Tao Te Ching 67 (Teaching 1)

Some say that my teaching is nonsense. Others call it lofty but impractical. But to those who have looked inside themselves, the nonsense makes perfect sense. And to those who put it into practice, this loftiness has roots that go deep.
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If you think the teaching in the Tao Te Ching is impractical, then suspend judgment for a while and try it; put it into practice and see if its practicality becomes apparent. If you think it’s nonsense, then look inside your mind and heart and listen for the still, small voice that may whisper the sense of it.

One thing that keeps us from living real and authentic lives is our use of filters in the form of judgments and opinions about life and the views of others. These filters prevent the new and the different from making any contact with us other than in a superficial and momentary way. We dismiss the lofty, the impractical, the so-called nonsense, lest we have to deal with the possibility that they are anything but lofty, impractical or nonsense. We don’t want anything to disrupt our accepted view of the world around us and the lives we lead.

Generally speaking, if tens of millions of people find something of value in a teaching, we should employ enough curiosity to inquire about it. If that number swells to hundreds of millions, inquiry should become a deeper investigation. Exceptions to any such generalization are appropriate, of course – but with some critical thinking involved, rather than merely dismissing the teachings as a matter of course.

I invite you to inquire into the impractical nonsense in the Tao Te Ching. Just for fun if nothing else.

Tao Te Ching 66

All streams flow to the sea because it is lower than they are. Humility gives it its power.

The Master is above the people, and no one feels oppressed. She goes ahead of the people, and no one feel manipulated. Because she competes with no one, no one can compete with her.
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Humility is evident when people put themselves in a position to receive. That is a position of power, as evidenced by the massive power of the sea when compared to any river or stream that flows into it.

When a Master is humble then the people under her domain do not feel oppressed or manipulated. Oppression and manipulation are used by so-called leaders who are striving to attain greater power through arrogant or self-serving means. In the end, the inherent weakness in such leaders will be revealed and the people will look elsewhere for leadership at the first opportunity.

The last sentence quoted above is one of those paradoxical gems in the Tao Te Ching. The Master doesn’t see herself as a competitor and thus doesn’t present a competitive profile. Who can compete with something that isn’t there?

Tao Te Ching 65

When they think they know the answers, people are difficult to guide. When they know that they don’t know, people can find their own way.

The simplest pattern is the clearest.
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Every so-called “leader” or “teacher” has discovered this truth. Trying to lead or teach people who already know the answers is frustrating and unfulfilling – for the leader and the led; for the teacher and the student. But, when people finally realize the extent of what they don’t know, then they search for knowledge and find wisdom mostly on their own. Leaders and teachers should open the door to not-knowing.

The principle of Occam’s razor says: all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best; if given a choice, choose the simplest path, the simplest answer; in explaining any phenomenon, make the fewest assumptions possible. Following this principle brings only one thing: clarity. Some might say that that is the only thing that matters.

Tao Te Ching 64 (Teaching 2)

The Master takes action by letting things take their course. He remains as calm at the end as the beginning. He has nothing, thus has nothing to lose. What he desires is non-desire; what he learns is to unlearn. He simply reminds people of who they have always been. He cares about nothing but the Tao. Thus he can care for all things.
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Letting go; letting be; remaining calm at all times. The level of peace in our lives may turn on how often we can say to ourselves, “Let it go” or “Let it be.” In that mindset we are far less reactive and resistant to the vicissitudes of life. We retain energy that is otherwise wasted.

Janis Joplin sang, “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.” We profess to be free, when we aren’t. We profess to be seeking freedom, when we aren’t. If our focus in on things, rather than on no-things, then we’re not free.

Peace is found in no longer desiring for life to be other than it is at the moment. Thus, we should desire nothing other than the absence of desire.

Those of us who are a little more advanced in years probably smile at the thought of how much of our learning we’ve had to unlearn. It’s been said that the greatest knowledge is the knowledge that we don’t know, and that the more knowledge we attain, the more we realize what we don’t know.

Have we ever done anything greater for a loved one than helping them to see and appreciate who they are and to feel good about that awareness? Probably not.

Tao Te Ching 64 (Teaching 1)

What is rooted is easy to nourish. What is recent is easy to correct. What is brittle is easy to break. What is small is easy to scatter.

Rushing into action, you fail. Trying to grasp things, you lose them. Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe.
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The deeper we sink our roots into life, the greater our well being. The taproot of well being is awareness of who we are and who we are not; awareness of the here and now; awareness of our deepest intention and motivation.

The sooner we correct a mistake or a problem, so-called, the greater our well being. Allowing wounds to fester only risks infection and scarring.

If we become rigid, set in our ways, we can be easily snapped. Remaining flexible in the elements around us, whatever they may be, the greater our well being.

If our thoughts remain small, meaning they are centered only on ourselves and on the minute circumstances that irritate us, the easier our energy is depleted. Being “scatterbrained” is never a compliment. The greater we maintain our integrity and wholeness, the greater our well being.

Tao Te Ching 63

The Master never reaches for the great; thus she achieves greatness. When she runs into difficulty, she stops and gives herself to it. She doesn’t cling to her own comfort; thus problems are no problem for her.
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Greatness is an inner quality to be realized by understanding our true nature and by becoming aware of reality. Greatness is not something external to be reached for and grasped. When we stop seeking greatness outside ourselves we will find the way to discover it already residing inside.

Discomfort comes in not being able to accept life as it is. Someone who accepts life does not see problems – s/he sees life as it is and by doing so s/he transforms and transcends difficulty.

Deployed

Later today, my son will leave his home and family and return to a war zone. For six months he will be deployed on a patrol craft in the Persian Gulf, patrolling the coasts of Iraq, Iran and Kuwait. Nothing else matters to me today.

I salute his courage and commitment to duty and country. I pray for a safe return for him and all of his shipmates; and I pray for peace. God bless all who serve with honor.

Tao Te Ching 62

When a new leader is chosen, don’t offer to help him with your wealth and expertise. Offer instead to teach him about the Tao.

Why did the ancient Masters esteem the Tao? Because, being one with the Tao, when you seek, you find; and when you make a mistake, you are forgiven. That is why everybody loves it.
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By teaching a new leader about the Tao, the way of life, we teach her or him not to fear. What greater thing could be taught to a new leader? The fearful are unable to see reality - life as it is right now. What greater vision could be offered to a new leader?

One who lives in harmony with the way of life will always find what they are seeking, because they will only seek what can be found in the way of life. They will be forgiven of their mistakes because it is not in the nature of life to pass judgment.

Those who seek to lead should learn not to fear; should be aware of the reality around them each moment; should seek only what life offers; and should cease passing moral judgment.

Tao Te Ching 61 (Teaching 2)

If a nation is centered in the Tao, if it nourishes its own people and doesn’t meddle in the affairs of others, it will be a light to all nations in the world.
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The Statue of Liberty holds a torch high, as a light to all who approach the nation for which it stands. But that torch is only a symbol. The reach and brightness of the light actually being cast by our nation will be found in answering the following questions:

Do we nourish all of our own people? It is the hope of nourishment, of various kinds, that has drawn people to this land from around the world since the founding of Jamestown on May 13, 1607. Not all of our people are being nourished.

Do we meddle in the affairs of others? A nation is meddling when it intervenes in the affairs of others without being asked. Our nation has intervened when asked, and when not asked.

The reach and brightness of our national light is not what it has been in the past. But, the candlepower in that torch remains as great as it ever has been. I am hopeful that it will be a bright and far-reaching light to all nations of the world, again, some day.

Tao Te Ching 61 (Teaching 1)

A great nation is like a great man. When he makes a mistake, he realizes it. Having realized it, he admits it. Having admitted it, he corrects it. He considers those who point out his faults as his most benevolent teachers. He thinks of his enemy as the shadow that he himself casts.
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It has become rare to see a nation or the leaders of a nation admit to having made a mistake. “Being right” all of the time has become an ego-driven obsession. When an admission comes, it’s often half-baked or burdened with qualifications and thus rarely leads to the needed correction. The necessary and appropriate correction can only emerge from a full and honest realization of the error being corrected.

As for regarding those who point out our faults as our most benevolent teachers – forget it, at least in the halls of government. The idea of a “loyal opposition” that is acting in the best interests of the nation, rather than in the best interests of the opposition, has become so foreign as to be alien.

The most intriguing element of this chapter lies in the last sentence quoted above. This “shadow” truth applies to nations, political parties, religions, businesses, families and individuals. We cannot sum up the pain and suffering that would be avoided if everyone, individually and collectively, could see their enemy not as totally separate from themselves, but as a shadow being cast by their own actions, inactions, beliefs, prejudices, and judgments.

Shadows are simple things, and all shadows are the same. They are a blockage between the source of light and the common ground upon which we all stand. We should look at them and learn from them.

Tao Te Ching 60

Center your country in the Tao and evil will have no power. Not that it isn’t there, but you’ll be able to step out of its way. Give evil nothing to oppose and it will disappear by itself.
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Evil finds its power is our inability to accept life as it is. We “step out of its way” by staying present in the here and now, rather than wandering into the past or the future where our fears dwell. Fear is the ground from which evil grows, just as love is the ground from which goodness grows.

Evil draws its energy from our resistance to life. Removing that opposition depletes the energy in evil and it goes away.

Tao Te Ching 59

For governing a country well there is nothing better than moderation. The mark of a moderate man is freedom from his own ideas. Nothing is impossible for him. Because he has let go, he can care for the people’s welfare as a mother cares for her child.
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“Moderation in all things” includes moderation in governing – what a concept that is. I wonder if it’s possible in the U.S. Can Americans and the politicians we elect ever find freedom from our own ideas?

The statement that moderation means being free from the grip of our own ideas, concepts and opinions is a profound teaching. It does not mean that we don’t have ideas; it means that we’re not so attached to them that we can’t hear and understand the ideas of others. It means that we’re willing and able to bring our ideas to the marketplace of ideas and exchange them, trade and barter with them, until we find a middle ground – a moderate position – that allows us to govern our country well and care for the people’s welfare.

We have become so polarized in our country that no one can any longer claim that we govern well. Partisan politicians are held in low regard, with the president and the Congress having the lowest approval ratings in history. One party-line vote after another in Congress ensures a perpetual gridlock that prevents any meaningful progress on issues that bear on the welfare of millions of people in our country. Our national debate has gone beyond being polemic; it’s become paralytic. There is no freedom in paralysis.

We are governed poorly because we are governed by the immoderate. Far too many of us are held captive by our own ideas. We are so sure of their rightness. We believe that opposing ideas are not just wrong, but so deeply flawed as to be untenable. At our worst, we believe that our ideas aren’t actually our ideas – we believe they are the ideas of God, which ensures not just a dogmatic adherence to them but a death-grip hold on them. There is no freedom associated with the chains of dogmatic adherence or a death-grip hold.

I’ve mentioned previously the power of being able to say, “I don’t know.” There is even more power in being able to say, “I may be wrong.” There is freedom in being able to envision our ever-present potential for being something other than right.

Tao Te Ching 58

If a country is governed with tolerance, the people are comfortable and honest. If a country is governed with repression, the people are depressed and crafty.

When the will to power is in charge, the higher the ideals, the lower the results. Try to make people happy, and you lay the groundwork for misery. Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice.
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Almost every spouse or parent knows that trying to make someone be something or do something or change something is likely to produce the opposite of what is desired. Pushing someone produces the energy of resistance; which leads to more pushing; which leads to more resistance.

The last sentence quoted above is difficult for a lot of people to accept, as is all paradoxical wisdom (perhaps all wisdom is paradoxical). Eventually we have to accept that the only thing we can do is live our life in the best way we can. In so doing, we emit the energy of our morality and it will be felt and absorbed by those around us. That’s not to say that they’ll necessarily change their gross behavior, but they will be changed subtly and over time that subtle change will work its way to the surface of their behavior.

We have the power to influence, not the power to control.

This is as true on the national level as on the personal level. Each level must be governed with tolerance and without repression. Of course no one actually believes that they’re employing something as nasty as repression in the governance of their life, family or nation. Only the “bad guys” employ repression. The debate around “tolerance” has been similarly polarized. It’s a mantra to the left and an epithet to the right; and the more left or right a person is, the less tolerant they are.

It takes a tremendous amount of strength and courage to be tolerant and to avoid repression. As we look for leadership in our country, we should look for such strength and courage. Hint: these essential qualities will not be found in the hearts and minds of those whose leadership is based on a fearful worldview. The fearful are intolerant and repressive.

Tao Te Ching 57

If you want to be a great leader, you must learn to follow the Tao. Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself.

The more prohibitions you have, the less virtuous the people will be. The more weapons you have, the less secure people will be. The more subsidies you have, the less self-reliant people will be.

Therefore, the Master says:
I let go of the law, and people become honest. I let go of economics, and people become prosperous. I let go of religion, and people become serene. I let go of all desire for the common good and the good becomes common as grass.
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Rarely on these pages have I quoted an entire chapter of Stephen Mitchell’s translation of the Tao Te Ching. But in the midst of a presidential election this chapter seems particularly appropriate for serious contemplation. The second paragraph above speaks both to the liberal and to the conservative among us. Each finds a central tenet supported and each finds one challenged.

Ah, yes, the middle way.

The paradoxical nature of the Tao Te Ching is readily apparent in the series of calls for us to “let go”. By letting go we discover what we believe we can obtain only through the thing that we’re letting go.

There can be no lawbreaker among us unless there is a law to break. We are only threatened in the presence of weapons that purport to defend us. Is there a sin in the absence of a religion that defines that sin?

Our efforts to control our world through fixed concepts are producing exactly the opposite of what we desire. Those efforts are producing a world that, by definition, is out of control. The world was created with the ability to govern itself, but we are unwilling to trust in that creation or in its creator.

What would the world be like if every person who purports to subscribe to the motto, “In God We Trust,” actually trusted in God? That world might be well described by the words honest, prosperous, serene and good.

Tao Te Ching 56

Those who know don’t talk.
Those who talk don’t know.

Close your mouth, block off your senses, blunt your sharpness, untie your knots, soften your glare, settle your dust. This is the primal identity.
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Without meaning to imply that I know anything, this seems like a good day to close my mouth and settle my dust. In doing so, I may take a step closer to finding my truest self.

Tao Te Ching 55

He who is in harmony with the Tao is like a newborn child. Its bones are soft, its muscles are weak, but its grip is powerful. It can scream its head off all day, yet never becomes hoarse, so complete is its harmony.

The Master’s power is like this. He lets all things come and go effortlessly, without desire. He never expects results; thus he is never disappointed. He is never disappointed; thus his spirit never grows old.
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Expectation, which is synonymous with desire, is the father of disappointment and disappointment gives birth to death in the form of a withered spirit.

We should act without an expectation of results. Results are often outside of our control. Expecting certain results surrenders our power to others and thus drains our energy and ages our spirit. Whenever we feel that our “spirits are down” we can trace that feeling to some form of underlying disappointment that has arisen from some unmet expectation. We are in the grip of a desire for life to be other than it is.

This chapter doesn’t teach us to live without effort, but to allow the things of life around us to come and go without a desire for them to be other than they are at that moment. As had been said many times here, the ebb and flow of life at that moment cannot be other than it is at that moment, so any desire for it to be otherwise will bring disappointment and a diminished spirit.

Living in harmony with life as it is – is a source of power.
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I’m thinking of my dad on this Father’s Day. I miss him.

Tao Te Ching 54

Let the Tao be present in your life and you will become genuine. Let it be present in your family and your family will flourish. Let it be present in your country and your country will be an example to all countries in the world.

How do I know this is true? By looking inside myself.
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When we know, by looking deeply inside ourselves, that we are being genuine; when we know that our family is flourishing; when we know that our country is being an example to the entire world; then at those moments we are not experiencing three different forms of knowledge; we are experiencing one knowledge. Those seemingly different experiences are found in the same ground of being, a ground that we share with every living thing.

We have all come from the same source. Whether we are a theist who believes that all creation emerged from the light and word of God, or an atheist who believes that all energy and matter emerged from the one point that existed before the Big Bang – we believe in the Common Source, in the Unified Moment and Place, in the Singularity of Singularities.

When we touch truth, love and peace, whether in a genuine person, a flourishing family or an exemplary country, we are touching our home base. Without knowing it, we are admiring our own essence.

Genuineness is the same in every heart. Every genuine person, every loving person, every truthful person, and every peaceful person, feels the same to us. They seem different only in comparison to someone who isn’t genuine, loving, truthful, or peaceful. They each emit the same light and energy and we marvel at them without being aware of the shared light and energy that resides deeply inside us.

We appear genuine, truthful, loving and peaceful only when we allow that light and energy to flow in us, and then out of us. The genuine, truthful, loving and peaceful become translucent. People do not see through them as much as they see into them. If only we realized that at that moment we are looking into a mirror and seeing our own reflection.
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Happy Birthday No. 5 to my grandson!

Tao Te Ching 53

The great Way is easy, yet people prefer the side paths. Be aware when things are out of balance.

When rich speculators prosper while farmers lose their land; when government officials spend money on weapons instead of cures; when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible while the poor have nowhere to turn – all this is robbery and chaos.

It is not in keeping with the Tao.
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Robbery and chaos – is there any of that inside or outside America these days? Because I’m still on a bit of a hiatus from political commentary, I will let this one rest on its own, other than to say that things are out of balance and it's time for us get off the side paths.

Besides, I’m still pondering a provocative comment from a friend and co-worker regarding yesterday’s posting. She gently challenged my offhand comment about rarely being drawn to worshipping an idol. I responded by ticking off a list of classic materialistic idols that haven’t sucked me is, while admitting that I could be accused of worshipping my wife too often.

Then she offered another suggestion – one that had never crossed my mind as an idol-worshipping candidate.

Intelligence.

I’ll be thinking about that for a while.

Tao Te Ching 52

To find the origin, trace back to the manifestations. When you recognize the children and find the mother, you will be free of sorrow.

If you close your mind in judgments and traffic with desires, your heart will be troubled. If you keep your mind from judging and aren’t led by the senses, your heart will find peace.
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Finding peace – being free from sorrow and trouble – how does that sound? To me, it sounds like … well … nirvana. The Tao Te Ching joins the chorus of other wisdom philosophies to show us the way.

If we trace back from our sorrows and troubles we will find that their mother is our judgments, desires and sensory response to the world around us. The mind is the womb of suffering. Judgments close the mind; desires choke the mind; the senses lead us to a troubled and often chaotic mind. When we recognize these unruly children we will find their source, the place in which our sorrow is conceived and from which it is born.

Instead of posting the Ten Commandments in churches, schools and homes around the country, why not post this shortest of commandments – “Judge not.” Those two words are much harder to follow than most if not all of the Ten Commandments. I haven’t had the urge to kill or steal in a long time. I’m rarely drawn to worshipping an idol. Envy happens from time to time, but not nearly as often as in years gone by. But – I had the urge to judge multiple times while reading the morning newspaper just a few minutes ago.

Trafficking in desires is akin to trafficking in drugs. Each alters our perception. Each is an escape from life as it is at the moment; or life as we perceive it to be at the moment – life as we judge it to be. When we decide to stop judging life – the people, places and things around us – then we find peace in our heart. We will also experience a vastly quieter mind.

Peace and quiet sounds good to me.

Tao Te Ching 51

Every being in the universe is an expression of the Tao. It springs into existence, unconscious, perfect, free, takes on a physical body, lets circumstances complete it. That is why every being spontaneously honors the Tao.

The Tao gives birth to all beings, nourishes them, maintains them, cares for them, comforts them, protects them, takes them back to itself, creating without possessing, acting without expecting, guiding without interfering. That is why love of the Tao is in the very nature of things.
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The reference to the Tao being “unconscious” is, to me, a reference to being unconscious of itself, which then leads to the enticing words “perfect” and “free”. Perhaps our path to freedom lies in being less conscious of ourselves until one day we’ve let the circumstances around us serve to complete us. Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven in perfect.” I recall that the more correct translation of “perfect” is “complete.” The Tao, like Jesus, invites us to be complete, to be whole.

The important realization is that we came into this life whole and complete. We lacked nothing. We lack nothing; but we think otherwise. We seek to fill gaps that are of our own creation. We are perfect and free by nature; but we feel imperfect and captive by habit.

The path back to our original self might be found in living life as follows:

Be less self-conscious.
Let circumstances complete us.
Create without possessing.
Act without expecting.
Guide without interfering.
Realize that love is the very nature of our being.

Tao Te Ching 50

The Master gives himself up to whatever the moment brings.

He doesn’t think about his actions; they flow from the core of his being. He holds nothing back from life; therefore he is ready for death, as a man is ready for sleep after a good day’s work.
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This speaks to a pleasing blend of surrender and spontaneity that in turn offers us a path to a peaceful life, which includes a peaceful death. The underlying teaching is: less externally-directed thought and more internally-generated flow. The underlying encouragement is: don’t hold back – live life as it comes to us each moment of the day.

It’s all we have. It’s the only source of joy available to us.

Tao Te Ching 49

The Master is good to people who are good. She is also good to people who aren’t good. This is true goodness.

She trusts people who are trustworthy. She also trusts people who aren’t trustworthy. This is true trust.
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Nondiscrimination is a lofty ideal seldom practiced.

Jesus told us to love those who persecute us; he said that even the sinners love those who love them. He called us to love the unlovable, which is another way of saying that we should love others as we love ourselves.

Heaven knows that we’re all less than good, less than trustworthy or less than lovable at any given time. Yet, in those times, we still desire and need, sometimes desperately, to be loved. When we are loved at our worst times, we feel truly blessed, and truly forgiven.

How can we withhold from others that which we so deeply need for ourselves? Nondiscrimination is a lofty idea seldom practiced. But it’s the only path to true goodness, true trustworthiness, and true love.

Tao Te Ching 48

In the pursuit of knowledge, every day something is added. In the practice of the Tao, every day something is dropped. Less and less do you need for force things, until finally you arrive at non-action. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.

True mastery can be gained by letting things go their own way. It can’t be gained by interfering. ______________________________________________________

I rarely meet someone who doesn’t quickly embrace the idea of simplicity. We live complicated lives that exhaust us and often leave us in turmoil. Simplicity offers peace. The path to simplicity is simple – every day, something is dropped. True knowledge teaches us what to drop. So we pursue knowledge, adding to our understanding of what matters and what does not matter, so that we may step away from the unnecessary and the inappropriate.

One day we arrive at a point where we no longer feel like we have to act on life. We no longer arise each day to our “must do” list. We no longer interfere in the lives of others. We even stop getting in the way of our own life.

We arise for the purpose of living the life that is presented to us each morning. When that day comes we will find that nothing is left undone, which is what we’ve been seeking all along.

Tao Te Ching 47

Without opening your door, you can open your heart to the world. Without looking out your window, you can see the essence of the Tao.

The more you know, the less you understand.
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What we seek outside ourselves can only be found inside ourselves. The world that we perceive outside our doors and windows is constructed inside our hearts and minds.

It takes a significant degree of learning in order to acknowledge how little we understand. The wisdom and maturity embedded in learned uncertainty brings peace. Accepting a lack of ultimate understanding is the door through which we find love, compassion, empathy and kindness. It takes a strong mind and a courageous heart to open and walk through that door.

There is tremendous power in the ability to say, “I don’t know.”

Tao Te Ching 46

When a country is in harmony with the Tao, the factories make trucks and tractors. When a country goes counter to the Tao, warheads are stockpiled outside the cities.

There is no greater illusion than fear, no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself; no greater misfortune than having an enemy.

Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe.
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The gold is in the last line. Everything said before it is a preface. We perceive enemies and we prepare to defend ourselves from those enemies because we are gripped by the illusion of fear. FDR said it well in 1932 as we reeled from the frightening impacts of the Great Depression: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

We strive for safety and security in our homeland. To obtain that worthy goal we must see through all the fear in and around us. We’re trapped in an illusion of our own making. The planes hitting the Twin Towers were not an illusion by any means – but much of what has reverberated from their impact is coming from an illusion. In the white-knuckled grip of fear we perceive that a great misfortune has descended upon us – we see enemies to the left and the right and so we prepare to defend ourselves from those who we believe are intent upon raining terror from the sky.

When a country’s leaders sow fear, they will reap enemies. Enemies are made viable in the womb of fear and they cannot remain viable unless they are sustained by fear. “Fear not,” said an itinerant Jewish shepherd from the city of Nazareth. Maybe FDR had read that advice. Maybe we should read that advice.

On another day I would write about the possibility that we may not want to be safe as we profess; that we are thriving on our steady diet of fear; that we are projecting our fear around the world; that we have now fashioned an identity from our victimization; that we have found a purpose in that identity. We are the savior of the world. With us on the prowl, there is no need for the quaint but naïve musings of an itinerant Jewish shepherd. But, that’s for another day.

Tao Te Ching 45

True perfection seems imperfect, yet it is perfectly itself. True fullness seems empty, yet it is fully present. True straightness seems crooked. True wisdom seems foolish. True art seems artless.

The Master allows things to happen. She shapes events as they come. She steps out of the way and lets the Tao speak for itself.
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We’ve said before and we’ll say again – things are often not as they seem to be. Because we think in dualistic terms, when we experience or conceptualize something we simultaneously experience or conceptualize its opposite.

We can only see imperfection in the presence of perfection; one cannot exist without the other. Fullness cannot be understood unless we understand emptiness in the same instant. If we see someone walking a crooked path, then we’re assured that straightness is there as well.

Is there an ancient source of wisdom that does not teach us that true wisdom is often mistaken for foolishness? If it weren’t mistaken for foolishness, then it wouldn’t be true wisdom. And it goes without saying that utter foolishness is often mistaken for wisdom.

What would we see in our life if we gave more allowance for things to happen, for life to be as it is? What would happen, what clarity would we experience, if we stepped out of the way and let the way unfold on its own? It might be true perfection; true fullness; true straightness; true wisdom; true art. That would be something to behold.

Tao Te Ching 44

Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success or failure: which is more destructive?

If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never truly be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself.

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.
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If I were putting together a series of daily lessons in a self-help workbook I would be inclined to slip this chapter of the Tao Te Ching in about every third day.

All people seek happiness; and all people seek to avoid suffering. Happiness = accepting life the way it is at the moment. Suffering = desiring life to be other than the way it is at the moment, even though at this moment life cannot be other than as it is. Happiness and suffering are not about the quantity or quality of the people, places and things around us; happiness and suffering are about our response to whatever people, places and things are around us at a given time.

Happiness and suffering are inside jobs. If we’re looking outside to claim the one or disclaim the other, then we’re in for a harrowing trip on a long and winding road. It’s a trip that won’t end well.

The secret to a successful life is captured here – be content with what you have. Realize that there is nothing lacking. When we have this realization, then we possess an untold wealth. The world, literally, is ours.

Tao Te Ching 43

The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world. That which has no substance enters where there is no space. This shows the value of non-action.

Teaching without words, performing without actions; that is the Master’s way.
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The Tao Te Ching is filled with paradoxical teaching. It invites us to see life in a completely different way – inside out and upside down. It challenges Western paradigms at almost every turn.

This teaching is one of the most important to me, at first challenging and then, over time, almost axiomatic. In a country that has embraced preemptive attack as a defensive model, it’s not easy to embrace the idea that gentle things overcome hard things. We know that dripping water can wear away granite and disintegrate concrete, but we have trouble applying that everyday lesson in national and international affairs.

Non-action seems weak if not heretical to anyone who responds viscerally to the bursts of dramatic energy expended by the political “action figures” we presume to admire. How can anything be performed without action, we wonder. Interestingly, however, it doesn’t take most of us long to recall how many important lessons we’ve been taught without words. If we let that analog work in for a while we can come to understand “performing without actions”.

But the movement from the gross to the subtle doesn’t stop there. The Tao insists that we take it as far as it will go – to the point of understanding that that which has no substance enters where there is no space. Let that one soak for a while and see where it leads.