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July 16, 2020 - January 26, 2025
The people I See are godly creations who are ignoring their own nature, or even more poignantly,
needily interfering in the affairs of others.
They are people who would exploit Tao as a crutch.
If you meet someone who can profit by your experience, you should share. But if you are merely a wanderer in a crowd of strangers, it is wisdom to be silent.
Desiring, one sees the manifestations; desireless, one can see the mystery itself.
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.
There is no try; there is only do.
It does mean cultivating a practice of being in the mystery and allowing it to flow through you unimpeded. It means permitting the paradox of being in form at the same time that you allow the mystery to unfold.
You alone can prepare the ground of your being for the experience of living the mystery.
When the work is done, it is forgotten. That is why it lasts forever.
The perfection of the Tao is allowing apparent duality while seeing the unity that is reality.
The debilitating necessity to be right and make others wrong will diminish.
When action is pure and selfless, everything settles into its own perfect place.
Giving and immortality then go hand in hand.
The usefulness of what is
depends on what is not.
A composer once told me that the silence from which each note emerges is more important than the note itself. He said that it’s the empty space between the notes that literally allows the music to be music—if there’s no void, there’s only continuous sound.
This is the primary purpose of learning to meditate, or to be in the silence, inviting your essence to reveal itself and allowing you to live in the void.
it’s crucial to remain independent of both the positive and negative opinions of other people. Regardless of whether they love or despise us, if we make their assessments more important than our own, we’ll be greatly afflicted.
This 13th verse insists that ego and the need for importance are troublemakers that are energized by your in-the-world self.
The manifest.
In the spirit of the Tao, your true nature will replace the pursuit of external favor with the awareness that what others think of you is really none of your business!
Hence the reason that making amends is not about seeking forgiveness.
Discovering how things have always been brings one into harmony with the Way.
see the dance of “how things have always been” in the unseen, unheard, and untouched present.
He who keeps the Tao does not want to be full.
These descriptors paint a picture of those who live unhurriedly but are also in a profoundly aware state.
Stop chasing your dreams.
Allow them to come to you in perfect order with unquestioned timing.
The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu, translated by Witter Bynner in 1944, poetically sums up the 15th verse of the Tao in this way: How can a man’s life keep its course If he will not let it flow? Those who flow as life flows know They need no other force: They feel no wear, they feel no tear, They need no mending, no repair. Great advice for living an unhurried life.
observe how endings become beginnings.
This is how Hafiz described it in his 14th-century poetry: Even After All this time The sun never says to the earth, “You owe Me.” Look What happens With a love like that, It lights the Whole Sky.
Let go of your demands, along with your beliefs that you can’t be happy because of what is supposedly missing in your life. Insisting that you need what you don’t have is insane! The fact that you’re okay without what you think you need is the change you want to see.
Your greatness won’t be found in a classroom; an apprenticeship; a teacher; or flattering comments from well-meaning family members, friends, or lovers. It is within you. It’s crucial for you to become conscious of the greatness that constantly flows through you—to do so, meet it in meditative moments of gratitude, and cease to be influenced by contrary points of view.
The solution for a life of unrest is choosing stillness.
What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher? What is a bad man but a good man’s job?
The “knower of the truth” lives by an inner light. This illumination shines on the fact that stealing isn’t the way of truth, so it’s unnecessary to lock anything up.
I'm not sure exactly what these lines mean, but i'm pretty sure it's not this.
Fear, anxiety, stress, and unrest will simply become facets of yourself seen in the glow of the Tao, like candles marking your way and helping you love everyone as a piece of yourself.
Okay, i'm really hating this section right now.
Dismiss ego, which you’ve created, and allow yourself to be in the world by changing how you look at the world.
Weapons are the tools of violence; all decent men detest them. Therefore, followers of the Tao never use them. Arms serve evil. They are the tools of those who oppose wise rule.
Dismiss any desire to extend power over others through the forceful nature of your actions and your personality. Ego believes that others are incapable of running their own lives and wants to control with force, so demonstrate your inner strength by abandoning such tactics. Catch yourself as you’re about to tell others how they “should” be. Use the opportunity to practice allowing them to learn their own lessons without interference from you. Notice how often you attempt to use verbal force to convince others to listen to you. Remind yourself to remain quiet and send loving energy.
You’ll see the importance of everyone, including those individuals you’ve previously identified as difficult or unreasonable.
Avoid thoughts and activities that involve telling people who are perfectly capable of making their own choices what to do. In your family, remember that you do not own anyone.
disregard any inclination to dominate in all of your relationships. Listen rather than expound. Pay attention to yourself when you’re having judgmental opinions and see where self-attention takes you. When you replace an ownership mentality with one of allowing, you’ll begin to see the true unfolding of the Tao in yourself and other people. From that moment on, you’ll be free of frustration with those who don’t behave according to your ego-dominated expectations.
Notice those who give much, boast little, nurture others, and decline recognition or credit, and put them in your greatness file.
By becoming independent of the need to compare yourself and fit in, you choose the path that Lao-tzu calls “the wisdom of obscurity”—that is, you release your need to be more anything in the eyes of others.
Stay under the radar and you’ll outlast all who strive to be recognized.
Seek the 36th Verse opposite feeling right in the moment and be at one with it in your mind, for this will provide you with a balanced sense of being at peace within yourself. This is oneness, wherein you entertain extremes and use your mind to be like the Tao, which never divides anything.
As Lao-tzu says, you must deliberately grant others the right to expand, but take your own lesson from the fish that endure and stay in the deep waters of your Tao-directed soul.
I’ve used this simplicity lesson in dealing with all of my children. When I step in and tell them “how,” I create resistance. But when I bite my tongue, zip my lips, and retreat into silence, they not only figure it out themselves, but a calm energy replaces their frustration. I’ve learned that my kids know how to be: They too have the anchor of the universe within them. They too are centered in the do-nothing, get-everything-done Tao. They too have an essential nature that they’re listening to.
Start living in a world that you know 37th Verse works far better with less meddling. You understand that not everyone will stop instructing others and just allow the Tao to unfold, but you can be an observer, watching others tap into their power by centering themselves.
The master does nothing, yet he leaves nothing undone. The ordinary man is always doing things, yet many more are left to be done.
