear that people who are told this will "give in to their desires and act chaotically and destructively". That fear is irrational, because it assumes an "I" that can elect what appears in the mind and as desire. Such fear invalidates everything I have said before in this post, and shows disbelief. "You don't control what appears in your mind" equally means, you do not control the compassion, the kindness, the tempering of destructive impulses that appear as it means you do not control what destructive and dark impulses appear.

The universe is always in balance. Yin may appear stronger in the moment, but it is balanced out by the strengthening of yang later.

What this knowledge may do, is lead to a softening towards oneself. Self-compassion. Self-forgiveness. Self-love. The therapeutic potential of this is real. Many people are imprisoned by shame over thoughts and impulses they didn't choose to have.

The interesting part is, once someone begins loving themselves and being compassionate towards themselves, these qualities are manifested in their surroundings also. You become more loving towards others. More compassionate and forgiving. Because if you cannot judge yourself, despite your many many flaws, what flaws can you judge in another?

I just moved my hand. I did not chose to move it. It happened. Only afterwards, did I become aware of the movement and attributed it to my "self".

If someone reading this begins treating themselves and others more kindly: Did they choose to change, or did reading my words simply trigger an inevitable process?

It seems that no matter what: Reading my words would be the catalyst for such change. The illusion of choice appears only after, and then only as a continuation of the "story of self". Does someone get radicalized by choice? Do they simply wake up one day and say "I am going to become a racist today".

And if they DO that, what catalyst triggered that choice?

There is always a catalyst preceding choice. This makes it "Not choice" but "illusion of choice" - which contributes to the construction of the "story of self".

What I desire, is to imbue my words with power. Such power, that something shifts in the reader - in you. I want to be a catalyst for change in the world, because the world needs to change. And even that desire, is not "mine". I should therefore trust that my words ARE imbued with such power.

It seems to me that this is what Wu Wei actually is. Not inaction, but action without effort - without mental strain.

You do not control what will happen to you next. The world is outside of your control. You did not choose to read these words, but the world happened to you and you recontextualized it as "your" choice.

Whatever choices you make after reading this, is a result of this. Even if they are only in minor and un-noticeable ways. As the body becomes what it eats, the mind becomes what it consumes.