老子认为“道”乃万物之源，而“善”与“道”有着千丝万缕的联系，具有神秘
主义色彩。本文试图回答如以下问题：人们如何过上与“善”相随的生活？为什么大多数人
没有过上这样的生活？哲学如何帮助人们成为最好的自己？在本文中，“道”“自然”“圣
人”“水”等概念都与“善”密切相关。“道”作为一切美好事物的源泉；“自然”作为规
律，当我们的行为遵循自然规律时，就能感知“道”的方式；“圣人”作为理想之人；“水”
则是老子对最高善的形象比喻。
The purpose of this paper is to show how, according to Laozi (the author) and based on the Laozi (the book), everyone has the ability to achieve an acceptable degree of goodness. Laozi lays out his understanding of goodness as a mystical ideal, which, for Laozi, this makes sense due to the close link he sees between goodness and Dao. Thus, the scope this paper covers is the population of the world, as it deals with mankind’s potential for goodness. This study has not been designed to investigate the meaning of Laozi’s concept of goodness. Instead, the focus is on the fact that, according to Laozi, we have come into existence because of Dao and have been given of Dao the means to know what decisions are naturally called for or good; According to Laozi’s natural understanding of the world. Consequently, this paper seeks to answer questions such as: How is it that all can lead a life in line with goodness? Why is it that so many do not lead such a life? How does philosophy allow or help us to become our best self? The model was selected from particular chapters of Laozi teaching on the concept of goodness which, in Laozi, is equally represented in the behavior or manner of acting of Dao, Naturalness, the Sage and ‘‘water.’’ Dao as the fountain of all that is good; Naturalness as the law by which when acting spontaneously, innately, we know of Dao’s ways; The Sage as the example of the ideal man; ‘‘water’’ as the metaphor Laozi uses to speak of ‘‘the highest good’’
