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July 25 - August 8, 2020
“Tao is both named and nameless.” This sounds paradoxical to our Western intellect—and it is!
The point here is to recognize the difference in your body between trying and allowing, and to then become aware of the effortless sensation of the latter.
First and foremost, enjoy the mystery! Let the world unfold without always attempting to figure it all out. Let relationships just be, for example, since everything is going to stretch out in Divine order. Don’t try so hard to make something work—simply allow.
Become an astute observer . . . judge less and listen more.
Practice letting go of always naming and labeling.
the same way that water is not the word water—any more than it is agua, Wasser, or H2O—nothing in this universe is what it’s named. In spite of our endless categorizations, each animal, flower, mineral, and human can never truly be described. In the same way, the Tao tells us that “the name that can be named is not the eternal name.” We must bask in the magnificence of what is seen and sensed, instead of always memorizing and categorizing.
Permit the paradox of wanting the irritant to vanish and allowing it to be what it is. Look inward for it in your thoughts and allow yourself to feel it wherever it is and however it moves in your body.
Has it ever occurred to you that beauty depends on something being identified as ugly? Therefore, the idea of beauty produces the idea of ugliness, and vice versa.
think of how many concepts in this “duality belief system” depend on opposites: A person isn’t tall unless there’s a belief system that includes short. Our idea of life couldn’t exist without that of death. Day is the opposite of night. Male is the antithesis of female.
Effort is one piece of the whole; another piece is non-effort. Fuse these dichotomies, and the result is effortless action without attachment to outcome.
Do the Tao today by noticing an opportunity to defend or explain yourself and choosing not to.
3rd Verse Putting a value on status will create contentiousness. If you overvalue possessions, people begin to steal. By not displaying what is desirable, you will cause the people’s hearts to remain undisturbed. The sage governs by emptying minds and hearts, by weakening ambitions and strengthening bones. Practice not doing. . . . When action is pure and selfless, everything settles into its own perfect place.
This 3rd verse of the Tao Te Ching advises rearranging priorities to ensure contentment.
We must replace personal desires with the Tao-centered question: How may I serve? By simply changing these kinds of thoughts, we will begin to see major changes taking place in our lives.
Remind yourself daily that there is no way to happiness; rather, happiness is the way.
Desires can produce anxiety, stress, and competitiveness, and you need to recognize those that do. Bring happiness to every encounter in life, instead of expecting external events to produce joy.
“When action is pure and selfless, everything settles into its own perfect place.” Now that’s my definition of contentment!
cultivating an awareness of the infinite aspect of yourself is the way to tap into the limitless Source of creative energy that flows through you.
Everything I need now is here. Prosperity thoughts are energetic instructions to access your infinite self, so actions will follow them.
Wisdom is knowing I am nothing, love is knowing I am everything, and between the two my life moves.
Offer your treasures to everyone.
Be creative—in your thoughts, in your feelings, and in all of your actions. Apply your own uniqueness to everything you undertake.
As the great 14th-century Sufi poet Hafiz reminds all of us: Just sit there right now Don’t do a thing Just rest. For your separation from God, From love, Is the hardest work In this World.
7th Verse Heaven is eternal—the earth endures. Why do heaven and earth last forever? They do not live for themselves only. This is the secret of their durability. For this reason the sage puts himself last and so ends up ahead. He stays a witness to life, so he endures. Serve the needs of others, and all your own needs will be fulfilled. Through selfless action, fulfillment is attained.
The ego is a demanding force that’s never satisfied: It constantly requires that we seek more money, power, acquisitions, glory, and prestige to provide the fuel it thinks it must have. Living a Tao-centered life rather than an ego-centered one removes us from that rat race, as it offers inner peace and satisfying fulfillment.
Make an attempt to reverse ego’s hold on you by practicing the Tao’s teaching to “serve the needs of others, and all your own needs will be fulfilled.”
In The Hidden Messages in Water, Masaru Emoto explains that we are water, and water wants to be free. The author has thoroughly explored the ways in which this compound reacts, noting that by respecting and loving it, we can 8th Verse literally change its crystallization process. If kept in a container with the words love, thank you, or you’re beautiful imprinted on it, water becomes beautiful radiant crystals. Yet if the words on the container are you fool, Satan, or I will kill you, the crystals break apart, are distorted, and seem confused.
The implications of Emoto’s work are stupendous. Since consciousness is located within us and we’re essentially water, then if we’re out of balance in our intentions, it’s within the realm of possibility that our intentions can impact the entire planet (and beyond) in a destructive way. As our creator, the eternal Tao, might put it, “Water of life am I, poured forth for thirsty men.”
Embrace oneness by seeing yourself in everyone you encounter.
Take pleasure from what you possess without being attached to these things.
11th Verse Thirty spokes converge upon a single hub; it is on the hole in the center that the use of the cart hinges. Shape clay into a vessel; it is the space within that makes it useful. Carve fine doors and windows, but the room is useful in its emptiness. The usefulness of what is depends on what is not.
Consider the paradoxical term nonbeing as you ponder your own beingness. You’re comprised of bones, organs, and rivers of fluids that are encapsulated by a huge sheet of skin molded to hold you together. There’s definitely a distinctive quality of beingness that is “you” in this arrangement of bodily parts—yet if it were possible to disassemble you and lay all of your still-functioning physical components on a blanket, there would be no you. Although all of the parts would be there, their usefulness depends on a nonbeingness, or in Lao-tzu’s words, “what is not.”
Practice the power of silence every day.
12th Verse The five colors blind the eye. The five tones deafen the ear. The five flavors dull the taste. The chase and the hunt craze people’s minds. Wasting energy to obtain rare objects only impedes one’s growth. The master observes the world but trusts his inner vision. He allows things to come and go. He prefers what is within to what is without.
When our eyes see only the colors before them, they’re destined to become blind to what lies beyond the world of appearances. We cannot know the creator if we’re focused exclusively on what’s been created.
Sight, scent, sound, touch, and taste are the domains of the senses. If you’re locked into a belief that the pursuit of sensory satisfaction is the focus of life, you’ll be consumed by what Lao-tzu calls “the chase.” This quest for adoration, money, and power is a waste of energy because there’s never enough, so striving for more defines your daily regimen. You can’t arrive at a place of peace and inner satisfaction when your entire existence is motivated by not having enough.
The person who lives according to the way of the Tao is referred to as a sage or a master, an enlightened being observing the world but not identifying exclusively with what’s visible; being in the world, while simultaneously aware of not being of this world.
Extend your perspective beyond the sensory level.
Your inner conviction knows that a rose is more than a flower, as it offers a pleasant fragrance and velvety petals. Use that knowing to perceive the creative, invisible force that brings an intricate blooming miracle from nowhere to now here. Experience the essence of the creator who allowed this blossoming masterpiece to emerge from a tiny seed. Note that the seed arrived from what we can only refer to as the world of formless nothingness or spirit. See that spirit animating the colors, scents, and textures; and look at all of life from a transcendent perspective. You’ll be less inclined to
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Cultivate awe and appreciation as inner touchstones, rather than an outer determination for more adoration and accumulation.
13th Verse Favor and disgrace seem alarming. High status greatly afflicts your person. Why are favor and disgrace alarming? Seeking favor is degrading: alarming when it is gotten, alarming when it is lost. Why does high status greatly afflict your person? The reason we have a lot of trouble is that we have selves. If we had no selves, what trouble would we have? Man’s true self is eternal, yet he thinks, I am this body and will soon die. If we have no body, what calamities can we have? One who sees himself as everything is fit to be guardian of the world. One who loves himself as everyone is
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When you live exclusively “in-form,” you concentrate on accumulating “in-form-ation.” This 14th verse of the Tao calls for you to immerse yourself in inspiration rather than information, to become at one with that which has always been. And as this verse of the Tao concludes so insightfully, “Discovering how things have always been brings one into harmony with the Way.”
You are unfolding in Divine order. All that you require will be provided in an unhurried fashion. Let go of your demands and trust in the perfect unfolding of the Tao. Be in a state of watchful gratitude and align with the Way.
Stop chasing your dreams.
The reality is that beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change!
Take time to be an impartial observer of life, particularly when an ending is causing despair.
Write these words and post them in a conspicuous place in your living environment: This too shall pass.
Instead of believing that you know what’s best for others, trust that they know what’s best for themselves.
Allow other people to share their thoughts about the path they see for themselves. Let your position be known, but also convey that you trust them to make the right choice.
