The Way of Heaven Is Like the Bending of a Bow
Chapter 77 accuses ordinary human institutions of running exactly backward from natural law, taking from those with too little to give to those who already have too much.
Laozi describes stringing a bow: the part too high gets pulled down, the part too low gets pulled up, a string too long is shortened, one too short is lengthened — heaven's way, he says, works the same way on the world at large, taking from what has excess to make up for what is deficient. He then draws a pointed contrast: the way of man is not so, it takes from those who don't have enough to give to those who already have too much, a rare moment where the Tao Te Ching names a structural social injustice directly rather than only recommending personal restraint. The chapter asks who is capable of taking their own surplus and giving it to the world, and answers: only the one who has the Tao — ordinary human institutions, left to themselves, tend to redistribute upward rather than down. It closes echoing the sage described elsewhere in the text: one who acts without holding on to the result, and has no desire to display his own worth.
Heaven's way takes from what has excess and gives to what lacks.
Tao Te Ching