Rory B. Mackay's Blog, page 4

Tao Te Ching 49: Living in harmony with others

I received some requests to continue myTao Te Ching series, so here goes :) I also intend to blog a little more often and get back into the swing of things now that work on my second novel is finally nearing completion!

Living in harmony (image: Stockvault)

- 49 -

The Sage has no fixed mind;

she understands the mind of the people.

She treats those who are good with goodness.

She also treats those who are bad with goodness

because goodness is the nature of her being.

~

She is kind to the kind.

She is al...

Karma Demystified

Life is nothing but the unending dance of karma. Karma is the engine that drives phenomenal existence; an unfathomably immense, interwoven chain of causes and effects that stretches all the way back to the origin of the universe.

Karma isan interesting topic, albeit one that’s frequently misinterpreted and misunderstood. Karma is a term that originates in the oldest of the ancient Indian Vedas, and which has gone on to greatly influence other traditions (including Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism, et...

Guest Post: Karma, East and West Perspectives

I’m grateful to Janet Adams for contributing the following post on the topicof karma. I’ll be adding my own thoughts in my next post, in which I hope to demystify this familiar but widely misunderstood concept.

Karma is the chain of cause and effect (Image: Stockvault)

Karma: East and West Perspectives

by Janet Adams

Most people have some familiarity with the Vedic concept of karma. Many exotic concepts entered the consciousness of Westerners during the Romantic period of the 1800′s. The counter...

Making words happen

My puppy has decided he’s a better writer than me.

It’s been a while. I’m sorry for such heinous blog neglect. Here’s a little update.

I’ve been working hard on my next novel, which is an extensive rewrite of a book I first draftedsome years ago, calledThe Key of Alanar. I’ve already shareda little bit about this particular journey here. It’s a story that’s been with me since I was only about sixteen, and one that’s very close to my heart. I consider the version I wrote before to be a kind of s...

Why Life Isn’t the Problem (…we are!)

We are the problem. We are the solution. (Image: Stockvault)

The problem really isn’t life. The problem is our attitude to life. Life is simply what it is and it does what it does. It’s value neutral; a machine that just churns out experiences and events based upon an unfathomably complex chain of cause and effect dating all the way back to the origins of the universe and space/time.

There’s nothing personal about what happens.

The problem comes whenwe expect life to match up to our likes and di...

An Internal Civil War (advice for dealing with emotional stress)

Stop taking those thoughts and feelings so seriously… (Image: Stockvault)

One of the best bits of advice I was ever given was this:

When you’re feeling low emotionally, don’t take your thoughts too seriously.

When our state of consciousness has dipped, our thinking is not clear; it becomes cloudy and distorted. We then tend to see the world as an unequivocally terrible place and we focus on the very worst in ourselves and in others. Whereas, when we feel lighter, freer and happier emotionally,...

Rory’s Writing – Four Questions, Four Answers! – Blog Tour

Howdy!First of all, I know things have become pretty quiet and sporadic on the blog front, for which I apologise. There are a number of reasons for this, but I will try and contribute more often to the blog, even if it’s just in the form of ‘baby blog’ entries. I also intend to get caught up with everyone else’s blogs as soon as I can.

Without further ado — I’m very grateful to Rohan Healy for awakening me from my blog slumber by tagging me for the Blog Tour! Rohan is a multi-talented guy, mus...

Tao Te Ching 48: Daily Diminishing

- 48 -

One who seeks knowledge

learns something new each day.

One who seeks the Tao

unlearns something new each day.

The practice of the Tao consists of daily diminishing;

less and less do you need to force things,

until finally you arrive at non-action.

When nothing is done,

nothing is left undone.

~

True mastery is achieved

by letting things take their natural course.

Commentary

Often people talk about the things they’ve learned or acquired in life, whether it’s information, knowledge, objects or experie...

Tao Te Ching 47: The farther you go, the less you know

- 47 -

Without opening your door,

you can know the whole world.

Without looking out your window,

you can see the way of heaven.

~

The further you go,

the less you know.

The more knowledge you seek,

the less you understand.

~

The Sage understands without leaving,

sees clearly without looking,

accomplishes much without doing anything.

~

Commentary

The further you travel, the more you strive and the more knowledge you try to accumulate, the further you actually distance yourself from realising the Tao. For Lao...

Tao Te Ching 46: Contentment

- 46 -

When a country is in harmony with the Tao

running horses are retired to till the fields.

When a country runs counter to the Tao

warhorses are bred outside the cities.

~

There is no greater calamity than

not knowing what is enough,

no greater curse than covetousness,

no greater tragedy than discontentment;

and the worst of all faults is wanting more – always.

~

Contentment alone is enough.

Indeed, the bliss of eternity

can be found in your contentment.

~

Commentary

War is counter to the nature of the Ta...